Piha-The Bar Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s break this down over the next couple of weeks. There’s plenty of swell, but a lot of it’s going to be a fight with the wind or just too damn big. The best windows are looking like late Thursday morning and Thursday afternoon of the 27th, and then again on Saturday, the 29th. For the rest, it’s messy, blown out, or just plain heavy.

First up on Wednesday the 26th, forget it. You’ve got a chunky 8ft swell from the WSW with a 14-second period, and the combined energy is strong at 2689, but the cross-on wind is just chopping it up.

Thursday the 27th is where we’ve got some hope. The early morning is clean with a light offshore wind at 10 km/h from the NNW, but the swell is still a hefty 7ft from the WSW. The real magic happens Thursday afternoon. The wind drops to dead glass (0 km/h), and we’ve got a solid 7ft swell from the WSW at 13 seconds. The combined energy is still strong (1400), but with absolute glass, this will be excellent for experienced surfers. That’s your best call for the early part of this run.

Friday the 28th is a skip. The swell drops right off to 3ft, but the cross-on breeze kills any quality. Poor conditions.

Saturday the 29th is another highlight. The morning has a light cross-off breeze and a 4ft swell from the WSW, clean and workable. The afternoon gets even better with a 7ft swell from the WSW and a 12-second period, still with that clean cross-off wind. The combined energy is strong at 1401, and it’s expected to be very good for experienced surfers. This is the other standout.

Sunday the 30th goes downhill fast. The swell jumps to 10ft in the morning with a fresh cross-shore, then 12ft in the afternoon with a lumpy cross-onshore. Not good.

Monday the 31st is a big one, but it’s too big. We’re looking at 15ft of SW swell, with a period around 13-14 seconds, and the combined energy is massive (6764-8085). It’s explicitly stated to be too big for the break. This is for expert-only, at a minimum, and even then, the conditions are likely challenging.

From there, Tuesday, 1st September, through to the end of the forecast on the 10th, it’s a grim pattern of large, windy, messy surf. Tuesday the 1st has 13ft in the morning with a cross-onshore, then it drops a bit, but the wind stays poor. Wednesday and Thursday of that week are the same story: big swell (10ft to 13ft), but cross-onshore winds and lumpy conditions.

We get another pulse around the 3rd and 4th of September, with swells of 12ft to 13ft and periods of 15-16 seconds, but the wind is either onshore or strong cross-onshore. The combined energy values in the later stages (over 9000 and even 12,000+) show how much power is in the water, but it’s all for nothing with the wind.

The final week, from the 6th to the 10th of September, looks the same. Huge swells, often over 13ft and up to 21ft on the 8th, with very high energy levels. The wind occasionally goes cross-shore, but the comment is that it’s either “too big for the break” or the conditions are poor. The period on the 6th of September is a very long 17 seconds for the WSW swell, so expect long, lully sets that will be heavy and walled up. This is serious, serious water.

For now, the absolute best of the bunch is the glassy Thursday afternoon, 27th August. The swell is a good size, the direction is right from the SW for Piha-The Bar, and with zero wind, it’ll be pure. The Saturday 29th afternoon is your other great call, with clean, workable surf.

Rusty.

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