Hakalau Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s get straight into it for Hakalau.

Well, I gotta be honest with you, the outlook for the next couple of weeks is a bit of a tough pill to swallow. We’re looking at a long stretch of pretty poor conditions, especially for the first week or so. The surfing is gonna be a real grind with a lot of onshore and cross-onshore winds messing things up. The only real standout window is a couple of days deep into the second week, but it comes with its own set of caveats.

The first real chance to get wet here at Hakalau (Hakalau) is Monday afternoon, the 17th of August. We’ve got a 1.5m swell coming from the ENE, but it’s wrapping up with a short 8-second period and the combined energy is only moderate at 263. The water is sitting at 27°, which is about average for this time of year. But the problem is the wind is blowing onshore from the E at 10 km/h, and the report is calling it "poor surf conditions." Not a great start.

Tuesday the 18th through Thursday the 21st is a write-off. The swell drops off, the wind stays onshore or cross-onshore, and the wave comment is consistently "poor surf conditions." It’s a real bummer. We finally get a little bump in size on Saturday the 22nd, with a 1.8m swell from the E and a 9-second period, pushing the combined energy to 508. But it's cross-onshore from the E at 15 km/h, making it "fairly choppy" and marginal. Still not worth paddling out for.

Now, Sunday the 23rd and Monday the 24th see a bigger swell filling in, hitting 2.3m from the ESE with a longer 11-second period. The combined energy is strong, hitting 1121 on Sunday afternoon. But the wind is still onshore from the ENE at 20 km/h, and there’s a risk of thunderstorms. The surf quality is still just "marginal." The size is getting up there, over 2.5m by Wednesday the 26th (2.5m), and by Thursday the 27th we’re looking at a solid 3.0m from the E. This is big, expert-only territory, and the combined energy is through the roof at 2574 on Thursday afternoon. But the wind is still a problem, mostly cross-onshore, making it "fairly choppy" and lumpy. It’s a shame, because there’s serious energy in the water, but it’s just not clean.

The best bet, and the only real standout I see, is Friday the 28th of August. We’ve got a big 3.5m swell early in the morning from the E with a 10-second period, and the combined energy is a massive 2401. The wind is a light cross-onshore from the E at 15 km/h, and the report says "gentle cross-onshore and fairly choppy." But the real highlight is the afternoon session. The swell drops to a still-very-chunky 3.0m, but the wind swings around to straight onshore from the E at 15 km/h. This is the most promising call of the whole forecast. The wave comment is "marginal" but it scores a 2 out of 10, which is the highest we see. For a river mouth, that long period from the E can actually line up nicely, but it’s still a beast of a wave. This is for serious, experienced surfers only. The crowd is listed as "sometimes," so you might have a few others out there, but it won’t be a circus.

After that, the swell drops off again through the weekend and into the start of September, with the wind staying messy. It’s a real shame because the energy is there, but the conditions just aren’t cooperating.

Rusty out.

Read more