Keaulanas Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, folks, Rusty here. Let’s talk about the stretch ahead.

The opening days are a bit of a washout. Tuesday’s got some bumpy, cross-onshore wind and a messy 8ft of short-period swell. Not worth your time. But hold on, because things glass off nicely from Wednesday morning. The wind drops right out, and we get a clean 3ft of long-period SSW groundswell rolling through Keaulanas (Big Island). It’s not huge, but it’s lined up and the water’s sitting at a normal 81°F for this time of year. That’s a decent window to get wet.

Wednesday afternoon stays glassy too, with a touch less energy. The swell dips a bit on Thursday, dropping to 2ft, even though the period stretches out. It’s clean with cross-offshore winds, but it’s marginal. Friday and Saturday look like more of the same – small but clean, with the swell holding around 2ft and periods in the sweet spot. These are good days for a longboard or a fish, just getting some nice lines.

Sunday’s still clean but the swell’s fading fast, down to 1ft to 2ft. It’s surfable, but ordinary. Then we hit that mid-week lull. Monday’s tiny. Then there’s a real standout hiding in the second week. Tuesday the 15th, the energy jumps back up, with a combined energy reading of 531, and we’ve got 3ft of SSW groundswell at 20 seconds. That’s proper groundswell. Winds are light cross-off, so it should be shaping up nicely. Wednesday the 16th looks even better – 3ft at 18 seconds, with a combined energy of 575 to 630, and a glassy afternoon session on the cards. That’s the pick of the bunch so far.

After that, the consistency gets more questionable. There’s a pulse of 4ft on Thursday the 17th, but it’s from the NW and the period drops to 12 seconds, and the wind picks up. Then we see a run of days with moderate cross-offshore winds and a lot of “marginal” surf. The swell stays around 3ft to 4ft, but it’s not as clean as the mid-week highlight. The wind stays pretty stiff – 15 to 18 mph at times – so the surface is going to get chopped up.

Right at the end of the window, on Tuesday the 22nd, there’s another glimmer. A moderate offshore wind kicks in and the swell turns to the NNW, with 3ft at 14 seconds and a combined energy of 509. That could be a fun, clean drop-in. And Wednesday the 23rd has a similar story, with a bit more push from the SSW.

So, bottom line: the first few days are a wash. The standout is definitely Wednesday the 16th – clean, glassy, with a solid SSW groundswell. The Tuesday the 15th is a close second. The stretches in between are small or windy, so pick your windows carefully. There are a few longer gaps of a couple days where it just won’t be worth paddling out.

Rusty out.

Read more