Hakalau Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, folks, Rusty here. Let’s get straight into it. It’s a bit of a flat, frustrating run for Hakalau over the next couple of weeks, but don't go putting the boards away just yet. There’s one shining window early on that’s worth circling on the calendar, and a few whispers of something further out that we’ll need to keep an eye on.

The start of this period is the real deal, the only true standout on offer. Monday afternoon kicks things off with a cross-shore breeze, but the real magic happens on Tuesday. The morning of the 8th brings glassy conditions with a slight air, and a solid 5.2ft of NE swell with an 11-second period. That’s clean, raw, and full of energy. The combined wave energy is sitting at a strong 954. The river mouth will be handling this beautifully. Then Tuesday afternoon backs it up nicely too: calm winds, 4.3ft of NE swell, energy at 683, and still glassy. This is the window to clear your schedule. With water temps at a warm 80.8°, just about average for this time of year, you won't need much rubber. This is for the intermediates out there, and while the break is fairly consistent, the crowd situation at Hakalau means you might have some company.

Now, for the bad news. After that Tuesday high, we hit a wall. From Wednesday the 9th through to Sunday the 22nd, it’s a long, drawn-out lull. We're looking at over a week and a half of onshore and cross-onshore winds, choppy conditions, and dropping swell. The swell height dips, the periods shorten, and the energy just fades away. On the 10th, the period drops to a junky 7 seconds, and the energy falls to weak levels, below 300. It’s a real “sit on the beach and watch the whitecaps” kind of stretch. A few days in the middle, like the 12th and 13th, have light winds, but the swell is too small and weak to get excited about. It's marginal at best, and the onshore flow is just messing with what little shape there is.

There’s a brief flicker of something on the 18th of September – a long-period NNW swell appears out of nowhere, but that's also a full week and a half away, so treat it as a promising but uncertain prospect. The problem is, it’s being hammered by a solid cross-onshore breeze, so the quality will be way down. It might just be a messy, blown-out 3.3ft. Hold your breath on that one.

The later days around the 19th and 20th show a slight bump in size and energy, but the wind remains a constant cross-onshore annoyance, keeping the surf poor to marginal at best.

So, here’s the bottom line. This Hakalau stretch is a story of one killer day. The glassy conditions and clean NE groundswell on Tuesday the 8th are a clear standout. The rest of the window is a waiting game. It tends not to stay this poor for long, so keep the faith, but for now, the long-range looks set to be a battle against the chop.

Stay stoked.

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