Tawharanui Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here. Look, I’ve been staring at the charts for Tawharanui and, honestly, it’s a tough beat for the next couple of weeks. We’ve got a solid run of flatness and poor conditions stretching right across the board.

The whole 16-day window is basically a write-off for any kind of decent wave. From now right through to the end of the 16 days, you’re looking at tiny surf and very ordinary conditions. There’s a big gap of days with nothing worthwhile. The first hint of any real movement doesn’t show until around Saturday the 29th of August, and even then, it’s just a fleeting mention of surfable but very ordinary waves. That’s over five days of nothing but flat seas and poor surf.

For Tawharanui, we are talking about a beach and reef setup that needs a NE swell to get going. The water temp is sitting at 57°, which is right about average for the time of year. No surprises there.

Let’s break it down. The first week is flat. Monday the 24th through to Friday the 28th sees swell heights barely registering at 0.3 ft, with a pathetic combined swell energy of just 10. The wind is mostly offshore or cross-offshore, but there’s simply no energy to work with. It’s a total non-event.

Late on Saturday the 29th, we get a tiny pulse. The afternoon shows a 3 ft swell from the NNE with a period of 7 seconds and the combined energy climbs to 94 – that’s still weak, but it’s the best we’ll see. The wind swings offshore from the WSW at 12 mph, which would make it clean. But at that size and period, you’re not going to be getting into anything worthwhile. It’s surfable but very ordinary.

From Sunday the 30th onward, it’s back to poor surf. We get a few days of solid offshore winds, but the swell drops straight back to 2 ft or 2 ft with combined energy in the 40s and 60s. The wind gets fresh to strong later in the week, with a near gale on Thursday the 3rd of September making paddling out a real mission.

There’s one more faint flicker around Saturday the 5th of September, with a 4 ft NW swell, but the period is a short 5 seconds, the wind is cross-shore, and the combined energy is only 72. It’s messy and weak.

Honestly, there’s nothing here to get excited about. The best call in this whole outlook is that Saturday the 29th of August afternoon, but even that is a tough sell. For the rest, you’re better off doing something else. The wind is often offshore, which would clean things up if there was any swell, but there just isn’t. It’s a blank run, and for Tawharanui, this kind of extended flat spell is fairly normal for this time of year.

Stay patient, mate. Forecasts can change.

Rusty.

Read more