Hakalau Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let's have a look at what's on offer for Hakalau over the next couple of weeks.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you – the first week is a bit of a write-off. We're looking at a solid block of nothing special from Monday, July 20th right through to the end of that week. The wind is mostly cross-onshore, chopping things up, and the swell is weak and short period. The energy is low, barely cracking 200 or 300 (weak energy), so it's not worth getting wet for. You'll be fighting a bumpy, crumbly mess.

We get a slight flicker of hope on Wednesday, July 22nd, where the period jumps to 12 seconds and the wind goes onshore, but the forecast still calls it marginal. The energy picks up a bit (moderate wave energy at 422), but it's still not clean. The whole first week is a right-off for any decent waves.

Now, the end of July and start of August is where it gets interesting. The standout window is from Saturday, July 25th through to Tuesday, July 28th. We see a real pulse of long-period groundswell rolling in. Saturday afternoon the period hits a whopping 17 seconds with energy soaring to 1402 (strong wave energy), and on Sunday, July 26th, it's even bigger with 16-second swell and energy over 2000. That's powerful stuff.

The main break here is Hakalau (river mouth). This is a river break, which is a key point. With these long-period swells (over 15 seconds), a river mouth or a point break is your best bet. These long-period swells can be tricky at straight beach breaks, but a river mouth often focuses the energy into a decent peak. The swell direction is out of the E and ENE, which is the optimum direction for this spot. The wind is forecast to be light and onshore, which is a major positive – it'll be clean. The swell height will be around 5 ft to 6 ft, so it's a solid size but not too crazy for an intermediate surfer.

The water temperature is about average for the time of year, so no shock to the system there.

The only thing to watch for is that this spot is listed as "sometimes" crowded, so expect a few other souls out there for this pulse. The consistency is "fairly consistent," which is good.

After that main pulse, things settle down again. The end of July and beginning of August sees the swell drop back to the 2 ft range with short periods again, and the wind goes back to cross-onshore. It's a long gap of poor conditions from around July 30th right through to the end of the forecast on August 4th. So, that Saturday and Sunday, July 25th and 26th, are the clear standouts. The early part of the following week, July 28th, still has some decent energy, but the magic fades.

Rusty.

Read more