Tippers Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, mate, Rusty here. Let's get into it.

It’s a bit of a slow grind on the horizon for our stretch. We’ve got a pulse of swell early on, but the quality is going to be a real battle against the wind and the tide. After that opening push, it fades out into a long, flat spell for the second week. Honestly, the window to get wet is short and you'll have to be picky.

We start things off on Friday morning, the 4th, with Tippers (Big Island) seeing some small but clean-ish surf. The swell is up around 3ft from the SSW with a solid 17-second period, which is proper long-period groundswell. The winds are light and offshore from the WSW, which will have it glassy and clean for the dawn patrol. The water is sitting at 75°, which is much warmer than normal for this time of year, so you might get away with a thinner wetsuit. The energy is still on the weak side with a reading of 826, but it’s something to get a few fun ones on the reef.

Saturday the 5th builds a little more, with the swell pushing to 4ft from the S on a 14-second period. The energy jumps up to 1215, which is moderate but starting to feel better. The morning looks like the pick again, with light offshore winds from the WSW keeping the surface clean, despite the forecast calling it 'marginal'. It'll be a bit inconsistent, but there will be set waves coming through.

The weekend finishes with a pulse on Sunday the 6th, but the quality takes a hit. The swell jumps up to 7ft from the S, but the wind swings around to the NNW, which puts a cross-shore chop all over it. The energy is up around 1644, so there’s plenty of push, but it's not going to be pretty. If you’re an expert looking for a challenge, it’s worth a look, but it won’t be clean.

From Monday the 7th, the swell stays in the 7ft range but the direction swings more SSW and the wind stays on it from the WNW. It’s cross-on and fairly choppy, which is a shame because there’s some size. The period drops a touch to 14 seconds, but it's still got some power. By Tuesday the 8th, it backs off to 6ft, but the onshore wind is still messing with the surface.

After that, it’s a rapid slide downhill. Through Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the swell drops out, the energy fades from a moderate 580 down into the low hundreds, and the conditions get messier. The light onshore winds are just enough to put a ripple on the surface. From the 11th through the 16th, we are looking at a stretch of poor surf. Wave heights dwindle from 3ft down to 1ft and the energy readings just bottom out. There’s a long gap of several days with nothing really worth paddling out for.

There is a slight blip of life for Thursday the 17th and Friday the 18th, with the swell period getting very long again, into the 20-22 second range. But the swell height is tiny, only 1-2ft. This is a clean little pulse of long-period energy, but it lacks any real power behind it. It might offer some tiny, clean waves for a log, but it’s nothing to get excited about.

The real standout, if you can call it that, is the early action on Saturday the 5th. That’s the peak of the run with decent size and the cleanest morning winds. It’s not going to be perfect, but it’s the best on offer in this 16-day window. All the rest is cleaning up, fading, or flat-out blown out. Keep your expectations real low for the second week, this looks like a typical dry spell for the area.

Rusty

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