Honokohau Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G'day, Rusty here. I'll level with you—this next stretch at Honokohau is a tough one. We've got a solid 16-day window ahead, but there's no proper surf on offer, and the wind is just going to ruin most of it.

Right from this Sunday the 2nd, it's messy. There's a decent looking 2.2m ENE swell rolling in, but it's carrying a short 8-second period and a fresh cross-shore breeze is just tearing the surface up. It's lumpy, choppy junk (combined energy 892), and the afternoon at 2.0m isn't any better (752). That's a zero-score day, not worth suiting up for.

Monday the 3rd, the wind eases a touch, but it's still cross-shore. The swell drops a bit to 1.6m, but the short period keeps it mixed up and unappealing. Still a poor surf day. Tuesday the 4th sees the period jump to 11 seconds, which means a bit more energy behind it, but the surface is still getting chopped by that cross-shore wind. It's a case of looks better on paper than it will in the water.

Now, about the water temp—it's sitting right on the long-term average for this time of year, so no worries about thermals, but that's the only thing that's average about it.

Wednesday the 5th and Thursday the 6th are more of the same—small, weak swell and a wind that won't let off. Thursday morning, the wind actually turns more cross-off and it cleans up (it gets labeled 'clean'), but the swell is only 1.3m with a short 8-second period. It's extremely marginal and not enough to get excited about.

Then we hit the flat spell. Friday the 7th morning, the swell just drops off a cliff—only 0.3m with a 7-second period (combined energy 11). There's literally no surf. That dead stretch runs through the entire weekend and into the early part of next week. From the 8th to the 12th, the swell does rebuild to around 1.6m, but it's all short-period, ENE windswell, and the wind blows fresh and cross-shore or onshore the whole time. Day after day of poor surf conditions. You'd be better off taking a break.

Alright, here's the hopeful part. The long-range charts are showing a bit of improvement, but it’s still not going to be a classic. Thursday the 13th and Friday the 14th, the wind is forecast to go more cross-offshore in the mornings, which will clean up the faces. The swell is still only 2-1.8m from the east with that short 7-second period, but at least the surface will be glassy. The energy is starting to build too, with the combined energy hitting 598 by Friday morning. But it's still that short-period windswell, so it'll be breaking soft and close together. Not the kind of powerful, grinding groundswell Honokohau is known for.

Saturday the 15th, the wind is back on it, ruining the surface again with another 1.8m of messy swell. And then it leads into the biggest swell of the forecast. Sunday the 16th and Monday the 17th, the swell ramps up to 2.2m and then 2.3m. That's a serious amount of water moving, and the combined energy gets over 800, which is a strong reading. But with that short 8-second period, it's going to be a brutal, unruly mess. It's big, it's powerful, but it's not clean. That's strictly for the experts, and honestly, I'd think twice about paddling out. With that much swell and that poor a wind, it looks more like a day for the kite surfers to have fun than us.

So, the honest verdict is this: there are no good surf days in this 16-day window. The closest we get is those clean-ish mornings from the 13th to the 16th, where you'll get a small, mediocre wave and a clean surface. It's the best of a bad bunch, but you're not going to be getting any barrels.

Stay patient. These flat spells don't last forever, and the forecasts are always changing. I'll be keeping a close eye on the charts for that next proper swell.

Rusty.

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