Tawharanui Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here.

Look, I’m gonna level with you. The next couple of weeks are looking pretty grim for a proper surf. We’ve got a long stretch of tiny, weak swell and iffy winds, so you might want to sort out your fishing gear or fix the roof. There’s a real gap in quality surf from right now through to the 23rd of August. Most days are showing nothing over 3ft, and a lot of that is short-period, onshore slop. The water temp at Tawharanui is sitting at 58°, which is pretty much average for this time of year, so nothing weird there.

The only real pulse of energy in the whole window hits on the 12th of August, Wednesday. We’ve got a bump in swell up to 6ft from the NE, and the combined energy gets up to 364. But, and it’s a big but, the wind is a fresh cross-onshore, and it’s raining. It’s going to be lumpy, messy, and pretty much a write-off for a paddle. The setup at Tawharanui (beach and reef) will just be a washing machine. Honestly, with that wind and size, it might be more interesting for the kite surfers than us.

Before that, Monday the 10th has a clean 4ft wave early with a light SW offshore, but it’s only 8 seconds of period and the energy is weak at 196. It’s surfable, but very ordinary. Tuesday morning the 11th is glassy with a 4ft wave, but again, it’s just weak and short-period. These are the best of a bad bunch, but I wouldn’t call them standouts.

After that wind event on Wednesday, it just drops away. We’re looking at days of 2ft or less. There’s a few clean mornings with offshore winds, like Saturday the 15th, but the swell is just too small to push you down the line. It’s flat, plain and simple. The period does get long on the 20th, with a 19-second groundswell, but it’s only 0.3ft. That’s not a wave, that’s a ripple.

Then, on the 23rd of August, Sunday, a little pulse shows up. It’s 2ft to 3ft from the NNE, and the energy climbs back to 114. The wind is cross-off, so it could be clean, but it’s still small. It’s a faint glimmer after a long flat spell, but not enough to get too excited about.

So, bottom line: there’s nothing that gets my heart racing in this whole 16-day stretch. The pick of the junk is Tuesday morning the 11th – it’s glassy and clean, but tiny. If you’re desperate, that’s your window. Otherwise, this is a good time to do other things. The ocean is just taking a break. Forecasts can change, but this one looks pretty locked in for a while.

Rusty.

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