Tawharanui Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here. Let's have a look at what's on offer for our little stretch of coast at Tawharanui.

To be straight with you, the next sixteen days are looking pretty grim. I've scoured the charts, and honestly, there's nothing worth getting the wetsuit wet for. The first proper recommendation doesn't even show up for a while, and when it does, it's a sad little blip. We're talking a long, flat spell here.

The water temp is sitting around 59°, which is pretty much what you'd expect for this time of year, no nasty surprises there.

Let's run through the dates. Monday the 14th and Tuesday the 15th are completely flat, with tiny 0.7ft swell from the NNE and a weak energy reading of only 18. You'd be chasing whitewash. Wednesday the 16th is even worse, just 0.3ft. Forget it.

Thursday the 17th actually sees a bit of a pulse, with the swell jumping to 4ft in the morning and 6ft in the afternoon from the north. The energy picks up to 84, and then 244 in the arvo, which is moderate. But here's the kicker: the wind is howling from the NNW at 18 mph, with rain and a risk of storms, making it a lumpy, cross-onshore mess. The period is a short, crumbly 5 to 6 seconds. That's not surf, that's a washing machine. It might look interesting for the kite crew, but not for a paddle surfer.

After that brief tease, we’re back to near-flat conditions for days. From Friday the 18th right through to the end of the month, it's a desert. We're looking at swell heights of 0.3ft to 1ft for the most part, with wave energy dribbling between 3 and 35. The wind does swing offshore from the SW at times, which would make for a glassy ocean, but there's simply no swell to ride. It's clean, it's pretty, and it's useless. The period on many of these days is around 10 to 13 seconds, which would be lovely for a groundswell, but there's no height to it.

So, the bottom line: there is no standout, no hidden gem, nothing to get excited about. This is one of those blank runs that just happens in this area. The conditions are clean for long stretches, and forecasts can change, but based on what I'm seeing right now, you might as well give the board a wax and a rest.

Rusty.

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