Tawharanui Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, surfers, Rusty here. Let's have a look at what's on the table for the Tawharanui region over the next couple of weeks. Honestly, it’s a bit of a slow burner. We’ve got a big patch of small, flat days to work through before any real action shows up.

Right now, and for the next several days, it’s pretty gutless. The water is sitting at 57°F, which is about bang on average for this time of year, so that’s one thing we don’t have to complain about. But the surf? Forget it. From Friday the 28th of August right through until the end of the first week of September, we are looking at tiny, weak waves. The combined energy is barely registering, with values like 91 and even dropping down to 15 for that tiny 1ft stuff. There’s a window around the 30th of August where we get a clean, offshore wind from the SW, but the swell is a pathetic 2ft to 3ft, so it’s not worth paddling out for. We are looking at a solid 8 to 10 days of nothing worth chasing. It’s a real quiet spell.

Things start to look a little more interesting as we head into the second week. On Monday the 7th of September, the morning is still small, but by the afternoon a moderate cross-shore wind kicks in and the swell bumps up to 6ft from the north, with moderate wave energy (228). The wind isn't perfect, it’s a bit messy, but it’s the first sign of life. The real standout, though, and the one to circle on your calendar, is Tuesday the 8th of September. We’ve got a solid 7ft swell from the NNW, and the combined energy is strong at 524. This is serious size. The period is a short 8 seconds, so it’s not groundswell, but there’s a lot of water moving. The problem is the wind is cross-onshore and lumpy, coming from the NNW at 19 mph. This is going to chop it right up. This size, over 8ft, is expert territory. For a beach and reef setup like Tawharanui, with that onshore wind, it could be more of a kite-surfing day than a clean paddle session. The conditions are poor for a good wave face, but the energy is definitely there.

After that pulse, it fades out quickly. Wednesday the 9th has a tiny window with clean conditions and a light offshore, but the swell drops to 3ft with weak energy (86). Then we are back to small, clean but tiny conditions for the rest of the forecast period. A brief flash of 4ft on Saturday the 12th of September, but the wind is howling at 25 mph offshore. Strong offshore wind and a short-period swell is going to make it a battle to get out and the waves will be hard to catch.

So, the short story: for this 16-day window at Tawharanui, the pickings are slim. The Tuesday the 8th of September is the only day with real size and power, but the wind ruins it for a quality surf. Don't get your hopes up until then.

Rusty.

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