Tengan Surf Forecast and Surf Report

G’day, Rusty here.

Alright, I’ve had a good look at Tengan, and I’ll level with you: it’s a tough stretch ahead. The whole 16-day window is one long quiet period with nothing worth paddling out for. Every single session is rated as poor surf conditions, so there are no standouts, no hidden gems, no windows of opportunity. The swell barely breaks 1ft to 3ft for most of the run, and even when it does push up a little around the 20th and 21st of August, the wind is a messy cross-onshore or onshore breeze that ruins any chance of shape.

Let’s walk through it. Starting Tuesday the 11th of August, it’s tiny—2ft from the east with a 12-second period, but that’s a southeast cross-onshore wind at 9 mph making it choppy. Combined wave energy is a weak 73. That theme sticks: Wednesday the 12th drops to 1ft, Thursday the 13th holds at 2ft but with a short 8-second period from the north. Friday the 14th sees 1ft from the north, and Saturday the 15th is just 1ft. For days, it’s flat and forgettable, with light breezes and small crossing ripples or clean conditions, but the swell is simply too small to ride.

A slight bump appears on Sunday the 16th, with 3ft from the east-southeast at 6 seconds, but it’s cross-onshore again at 9 mph, so lumpy. Monday the 17th is similar at 3ft, but the wind picks up to 12 mph from the east-southeast, making it choppy. Tuesday the 18th turns onshore from the east at 16 mph, and the swell period drops to 4–5 seconds—just wind chop.

Thursday the 20th of August is the biggest swell of the whole period: 7ft in the morning and 8ft in the afternoon from the southeast, with periods of 7 to 9 seconds. That’s a lot of water, but the wind is a fresh 19–22 mph cross-onshore, so it’s lumpy and messy. Combined energy hits 1063 in the afternoon, which is strong, but with that wind, it’s more of a kite-surfing show than a paddle-surfing one. This reef break might handle some size, but the conditions aren’t clean enough to recommend it.

After that, it fades. Friday the 21st is back to 4ft with cross-onshore wind, Saturday the 22nd is 3–4ft with onshore wind, and from Sunday the 23rd onward it dribbles away to 1ft again by Monday the 24th, with fresh onshore winds. The final days see a bit of period from long-period swell (11–13 seconds) but the wind ramps up to a near gale on the 25th and a strong breeze on the 26th, so it’s blown out and messy.

Tengan itself is a reef break exposed to swell from the northeast, but the optimum direction is NE and the incoming swell is mostly from the east and southeast—a mismatch that doesn’t help. It’s rated beginner difficulty but inconsistent, and when it does break, crowds are only sometimes an issue. Water temperature is average for the time of year, nothing unusual.

So, the honest truth: there’s no surf worth chasing in this 16-day window. Everything scores a zero. Sometimes an area like this just goes quiet, and this is one of those blank runs. Keep your board waxed and your eyes on the forecast; things can change.

Rusty.

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