The Window Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, mates, Rusty here. Let's have a look at the window ahead. It's a bit of a tricky one, so let's get into it.

The first few days are going to be pretty disappointing, to be honest. We've got some swell at The Window (Big Island), around 7ft to 8ft with that long-period WSW energy, but the winds are just going to mess with it. There's some moderate cross-offshore and cross-shore winds, and it’s just not coming together. We're talking Thursday and Friday here, and it’s a real shame because there's juice in the water – the combined energy is sitting around 1745 to 4344, which is moderate to strong. But it's just not going to be clean enough to get excited about. The water temp is a touch warm, about 64°F with the anomaly at 1°F, so that's pretty normal for this time of year.

The weekend is a complete write-off. The wind swings fully onshore, and it's blowing 20 to 30 km/h straight into the break. Saturday’s swell is pushing 10ft, and Sunday gets up to 12ft, but it will be totally messy, lumpy, and unsurfable. There is a lot of power there with the energy up in the 3600 to 5101 range, but it’s just a washing machine. If you're into kite surfing, you might have a field day, but for paddle surfing, this is a no-go.

Now, here's where things start to get interesting. Monday the 14th is the standout of this first week. Early in the morning, the wind drops to almost nothing – a slight 5 km/h cross-offshore breeze from the NNE. The swell is a solid 12ft from the WSW with a 14-second period, and the energy is up there at 4936, which is strong. The conditions look clean, and this is looking like a proper window of opportunity at The Window. This is a serious, expert-level wave at this size. The period is long, which will make for some proper grinding walls on this reef, but at 12ft, it's a handful and only for the experienced crew. The afternoon looks a bit more marginal with a light cross-shore breeze, but the morning is the one.

After that, things get a little messy and then just flat-out blown out again. Tuesday the 15th has some size but with stronger cross-shore winds and a chop, so we let that go. Wednesday the 16th, the swell is still there around 8-10ft, but it's turning cross-onshore and getting choppy. Not worth it.

Thursday the 17th is a bit of an average day, cleaner with a 7ft cross-off swell, but the energy's dropping. Then Friday the 18th is a total blowout with strong winds hitting 40-45 km/h. Forget about it.

Now we have a real lull and then a monster pulse. After the weekend that gets blown out, the middle of the next week has a huge swell showing up. Saturday the 19th looks massive – 20ft of WSW swell with an energy reading of 10639! That's a very strong, serious amount of water moving. But it's coming with a fresh cross-onshore wind, making it completely lumpy and unmanageable. This is a charlie foxtrot for anyone. After that, the swell backs down a little, but the winds are just all over the place. We see some cleaner windows around Tuesday the 22nd and Wednesday the 23rd of September, with 13ft and 10ft swells from the SW, but the winds are still up around 25-35 km/h. They are cross-offshore, which keeps things clean, but it’s still a big, raw ocean.

Honestly, for the cast-iron guarantee of a quality session with clean waves and manageable conditions, Monday morning the 14th is the pick of the entire fortnight. It’s got the size, the direction (WSW) is perfect for this break, the energy is strong, and the wind is light and offshore. If you’re an expert, that’s your window. Everything after the 19th is too big, too messy, or just too inconsistent to call. There are some promising signals in the second week, but it's way out in the distance, and things can change. Keep an eye out, but don't book the trip around it yet.

That's all from me. Stay safe out there.

Rusty.

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