Westport Breakwater • Statistics for September

September: Spring's Wild and Woolly Mix

September serves up the biggest average swell of the year at 2.6m (8.5ft) while the period stays at a robust 12.6s. That might sound like heaven, but the wind data quickly brings you back to earth. Ideal surfing wind plummets to 39 percent, the second-lowest of the year. The swell direction is now overwhelmingly WSW/W-WSW 31.7 percent, W 12.5, WNW 5.1-with only a modest 6.5 percent from the N/NNW/NW quadrant. So the breakwater is getting a lot of raw, powerful west energy but not necessarily the right direction to wrap in clean.

Meantime, the onshore N/NNE/NNW/NW wind quadrant surges to its highest total of the year at about 23 percent. Spring weather systems moving across the Tasman Sea bring rapid-fire fronts and stronger NW wind regimes, making Westport a lumpy, blown-out mess. SW winds are still around 17.4 percent, but they are often tied to cold, showery post-frontal conditions. Water temp is 12.5°C, air temp averages 10.0°C, and precipitation is 5.16 mm/day. If you are mobile and willing to wait out the wind, the rare clean days can deliver XXL-esque conditions at the breakwater.