Kewalos Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let’s take a good, hard look at what’s on offer for the next couple of weeks around Kewalos.

First off, I gotta be straight with you – this is a tough stretch. The only real break that’s flagged for this entire forecast period is Kewalos, an advanced reef setup. Right now, there’s basically nothing worth paddling out for. The surf is just not cooperating, and we’re looking at a long, quiet run.

The first few days are a wash. We start off on Sunday morning, July 5th, with some small, long-period swell pushing in. It’s a 3ft SSW groundswell with a period of 18 seconds. That’s a classic long-period groundswell, which can be tricky on a reef – it can get a bit too straight and fat. The wind is howling out of the ENE at 22 mph, which is cross-offshore, so it’s not helping the shape. The wave energy is sitting at 861 (moderate), but the whole thing is a write-off – the forecast calls it poor surf conditions. That carries right through the afternoon, too.

Honestly, from there, it’s a grim outlook. Monday the 6th through to Saturday the 11th is a total bust. We get a pulse of short-period, wind-affected ENE swell coming in, but it’s all rated as poor surf conditions. The wind stays onshore or cross-offshore. There’s a couple of “marginal” calls on the 10th and 11th, but with 6ft to 7ft of sloppy, short-period (7 seconds) swell and that stiff breeze, it’s not going to be any fun. The energy levels are all over the place, from the mid-500s to low 700s (moderate to strong), but it’s just messy.

Then we hit a bit of a lull. Sunday the 12th through Monday the 13th, the swell drops back down to 3ft from the SW, with a longer period again (15-16 seconds). The energy is moderate (650-750), but it’s still called marginal. The wind is lighter at 19 mph, but still from the ENE. It’s a tease – you might see a clean wave here and there, but it won’t be consistent.

The real kicker is that the rest of the outlook goes from bad to worse. From Tuesday the 14th all the way through to Monday the 20th of July, it’s a solid grinder of ENE windswell with periods of 7 to 8 seconds, and wave heights ranging from 5ft up to a peak of 8ft. For an advanced reef break, 8ft is meaty, but with that short, weak period combined with a constant 16 to 22 mph cross-offshore wind, you’re looking at a choppy, bumpy mess. The wave energy is moderate to strong (500-740), but the quality just isn’t there. Almost every session is called “poor surf conditions” or only “marginal.”

For a break like Kewalos, which is an exposed SSE-facing reef that loves a good southerly groundswell, this run of ENE windswell is just wrong. The optimum direction is SSE, and we barely see a whisper of that. The water temp is a warm 80°F, which is about normal for this time of year, so you’ll be comfortable if you go, but you won’t be surfing.

Bottom line: There’s no standout option here. This is a 16-day blank period for any decent surf. If you’re desperate, the least-bad window might be that tiny 3ft 16-second SSW groundswell on the morning of Sunday the 12th, but with that cross-wind, you’d be wasting your time. With this much consistent swell but almost uniformly poor quality and strong winds, and given it’s a reef, this setup actually looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing for the bulk of the forecast. Head elsewhere or take a break.

Rusty.

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