Spot Kontiki • Statistics for September

September: A Season on the Edge: Still Powerful, Still Windy

September is a transition month in name only; average swell still sits at a pumping 6ft (1.9m) with a 12.9s period. The S component peaks at 19%, meaning these are often true south swells that struggle to line up with Kontiki's WSW face. Ideal offshore wind remains at a low 4%, and the wind rose is dominated by S, SSW and SW, together around 92%. The notable new feature is an increase in SW wind strength, with 10% of all observations in the 10-20kph category; that adds persistent wind-chop to an otherwise long-period wave field. If you score a window under a transient ridge with light E/NE winds, the leftover Southern Ocean energy can be world-class, but those windows are rare. Air temperatures begin to climb slightly to 16.8°C, while the water is still cool at 15.2°C.