Tairua Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright folks, Rusty here. Let’s have a look at what’s coming up for Tairua Beach over the next couple of weeks.

Right off the bat, we’ve got a bit of a mixed bag. The forecast kicks off on Monday, 10th August with a clean, cross-off wind and a 5ft swell from the north. The waves are there, but the energy is only moderate (278). It’s surfable, but it’s not the kind of day that’ll have you calling in sick. This is a solid beginner zone, and with the water temp sitting about average for this time of year, you won’t need a steamer. The wind stays light and cross-off through to Tuesday morning, 11th August, when we get a glassy session with 3ft of north swell. That’s the pick of the early window – clean, small, and perfect for a longboard or a foamy. The energy drops to 134, but glassy conditions make it feel way better than the numbers suggest.

Now, the bad news. From Tuesday afternoon, 11th August, things go downhill fast. We get a run of onshore winds and rain that locks in for days. Wednesday the 12th kicks off with a 12 mph cross-on breeze and 3ft of messy swell. Thursday and Friday get worse – 5ft to 6ft of short-period, onshore slop with moderate energy (353 on Friday morning). That’s not surfable for a beginner, and even for a seasoned local, it’s just a battle. The wind is straight on, and the waves are choppy and weak. This stretch is a write-off. Saturday the 15th and Sunday the 16th offer some cleaner cross-off winds, but the swell drops to 2ft to 3ft. The energy is low (110 to 169), and the waves are just too small and weak to get excited about.

We hit a real lull from Monday the 17th through to Tuesday the 18th. The swell bottoms out at 1ft to 2ft, with energy down in the 40s to 80s. There’s offshore wind on Tuesday, but it’s literally ankle-high. This is a genuine gap in the surf.

The next glimmer of hope comes on Wednesday the 19th. A glassy morning with a 3ft southeast swell, but the period is a terrible 5 seconds. That’s a windswell, not a groundswell. The energy is only 83, so it’s surfable but very ordinary. Thursday the 20th is similar – 4ft of ESE swell, glassy, but again, short period (5 seconds) and moderate energy (147). It’s clean, but it’s not going to peel.

The best of the whole outlook, and I mean the only real standout, is the glassy session on Tuesday morning, 11th August. That’s your day. The wind is glass, the swell is 3ft from the north, and it’s a beginner-friendly spot. The crowd factor is “sometimes,” so you might have a few others out, but with conditions that clean, it’s worth the paddle. For the rest of the window, it’s a long stretch of onshore junk or tiny, weak swell. The long-range stuff around the 20th and 21st is clean but small, and by the 23rd, we’re back into onshore chop. Nothing else comes close to that Tuesday morning.

Stay tuned, forecasts can change, but right now, I’d pencil in that Tuesday session and wait for the next update.

Rusty.

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