Teahupo’o Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, grab your leggie rope and wax your board. Rusty here, giving you the raw run-down for the next couple of weeks. This one’s a real mixed bag, so we gotta be patient.

Teahupo’o is the only game in town, and it’s a fickle beast. Right now, we’re looking at a pretty flat spell to kick things off. For the first week, from Monday 6 July right through to almost the end of the weekend, the wind has got this place all messed up. We’ve got moderate to fresh onshore breezes kicking up chop, and the swell is coming from the wrong direction – straight out of the south and southeast. The wave energy is weak to moderate, sitting between 376 and 1040 on the energy scale, but it doesn’t matter because the wind is just trashing it. It’s poor surf conditions, so don’t bother paddling out. A total write-off.

Now, things start to look interesting towards the middle of the second week. We’re watching a real promising window opening up. Real promising.

Tuesday morning, 14 July, is our first brilliant call. The wind drops to glassy, dead calm. The swell bumps up to a solid 7 ft, a proper groundswell with a long 16 second period and coming from the southwest – bang on the optimum direction. The energy is strong at 2330. This is the day for the experienced crew only – it’s over 5 ft and well into the bigger stuff, so time to leave the foamies at home. The water temp is 80°, which is bang on average for the time of year, so no surprises there.

We get some onshore wind returning in the afternoon, making it a bit messy, and the next few days are choppy again thanks to the southerly breeze. The swell hangs around, 7 ft to 8 ft, but the wind is doing its best to spoil it. It goes a bit lumpy. Friday 17 July to Saturday 18 July is all cross-offshore and clean but the swell drops and the energy is moderate (1005 to 664). Still worth a look if you’re desperate for a wave.

But hold onto your hats. The real standout is the following Monday, 20 July. Monday morning you’ve got a clean 6 ft with a light north-easterly cross-offshore wind, and the energy is climbing to 1890. Then Monday afternoon looks even better – a clean 7 ft swell from the southwest, period 13 seconds, and the wind goes almost completely still out of the east at just 3 mph. The energy jumps right up to 2791. This is a magic window. It’s borderline expert territory size-wise, but the conditions will be near-perfect.

Then Tuesday 21 July rolls in with a big 10 ft swell from the southwest, 14 seconds, hitting hard with energy over 3000. That’s a big, powerful, heavy swell. For a reef like Teahupo’o, this is strictly for the absolute top-tier tube riders. The wind is a gentle cross-shore, so it won’t be completely clean, but the size will make it a spectacle.

So, for the second week of July, keep your eyes peeled on the 14th for the glassy opener, and then make sure you’re free on the 20th and 21st for what could be the best swell of the run. They’re a bit far out, so the details could change, but this is the kind of forecast you live for. Stay stoked.

Rusty.

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