Hanamizu River Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s on the cards for our local stretch.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you – the next 16 days aren’t sending us any classic, easy-to-score sessions. The whole window is a bit of a mixed bag, with a lot of marginal conditions and tricky winds. There’s a gap of a few days in the middle where the swell really drops away, making it pretty tough to find a decent wave.

The best of the bunch looks like it’ll be on Wednesday, August 5th. We’ve got a solid, long-period groundswell from the SSE hitting 8 ft, with a period of 16 seconds. That’s a lot of water moving around – the combined energy is a hefty 2948 (moderate to strong wave energy). That kind of size is going to be too much for beginners, and the long period means it might stand up a bit too straight on the beach break, so it’ll favour the more experienced crew. The morning is looking clean with a cross-offshore NNE breeze at 16 mph, which is a major positive. The combo of that size, that long period, and clean wind is the standout of the whole forecast. The afternoon gets a bit messy with a cross-shore wind, so the morning is the window.

Thursday, August 6th is still worth a look. The swell is still hanging in there at 8 ft from the S, with a period of 15 seconds. The combined energy is still strong at 2535. The afternoon session actually sees a light SSE onshore breeze which might keep it a bit lumpy, but the morning is cross-shore and a bit choppy. Not as clean as Wednesday, but still some size.

Now, the drop-off is real. From Saturday, August 8th through Thursday, August 14th, the swell steadily fades. We’re looking at heights between 1 ft and 5 ft, with periods dropping from 14 seconds down to 10 seconds. The wind is constantly shifting between cross, cross-on, and cross-off, and the energy values are mostly in the low hundreds or even double digits. There’s a glimmer on Thursday, August 13th in the afternoon when the wind goes glassy at 3 mph out of the north, but the swell is only 2 ft with a 11-second period, giving a combined energy of just 137 (weak). It’s surfable, but very ordinary.

The tail end of the forecast, Sunday, August 16th, sees a little bump back up to 5 ft from the SE with a 12-second period, but the morning cross-offshore wind is the only clean option before the wind turns onshore and the surf gets choppy again.

So, to wrap it up: if you’re an intermediate or expert, Wednesday morning, August 5th is your best bet. Dawn patrol at Hanamizu River (beach/sandbar) for a clean 8 ft SSE groundswell. It’s a fairly consistent spot, but with that kind of size and a NW offshore wind, it could get a bit of a local crowd, so be prepared for company. For the rest of the run, it’s a lot of waiting and watching the forecast.

Rusty.

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