Wainui Beach • Statistics for October

October: Spring Shoulder, Big Yet Manageable

October sees the surf slowly easing back into spring, but Wainui still has plenty of days worth paddling out. The average swell height is 5ft (1.6m), the average period is 10.3 seconds, and ideal offshore wind frequency remains at 47 percent. The swell mix tilts increasingly toward the southern directions - S is over 20 percent and SSE is almost 16 percent - while the pure east components fade. What October lacks in size, it makes up for in clean conditions: the westerly wind flow is still very strong, with WNW, NW and NNW totaling over 41 percent of all wind observations and onshore E/SE/SSE below 11 percent. Water temperature begins to warm up at 14.8°C and air temps average 13.0°C, making sessions more comfortable than the deep winter months. This is a great shoulder-season month for cruising on long-period, slightly softer groundswell, though the truly firing XL days become rarer.