Hakalau Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right, listen up. Rusty here. Gotta be straight with you—this 16-day window for Hakalau is a bit of a tough one. The first ten days or so are pretty much a write-off thanks to persistent onshore and cross-onshore winds mucking up any real quality. The surf isn't totally flat, but the conditions are just poor for a proper paddle session. The best of the bunch comes much later, in the second week, but it's a real mixed bag.

Let's start with the first day we've got a recommendation, which is Friday the 17th of July. It's a no-go. We're looking at a weak 4 ft easterly swell with a short, weak period of 7 seconds and combined wave energy at a meagre 320. The wind is a cross-on from the east at 12 mph, making it choppy and poor. This pattern repeats through Saturday and Sunday the 18th and 19th—the swell pushes up to 7 ft on Saturday (energy of 533), but it's still a short-period E/ENE swell and the wind is still cross-on or onshore, so it's messy. The swell drops back down through the start of the next week, and the wind stays easterly, keeping things poor.

Now, there's a bit of a pause. The first half of the week is a blank run of nothing worth paddling out for. The conditions are just too poor for any decent surf.

Then things get interesting, but tricky. We get a big pulse of long-period groundswell starting on Sunday, the 26th of July. The swell jumps to 4 ft but with a very long period of 15 seconds and a massive energy reading of 1056. The wind is light and onshore from the ENE, so it's not clean. The following days, Monday and Tuesday the 27th and 28th, the swell builds to 5 ft and 7 ft with periods of 16 and 13 seconds, putting energy values through the roof (up to 2147). But the wind is still cross-onshore, making it choppy and difficult. With that size and the onshore wind, it's a zone for kite surfers, not paddle surfers.

The real standout in this forecast is Wednesday, the 29th of July. The swell holds at a solid 7 ft from the ENE, with a period of 12 seconds. The combined energy is a strong 1636. The wind finally plays ball, turning light and onshore from the NE at just 6 mph. This is the best shot for a decent session. The 7 ft is a bit meaty, but with the light wind, it's the cleanest window in the whole outlook. It's a big-fella swell, but it's the one to watch. The next day, Thursday the 30th, the swell drops to 7 ft from the NE, still with a period of 11 seconds and light winds, keeping it a solid runner-up option.

After that, the swell fades out quickly into the start of August, with weak, shorter-period swells and cross-onshore winds returning. So, the long and short of it is: forget the first week and a half, and mark your calendar for Wednesday the 29th of July. It's the best, and maybe only, real chance for a wave.

Rusty.

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