Whangamata Beach Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, strap in, because it’s a bit of a flat and frustrated stretch ahead for our stretch of coast. The next couple of weeks are going to test your patience more than your paddle fitness. We’ve got a real mixed bag coming, and honestly, the pickings are slim.

First up, Monday the 10th, we’ve got some small, junky waves. Whangamata Beach is showing a bit of life with a 4ft NE swell, but it’s pretty average. The wind is cross-off, so it’s not completely blown out, but it’s not what you’d call clean either. The energy is weak (244), and the period is a short 8 seconds, so it’s going to be a bit soft and crumbly. It’s surfable, but you’ll be working for every scrap. The water temp is sitting right where it should be for this time of year, nothing weird going on.

Tuesday the 11th is a step down in size, but a step up in quality for a window. The morning glass-off is your best bet. It’s tiny, around 3ft, but the wind is dead glassy and it’s coming from the SSW as a cross-off. The energy is weak (110), so it’s a longboard and a lazy paddle. It’s clean, but you’ll be scratching for anything with a pulse.

Then the wind turns on us. From Tuesday afternoon, things get messy. The swell stays small, but the wind goes onshore or cross-onshore and it just gets choppy and lumpy. Wednesday through Friday sees the swell actually push up a bit, to 5ft and even 6ft by Friday morning, but the wind is howling from the ENE and it’s just going to be a ropy, messy onshore mess. The energy picks up to moderate (up to 371), but with that wind, it’s not going to be any fun. This is a classic case of “more water, less surfable.” It’s not big enough to be exciting, but it’s messy enough to be frustrating. Honestly, for a beach break like this, with that much wind and chop, it might look more like a kitesurfing day than a surfing day.

The weekend is more of the same story. Saturday the 15th is small and cross-shore, just poor. Sunday the 16th drops off in size, but the wind swings around to the west as a cross-off. The swell is only 2-3ft, and the energy is just plain weak (100-127). It’s clean, but minuscule.

Then we hit the real doldrums. From Monday the 17th all the way through to the end of the forecast on Tuesday the 25th, it’s a wasteland. The swell drops to ankle-slapping 1ft to maybe 3ft at best. The wind is mostly light or offshore, and it’s glassy at times, which is a cruel tease. We’re looking at a long stretch of nothing. There’s a brief uptick on the 20th with a glassy morning, but it’s still only 2ft. The energy readings are all in the weak and very weak categories, bottoming out at 26. The only bit of hope is a pulse of E swell on the 22nd, but it’s short-period junk and the wind is average.

So, the bottom line is this: the only real window of anything even remotely worth getting wet for is Tuesday morning, the 11th. It’s not a standout, but it’s the cleanest surf we’re going to see. For the rest of the period, it’s a board-waxing, fin-tweaking, and story-telling kind of fortnight. The forecast can change, and it often does, but right now, don’t hold your breath for any heroics.

Rusty.

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