Kahului Harbor Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s be straight with you—this is a tough one to write. The outlook for the next 16 days is a proper struggle. We’ve got a solid spot on the books, Kahului Harbor, but for the vast majority of the period, the conditions are just not cooperating.

The first recommendation doesn’t even pop up until the tail end of the window. That’s a long, quiet run from today, Saturday the 22nd of August, all the way through to the end of the month. We’re looking at a solid 10 days or so with nothing worth paddling out for. The wind is mostly cross or cross-onshore from the ENE, gusting up to 16 mph, and the swell is short-period windswell around 5 ft to 5 ft with a period of just 7 seconds. The combined energy sits in the moderate range (231–297), but the quality is just poor. The ocean is choppy, the wind is messy, and it’s just not doing anything for us.

Even when we get a little bump in energy around the 23rd and 24th, with combined energy hitting 440–442, the cross-onshore wind and rain showers kill it. The water temp is sitting at 80°, right around normal for this time of year, but that’s about the only thing that’s average.

The real standout, and I mean the *only* standout, comes on Thursday, the 3rd of September. The morning session at Kahului Harbor (Maui) is where it’s at. We’ve got a 7 ft swell coming from the ENE with a period of 8 seconds. The combined energy is strong at 543. The wind shifts to a light ESE breeze at 9 mph, blowing cross-offshore. That’s the key—this is the cleanest we’ll see the whole forecast. The break is a reef setup, so it handles that east energy well. It’s an advanced spot, consistent, and it can get crowded, but with the wind setting up like that, it’s the best ticket in town. It’s a small window of decent, clean surf, but for that one morning, it’s your best bet.

That said, the following days after that return to choppy, windy, and poor conditions. The swell sticks around 6 ft to 7 ft, but the wind comes back onshore, and by the 5th and 6th of September, we’re looking at fresh to gale-force winds from the NE at 19 to 47 mph, completely blowing the place out. That’s more of a kite-surfing setup than a paddle-surfing one.

So, there you have it. A long flat spell, then one clean morning on the 3rd of September. Mark it, but don’t hold your breath for the rest.

Rusty.

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