Honolua Bay Swell Window
Hawaii, USA · part of the Honolua Bay spot guide
- Swell window (from)
- 260°–10° (W–N)
- Best direction
- ~340° (NNW)
- Period sweet spot
- 12–18 s
- Open-ocean height (Hs)
- 4–12 ft
- Resulting faces
- 3–15 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 bay accepts energy from west-northwest through north, best in the north-to-north-northwest slot around 330–010°, on period of 14 to 18 seconds. A big, consistent northwest swell will wrap plenty of energy in even though it’s partly shadowed; a more westerly swell is heavily blocked. Direction plus size matter as much as period, because the islands strip much of the swell before it arrives.
The Pauwela buoy (51205) sits on the open north shore, so it reads the raw swell before the shadow and over-reads the Honolua face — mentally halve it. A 5-to-7-foot buoy reading at 12 to 16 seconds from the north-northwest is classic, contest-grade overhead Honolua.