Honokohau Harbour Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right. Let’s talk about the next couple of weeks around Honokohau Harbour. I’ll be honest with you, we’re looking at a proper dry spell for most of this run. The little reef setup at Honokohau Harbour (Hawaii) will be working, but it’s not gonna give us much to get excited about for long stretches.

The water here is sitting at 82°, which is a touch warmer than normal for this time of year – nothing crazy, but noticeable when you’re sitting out there waiting.

From now through to about the 4th of September, the story is pretty flat and frustrating. There’s a lot of days where the swell is just too small or the wind is messing with things. You’ll see little pulses of 2 ft to 3 ft, mostly from the SSW, but the wind is often cross-on or onshore. Nothing really clicks.

Even the combined wave energy bounces around between 164 and 399 (moderate at best), but the quality just isn’t there. There’s a couple of moments where it goes glassy – like Sunday afternoon the 23rd of August, with 2 ft SSW – but that’s just too small to bother.

Honestly, the only time I’d even raise an eyebrow is on the morning of 28th August. We’ve got a tiny 3 ft NNE swell with a period of only 5 seconds, and it’s glassy. That’s just a little knee-high windswell, and the energy is super weak at 46. Not really surfable, but if you’re desperate and the water’s like glass, maybe you get a fun little wobble.

Then there’s a proper dead gap from around 30th August right through to the 2nd of September. We’re talking barely any swell, and what’s there is tiny. A couple of glassy mornings with 1 ft and energy under 130 – that’s a lake, not surf.

The only glimmer in the whole window shows up on the 4th of September, Friday afternoon. A 2 ft SSW swell with a period of 19 seconds – that’s proper groundswell. The combined energy jumps to 723, which is strong. The wind is light cross-on, so it won’t be perfect, but this is the most energy we’ll see for the whole 16 days. That said, 2 ft with that long period isn’t gonna be a clean wave at a reef that’s fairly exposed WNW – the swell direction doesn’t really match the optimum. It’s marginal at best.

So yeah, my take is: there’s no standout session here. If you’ve got a kite, those breezy afternoons with moderate cross-onshore wind and a little more swell might be more your speed. But for a paddle surfer? This is a long, quiet stretch.

That said, the break itself is “consistent,” so it won’t stay this poor forever. Forecasts change. But right now, I’d be hanging the board up for a bit and checking back in a week or so.

Rusty

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