Te Ikaamaru Bay Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, I’m gonna be straight with you. This is a tough one.

Te Ikaamaru Bay is pretty much a complete write-off for the next 16 days, and there’s just no way around it. The finder has zero recommendations across the entire window, and I’m not seeing any surf worth paddling out for. The water temperature’s sitting at about 55° with an anomaly of about 1°, which is pretty much normal for this time of year, so that’s not the issue. The problem is the wind and the swell just aren’t lining up.

Right now, Wednesday afternoon the 19th, it’s cloudy with a strong S wind at 19 mph, and there’s no swell at all. That’s just the start of a long, frustrating stretch.

Thursday morning the 20th sees a tiny 0.3 ft swell from the NW with a period of 15 seconds, but it’s cross-off and still too weak to do anything with. That afternoon actually goes glassy with a light NE breeze, but again, no swell to speak of.

Friday the 21st might show a little pulse in the morning — 1 ft from the NW and a short 4-second period, with onshore WNW wind at 9 mph. But it’s weak and messy. By Friday afternoon, it’s 3 ft from the NNW, but with a 22 mph cross-on wind, it’s just lumpy and poor.

Then we hit a stretch of onshore slop. Saturday the 22nd through Tuesday the 25th, the swell height climbs to 5 ft – 7 ft, but it’s all from the NNW or NW, with periods under 7 seconds, and the wind is blowing strong onshore — often 25 to 31 mph from the NNW or NW. The energy is there, with values like 342 (moderate) on Saturday morning and 269 (moderate) on Saturday afternoon, but it’s all blown out.

Wednesday the 26th morning stays onshore with 4 ft and 97 energy, but by Wednesday afternoon, the wind shifts to SSE at 22 mph, cross-off, and the swell drops to 3 ft. Clean but tiny.

Thursday the 27th morning actually looks glassy with a WNW breeze at 3 mph, and a 4 ft NNW swell, but it’s still short period at 5 seconds and only 92 energy. Not enough to get excited about.

The rest of the run through to Thursday the 3rd of September stays poor. There’s a moderate sized pulse on the 28th August — 8 ft from the NNW but with a near gale cross-on wind at 31 mph, so it’s completely blown out. The 31st Monday morning has 6 ft from the NNW with 224 energy, but it’s cross-off from the SSE and clean, so that’s actually the closest to something workable. But it’s still scored as poor.

The truth is, for a break that’s fairly consistent normally, this is a cold, windy, and largely empty 16 days. The wind just won’t cooperate, and when it does, the swell is too small or too short period. There’s nothing here for a beginner or expert. Honestly, with the strong onshore winds and solid swell on the 22nd–25th, this setup looks more interesting for kite surfing than paddle surfing.

Sometimes you just have to wait it out. This is one of those times.

Rusty

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