Karekare Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Righto, let’s have a look at what’s cooking for Karekare over the next couple of weeks. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, so grab a coffee and let’s walk through it.

We’ve got some proper muscle in the water early on, but the wind just won’t play ball for most of the run. The first real chance to get a wave comes on Wednesday, the 9th of September. The swell settles to a manageable 5ft from the WSW, with a period of 12 seconds – that's a nice, clean groundswell. The wind goes super light, turning glassy in the afternoon. It’s going to be clean, with combined swell energy sitting at a moderate 843 in the morning. This is where you wanna be.

Thursday the 10th starts with a weird one: a long-period 18-second swell at 4ft, but with a strong onshore wind. The morning is marginal at best, and the afternoon gets chopped up. Not a day for it.

Then we hit a massive wall of swell. From Friday the 11th right through to the middle of the following week, the ocean is just angry. We’re talking 13ft to 20ft swells from the SW and WSW, with combined energy readings soaring into the thousands and even hitting the five-digit mark – 17900 on Friday afternoon, for instance. This is purely for the experts, and even then, the onshore and cross-shore winds are howling at 22 to 31 mph. It’s messy, it’s dangerous, and honestly, it looks more like a kite surfing gig than a paddling session.

After that big blow, things start to settle down again. By Saturday the 19th, the swell is dropping back to 10ft, but it’s still too big and wobbly. You’ll have to wait until the 22nd of September, a Tuesday, for the real gem. On Tuesday morning, we get a clean 7ft swell from the WSW, with an offshore wind from the ESE at just 9 mph. The period is a solid 14 seconds, giving the waves real shape and power. The combined energy is a moderate 1768. This is excellent, clean surf for experienced surfers. Karekare can get crowded, so just a heads up – you might have some company out there. The water temperature is about average for this time of year, so no dramas there.

Wednesday the 23rd is still worth a look, with a cleaner 5ft swell, but it’s a little more marginal.

So, to sum it up: the standout is Wednesday the 9th of September for the clean, glassy surf, and Tuesday the 22nd of September is the absolute pick of the bunch for a proper, clean session on a solid swell. Everything in between is either too big, too windy, or too lumpy to bother with.

Rusty.

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