Mount Maunganui Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s cooking for Mount Maunganui.

Right off the bat, I gotta be straight with you – this is one of those outlooks where you might wanna take up another hobby for a bit. The whole 16-day window is looking pretty grim, with a long stretch of tiny, weak waves. The first recommendation doesn't even pop up until Friday the 18th of September, and even then, it's not anything to write home about.

For the first five days, from Sunday the 13th through to Thursday the 17th, we're looking at flat, weak conditions. Swell heights are stuck at 1 ft, coming from the NE, with combined energy readings barely cracking 30. That's about as weak as it gets. The water temp is sitting at 58°F, which is about average for this time of year. You'll get some glassy conditions on Monday afternoon the 14th, but with no swell to push around, it’s just a flat, pretty lake. There's a long period of poor surf with almost no energy.

Now, we finally see a pulse of energy arrive on Friday morning the 18th. The swell bumps up to 5 ft from the NNE, but it’s a short-period 7-second windswell. The combined energy hits 273, which is moderate, but the quality just isn't there. The wind is cross-off from the WSW, which is clean, but it's short-period stuff breaking on a beach. It's likely to be a bit of a messy, dumpy wave. That morning session is the best we've got, with “expect good surf conditions” in the data. The afternoon sees it drop off, and it stays ordinary through Saturday.

After that little blip, we drop back into the doldrums. From Sunday the 20th right through to the end of the outlook on Monday the 28th, it’s back to tiny waves under 2 ft and combined energy levels well under 100. There’s a glimpse of light offshore winds on Sunday morning the 20th, but on a 2 ft swell, it’s barely a ripple.

So, the only standout here is the Friday morning session on the 18th of September. It’s the most size we’ll see, and it’ll be clean. But don’t expect perfection – it’s a short-period windswell, so it’ll be a bit lumpy and fat. Still, for the desperate among you, that’s your window. It’s a beginner-friendly break by nature, so that size is fine, but the quality is ordinary.

To sum it up: a long dry spell, a brief pulse of mediocre but surfable waves on Friday the 18th, and then flat again. It’s a tough run for the Mount.

Rusty.

Read more