Piha Swell Window

Auckland, New Zealand · part of the Piha spot guide

Swell window (from): 210°–330° (SSW–NNW)
Best direction: ~225° (SW)
Period sweet spot: 12–16 s
Open-ocean height (Hs): 3–13 ft
Resulting faces: 2–12 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 from southwest through west to northwest, matching the exposed west aspect, with southwest around 225° the ideal — it lights up both sides of Lion Rock and is the most reliable engine. The period sweet spot is roughly 12-to-16 seconds of long-period Southern Ocean groundswell; groundswell and windswell are about equally likely, so period matters for cleaning up the beach-break peaks.

Face height is approximate and bar-dependent — at this deep-water beach it commonly runs comparable to the open-ocean height rather than well below it — so keep the two numbers separate.

The storm corridor

Typical swell corridor to Piha: Southern Ocean and Tasman lows sending SW groundswell onto the open west coast — Typical swell corridor (schematic straight line): Southern Ocean and Tasman lows sending SW groundswell onto the open west coast.