Suicide Cliffs Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get into it.

The next couple of weeks are a bit of a wild ride, honestly. We’ve got a serious pulse of energy coming, but it’s going to be way too much for our little corner of the world. We’re looking at a long stretch of nothing, then a period of absolute chaos, and then maybe a little window of something rideable if we’re patient.

First thing’s first, there’s no surf on offer right now. The water’s glassy with a touch of offshore wind on Thursday morning, but it’s flat. You’ll be sitting on your board staring at nothing. That’s the way it is for a few days.

Then, things get real heavy. Friday afternoon, the wind is going to be howling from the northwest at a hurricane-force 84 mph, and the swell is going to be a massive 33 ft from the northwest. This is a once-in-a-while kind of energy, with a combined energy reading of 27302, which is strong. But this is far too big for Suicide Cliffs (Big Island). It’s not even a question. This is a “watch from the cliff” kind of day, not a paddle-out day.

Saturday is even bigger. We’re talking 46 ft of swell from the south-southwest, with that energy jumping to 85762. That’s a mind-boggling amount of water moving. The wind is onshore and hurricane-force again. This is not surfing; this is survival. Only the most experienced chargers are even thinking about it, and even they’d be crazy. This is way over the 8 ft expert-only threshold.

Sunday the swell drops a bit to 20-23 ft, but it’s still way too big and the wind is still storm-force onshore. Forget it. This whole stretch from Friday to Sunday is a write-off. The setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing, to be honest.

Monday and Tuesday, the swell comes down but it's still 11-16 ft and the wind is a strong, messy cross-onshore. It’s blown out and lumpy. Not worth your time.

We then get a bit of a lull. Wednesday and Thursday of next week, the swell drops to 4-8 ft, but it’s not clean enough or big enough to get excited about. The water is still a touch warmer than normal, which is notable, but it’s not doing much for the waves.

There’s a small window on Thursday afternoon, the 13th. The swell is a tiny 4 ft from the southwest, but the wind goes light and cross-offshore, making it clean. It’s small, and the period is only 10 seconds, so it’s not going to be a world-beater, but it’s the cleanest it’s been in a while. It’s a maybe. A “fun if you’re desperate” sort of thing.

After that, it’s mostly small and unimpressive until the very end of the forecast. On the morning of Monday, August 17th, there’s a moment. The wind goes glassy, and we have a 3 ft southwest swell rolling in. It’s tiny, but it’s clean. The period is a short 8 seconds, so it’ll be a bit crumbly, but it’s the best we’ve had in a week. It’s a long shot.

Then, on August 20th, things get interesting again. The swell jumps to 10 ft from the south, with an offshore wind. The period is a short 8 seconds, so it’ll be a bit sloppy, but there’s energy there. It’s still a big, powerful swell and the offshore wind will make it hard to paddle into. It’s not for the faint of heart.

So, the long and short of it is: there’s nothing good on offer for a while. The big stuff is way too big, and the small stuff is too small. The standout, if you can call it that, is the window on Thursday the 13th and Monday the 17th, but they’re both small and not particularly clean. The energy at the end of the month is promising, but it’s a long way out, so take it with a grain of salt. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Rusty.

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