Tairua Bar Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, this is Rusty checkin' in for a look at Tairua Bar. The next 16 days are a bit of a mixed bag, with some early potential that gets swallowed up by a lot of onshore crud for the better part of a week. There's a glimmer of clean conditions right at the start, but you'll have to be patient and wait for a window of truly clean, offshore winds later on.

Let's kick things off on Monday, July 6th. The morning starts with some rain and a fresh cross-offshore NNW breeze at 19 mph. There’s a short-period, 7ft northerly swell pushing through, but the wave energy is fairly moderate at 629. Honestly, the report calls it poor surf conditions, so you'd be battling more than you'd be riding. The water temp is a pretty average 60°F for this time of year with only a 0.2°F anomaly, so no surprises there.

Monday afternoon, the swell picks up a bit more to 8ft from the NNW with a period of 9 seconds and a much stronger energy reading of 1474. The wind backs off to 12 mph from the NNW, still cross-off. The notes call this marginal, likely due to tide or the swell size. This is borderline for most surfers and definitely too much for beginners.

Tuesday the 7th is a write-off with onshore and cross-onshore ENE winds. The swell is a messy, short-period 5ft to 6ft, so you're looking at poor conditions.

Wednesday the 8th has a bit more promise as a SSW wind swings in at 12 mph, giving us a cross-off look. Swell drops back to a cleaner 4ft from the ESE with a nice 10-second period, but the energy is moderate (812). The forecast is still only marginal, but the morning session could have a few workable ones. Thursday the 9th looks like a real highlight. A light SSW breeze at 6 mph creates a clean, cross-off wind. Swell is a consistent 4ft from the east with a good 10-second groundswell period. Wave energy is moderate (318). The forecast even notes "expect good surf conditions" for the morning. This is your pick of the first week – clean, rideable waves for intermediates and above.

After that, we hit a long, flat patch. From Friday the 10th all the way through to Tuesday the 14th, the surf drops off considerably. We’re looking at weak swells under 3ft with a lot of cross and onshore winds, and the combined energy readings are mostly in the double digits - very weak. Wednesday the 15th brings a change. A light offshore WNW wind at 9 mph cleans things right up. We have a small, short-period 5ft swell from the north with 253 energy. It's surfable but very ordinary.

Thursday the 16th is even smaller, with a 2ft north swell and glassy conditions in the morning. For the patient surfer, this is a small window to get some clean, though weak, waves.

Things get funky again from Friday the 17th through the following week. There's a pulse of 7ft short-period north swell on the 18th, but it comes with onshore flow and rain. That'll be a messy one. The rest of the period is dominated by strong to gale-force onshore winds, rain, and tiny remaining swell. Not a lot to get excited about.

So, for Tairua Bar, the standout day is Thursday morning, July 9th. Clean conditions with a solid 4ft easterly groundswell and light offshore winds. It won't be a massive day, but it'll be the cleanest and most surfable of the bunch. Everything else is either too windy, too small, or too messy to get a solid session in.

Rusty.

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