Salamumu Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, family, Rusty here. Let’s talk about the surf coming down the pipe for the next couple of weeks. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, so let’s get into it.

We’re starting off this stretch with a bit of a flat, bumpy run. The first few days, Sunday the 16th and Monday the 17th, are nothing to write home about. The swell’s tiny, only around 3ft to 3ft, and the wind’s got some cross to it. Sunday is straight-up messy, with a fresh breeze chopping things up. Monday cleans up a little as that ENE wind backs off, but it’s still just marginal, rideable but nothing that’ll get the heart racing. The energy in the water is weak, around 634, so it’s just not doing much.

Now, here’s where things start to get interesting. Tuesday the 18th is your standout of this whole window, no question. We start to see a real pulse of energy. The morning is looking good with a 5ft SW swell, a light NE cross-offshore breeze, and the energy reading jumps to 1064. Then it gets even better. By the afternoon, it’s glassy, with a slight air, the swell bumps up to 5ft, and the energy is pumping at 1269. This is clean, lined-up, and has some push behind it. For the experienced crew at Salamumu, this is the session to point the car towards. It’s a reef, so that long-period 16-second swell is going to wrap in nicely and give you some proper shape. This is the one. Don’t sleep on it.

Wednesday the 19th is a step back. The wind shifts onshore, and things get that bumpy, cross-choppy texture to them. Swell holds around 5ft to 5ft, but the quality tanks. It’s a frustrating one, seeing good energy turn to poor surf.

Then we hit a rough patch. From Thursday the 20th all the way through to Monday the 31st, it’s a long stretch of strong cross-onshore winds. We’re talking fresh to strong breezes, mostly out of the SE, and sometimes hitting 25-28 mph. The surf gets lumpy, messy, and choppy as all hell. There’s some serious energy in the water during this run—check out the 2544 reading on the 22nd when the swell is over 7ft—but it’s all for nothing. The wind just tears it apart. It’s going to be a week or more of blown-out, difficult conditions. Honestly, with that much wind and a swell that size, this stretch is looking far better for the kite crew than for us paddle surfers. The waves will be there, but you won’t want to be on a shortboard in that mess.

Just when you think it might settle, the last day of the month, Monday the 31st, throws a different kind of wave at us. We’ve got an 8ft swell, but check this out – the period has dropped to just 8 seconds. That’s a short-period wind swell, and with a fresh onshore wind still blowing, it’s going to be a bumpy, jumbled mess. It might have size, but it will be the kind of size that’s more of a washing machine than a wave. For the few of you who are experts, it could be a shallow, technical challenge, but for everyone else, it’s another day to stay on the beach. That water’s sitting right around average for this time of year, nothing wild happening there.

So, to sum it up: chase that Tuesday the 18th. It’s the clear winner. The rest is either flat, blown-out, or just plain messy. The long-range stuff on the 29th and 30th has more size, but as of now, the wind is still ruining it. It’s promising, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for it to clean up. We’ll see if the models shift. Rusty, out.

Read more