Kawaihae Breakwater Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Right on, grab a seat. Rusty here, and we’re looking at a pretty flat run for the next couple of weeks around the Kawaihae area. Honestly, it’s one of those stretches where you might be better off checking the reef at low tide for a crab or just chilling with a cold one. The swell just isn’t showing up to the party.

Let’s break it down from the start. The outlook kicks off on Thursday the 13th of August, and straight away we’re seeing tiny, weak WNW swell around 1.0 ft. The energy in the water is nothing special, sitting at 28 (weak). Winds are blowing offshore from the NE at 16 mph, so the surface might look clean, but the waves are just too small to get excited about. It’s a “poor” call from top to bottom, and that carries right through the whole first week.

Friday the 14th is even smaller, with the swell dropping to 0.7 ft on Friday morning, and by the afternoon it’s a ghostly 0.3 ft with a super long period (17 seconds), which tells you it’s just leftover energy with no push. Saturday the 15th is flat. The swell disappears completely for a moment there.

We do see a little bump on Sunday the 16th afternoon with 1 ft from the WNW and glassy conditions, but the energy is still only 49 (weak). The waves are there, but they’re weak and unshapely. That pattern of tiny, low-energy swell continues right through until the morning of Wednesday the 19th.

Now, Wednesday the 19th is where things get a very slight nudge. Both the morning and afternoon show 1 ft from the WNW with a period of 12 seconds. The combined energy creeps up to 73 (still weak), but it’s described as “surfable waves but very ordinary conditions.” The wind goes glassy – NNE at 3 mph – so it’ll be clean, but “ordinary” is the key word. This is the best we get in the first week, but I wouldn’t call it a standout.

The following week is more of the same. Thursday the 20th through to the end of the period keeps pumping out tiny swell, mostly 0.7 ft to 1 ft, with energy values that mostly stay under 100. The winds are often offshore or glassy, especially on Thursday the 21st morning with a 1 ft SW swell and glassy conditions (energy 91, still weak). The water temperature is about average for this time of year, nothing unusual there.

If you’re desperate, the best on offer in the entire 16 days is probably the window around Wednesday the 19th and Thursday the 21st, where you get a clean surface and a little bit of energy. But let’s be real – the swell is tiny, and the quality is nothing to write home about. For beginners, it’s fine, because it’s never over 5 ft, but for anyone with a shred of ambition, you’re better off waiting.

Crowds at Kawaihae Breakwater can happen sometimes, but with this lack of wave energy, you’ll likely have the place to yourself. It’s a reef setup, and with such long-period swell (over 15 seconds on some days), the waves will tend to jack up and be more suited to reef breaks like this one, but they just won’t have any power.

The long-range calls are for the last few days – the 25th to the 28th – and they’re even more unremarkable. The energy is pathetic, the swell is tiny, and the period is short (around 10 seconds) on most of those days. There’s one tiny glimmer on the 28th morning with 1.0 ft from the WNW and a period of 16 seconds, giving 82 energy, and clean offshore wind. That’s about as good as it gets, but it’s still a long way off and not worth holding your breath for.

Overall, this is a lean period. It’s a normal thing for the area when the trade winds are light and the swell windows are shut. Don’t panic – forecasts can change, and it won’t stay this quiet forever.

Rusty.

Read more