Hanalei Bay Swell Window
Hawaii, USA · part of the Hanalei Bay spot guide
- Swell window (from)
- 280°–40° (W–NE)
- Best direction
- ~340° (NNW)
- Period sweet spot
- 12–18 s
- Open-ocean height (Hs)
- 3–10 ft
- Resulting faces
- 2–15 ft
Open-ocean vs. the face: the heights on buoys and forecast models are significant wave height (Hs) in deep water. What you ride is the breaking face, which depends on period, direction and this break's bathymetry — that's why the two rows above differ. PierMonkey's spot ratings already do this conversion for you.
The window runs west-northwest through north to north-northeast, best from north-to-north-northwest around 320–350°, on period of 12 to 18 seconds. The Hanalei buoy (51208) is a deep-water directional Waverider a few miles off Hāʻena, reading open-ocean height up-swell of the bay.
The buoy height is not the face — a 4-to-7-foot reading at 13 seconds or more from the north-northwest makes a solid 6-to-9-foot point, and 7 to 10 ft and up is big and maxing at 10-to-15-foot faces.