Halawa Surf Forecast and Surf Report

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

Honestly, looking at the whole 16-day window, it’s a pretty grim run for Halawa. The wind is relentless, and the quality just isn’t there. We’re looking at a long stretch of poor surf, and honestly, the only faint glimmer of hope doesn’t show up until the very end of the second week.

The pattern is locked in: a persistent ENE cross-shore or cross-onshore wind, sometimes getting up to a fresh 18-25 mph, just ripping the surface apart. The swell is mostly a short-period, wind-driven ENE affair, usually between 3 ft and 8 ft, but it’s so chopped up and messy it’s not worth the paddle. The water temp is sitting right at 80°, which is bang on average for the time of year, so no surprises there.

The first recommendation doesn’t pop up until Friday the 7th of August, but don’t get excited. The morning shows a 3 ft ENE swell at a weak 7 seconds, with cross-on winds at 15 mph. The combined energy is a low 141, and it’s just poor, choppy conditions. The afternoon is even worse, with a 4 ft swell dropping to 5 seconds and only 70 energy. That’s a hard pass. Saturday through Tuesday the 11th are all the same story: wind-affected, lumpy, and scoring a zero. On Sunday the 9th, the swell direction shifts to NNW for a few sessions, but at 1 ft, it’s barely a ripple.

We get a slight uptick in size from Wednesday the 12th through to the weekend of the 16th, with swell heights pushing 5 ft to 8 ft, and the energy ramps up from 164 to a strong 730. But again, the wind is a constant 18-25 mph cross-shore, creating a messy, lumpy sea state. It’s not surfable, but with that much wind and that size, the setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing.

The only real standout, and I mean the *only* one, is on Wednesday morning the 19th of August. The wind finally backs off to a gentle 9 mph breeze, going cross-shore, and the swell is a clean 6 ft from the ENE with a 9-second period. The combined energy is a solid 815. The forecast says "marginal surf", but with lighter winds, it’s the most promising conditions of the whole run. It’s still not perfect, but it’s the best you’re going to get. After that, it’s back to the same old cross-on choppy mess for the rest of the period.

So, to sum it up: you’ve got a massive gap of no good surf from the start until about the 19th. If you are desperate to get wet, mark Wednesday the 19th of August in your calendar. It’s your only shot.

Rusty, signing off.

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