Teahupo’o Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, let’s get into it.

The next couple of days are a write-off for Teahupo’o. We’ve got a decent-sized, but short-period swell bumping in, and a fresh cross-shore ESE breeze that’s got the lineup all lumpy and chopped up. It’s not looking surfable. The energy is there, moderate at 930 on Sunday morning, but it's messy.

Looking ahead, things start to clean up on Tuesday the 18th. The wind drops right out as the day goes on, turning glassy by the afternoon. The swell drops a touch to 4ft, but it’s coming from the SSE with a solid 14-second period (1427 combined energy). That’s when it starts to get interesting. This is the window we’ve been waiting for. It’s still a heavy wave, and it’s only for experienced surfers, but it will be clean and proper.

Wednesday the 19th also has potential. The morning has a little cross-on wind, but the afternoon swings to a westerly and goes glassy again. The swell is a similar 4ft, but a touch more from the SSW, which is the optimum direction here. It’s going to be open and grinding, and with the glassy conditions, it’ll be as good as it gets. This morning and afternoon window is likely the standout of the first week.

Then the window closes. From Thursday the 20th, things get real again. A bigger SSW swell fills in, but the wind goes onshore and it just turns to crap. 7ft plus of bumpy, cross-onshore slop. That lasts for days, with the energy really kicking up – we're looking at moderate to strong energy readings, like 2555 on the 22nd and even 3268 on the 23rd. It’s just a mess of whitewater. Kite surfers might be having a blast, but for a paddle surfer, it’s not even worth paddling out.

The wind stays riddled with a cross-shore ESE for the rest of the week and into the start of the next. Even when the swell stays around 6ft - 8ft, the quality is just not there. The long-period SSW groundswell on the 27th through the 29th will be there, and the energy is strong (2914 on the 28th), but that cross-shore wind is going to make it a battle.

There is some hope for the final stretch. The 29th and 30th of August see that wind ease a bit, turning cross-off and the wave description finally says “clean”. The swell is still up around 7ft to 7ft, but if that wind holds, it could be a big, powerful, and grindable Teahupo’o. That’s a long-range call though, so treat it as promising but not a guarantee. The energy is pumping by then, reaching a strong 4337 on the 29th. Could be serious.

The water temp is sitting at 79°, which is pretty much spot on for this time of year, nothing weird going on there.

So, to keep it simple: Sunday and Monday are a wash. Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday are your best bets for the here and now. Then we’re in a bad stretch of wind and swell until the very end of the window, where the 29th and 30th of August could be the real sleeper hits. But that’s a long way out.

Rusty.

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