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1. Extremely useful for viewing the forecast at a glance. You can quickly tell when the conditions are likely to better for boating and fishing.
2. The summaries are useful to assist in understanding the weather patterns as well as planning your day and trips.
3. The arrows show the direction of the wind. The direction of the wind is from the origin e.g. an easterly wind blows to the west. The dotted line is gust speed of the wind. For most spots you want the wind to be light (0 - 10 kts) for ocean conditions to be comfortable.
4. The Sea height is the total wave height which includes both swell and chop. This is the most critical variable when looking at this forecast since a big sea height could be hazardous to boats or fishing off rocks etc. Swell refers to the height of the swell. The smaller the better. Chop refers to the height of the ocean chop. The less chop, the more comfortable conditions will be.
5. The greater the swell period, the more comfortable the conditions are likely to be. It is believed sea sickness is triggered by a swell period around 5-6 seconds. However, the ocean chop can also cause sea sickness, so be aware of that too, especially if sea direction is considerably different to swell direction.
6. Swell direction is represented by the origin of the swell. A westerly swell is moving to the east.
7. Sea direction is represented by the origin of the chop. If there is not much chop this is not such a factor. However, you should check this variable if there is substantial chop, since if the swell direction is opposing the sea direction and swell and chop height are over 1 m, conditions could be rough.
8. SwellMap presents tides as LAT (Lowest Astronomical Tide), which is the height above the lowest tidal water level

Forecast updated at 22:54 Thursday 21 January (Pacific/Auckland local time)

Forecast updated at 22:54 Thursday 21 January (Pacific/Auckland local time)

Thu 21 Jan	Rating	Summary	Sea	Swell	Chop	Period	Swell dir	Sea dir	Wind	Gusts
			m	m	m	s	°	°	kts	kts
4h	1		1.3	0.5	1.2	6	N	W	NW:19	23
10h	1		1.3	0.4	1.2	6	N	W	NW:18	21
16h	3		1.0	0.4	0.9	6	S	W	W:11	14
22h	3		0.8	0.3	0.8	6	S	W	NW:11	14
High: 04:20 am (2.98 m); Low: 10:10 am (1.32 m); High: 04:30 pm (3.04 m); Low: 10:50 pm (1.27 m);
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Fri 22 Jan	Rating	Summary	Sea	Swell	Chop	Period	Swell dir	Sea dir	Wind	Gusts
			m	m	m	s	°	°	kts	kts
4h	6		0.6	0.3	0.6	6	S	W	S:4	6
10h	8		0.5	0.2	0.4	6	S	W	N:2	2
16h	8		0.4	0.2	0.4	6	N	W	N:6	8
22h	8		0.4	0.2	0.4	6	N	W	S:6	8
High: 05:10 am (2.91 m); Low: 11:10 am (1.43 m); High: 05:30 pm (2.95 m); Low: 11:50 pm (1.33 m);
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Sat 23 Jan	Rating	Summary	Sea	Swell	Chop	Period	Swell dir	Sea dir	Wind	Gusts
			m	m	m	s	°	°	kts	kts
4h	8		0.4	0.1	0.4	5	N	W	SW:5	6
10h	9		0.5	0.1	0.5	5	N	W	W:3	4
16h	7		0.9	0.1	0.9	5	N	W	NW:10	12
22h	6		0.9	0.1	0.9	5	N	W	NW:10	14
High: 06:10 am (2.88 m); Low: 12:20 pm (1.47 m); High: 06:20 pm (2.91 m);
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Sun 24 Jan	Rating	Summary	Sea	Swell	Chop	Period	Swell dir	Sea dir	Wind	Gusts
			m	m	m	s	°	°	kts	kts
4h	5		0.9	0.1	0.9	5	N	W	W:12	14
10h	5		0.8	0.1	0.8	5	N	W	NW:11	14
16h	4		1.1	0.2	1.1	6	N	W	W:12	16
22h	5		0.9	0.2	0.8	6	N	W	W:7	10
Low: 12:50 am (1.32 m); High: 07:00 am (2.93 m); Low: 01:30 pm (1.43 m); High: 07:20 pm (2.94 m);
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Mon 25 Jan	Rating	Summary	Sea	Swell	Chop	Period	Swell dir	Sea dir	Wind	Gusts
			m	m	m	s	°	°	kts	kts
4h	6		0.6	0.2	0.5	5	N	W	W:6	8
10h	8		0.5	0.2	0.5	5	N	W	NW:3	4
16h	5		1.3	0.2	1.3	5	N	W	NW:18	23
22h	6		0.9	0.2	0.8	5	N	W	W:8	10
Low: 01:50 am (1.25 m); High: 08:00 am (3.03 m); Low: 02:20 pm (1.3 m); High: 08:20 pm (3.02 m);
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Tue 26 Jan	Rating	Summary	Sea	Swell	Chop	Period	Swell dir	Sea dir	Wind	Gusts
			m	m	m	s	°	°	kts	kts
4h	8		0.4	0.2	0.4	12	SE	E	NE:3	4
10h	9		0.3	0.2	0.3	15	N	--	NW:2	2
16h	6		0.3	0.1	0.3	14	N	NW	N:12	16
22h	7		0.3	0.1	0.3	10	SE	W	S:6	8
Low: 02:50 am (1.13 m); High: 08:50 am (3.17 m); Low: 03:10 pm (1.14 m); High: 09:10 pm (3.15 m);
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Wed 27 Jan	Rating	Summary	Sea	Swell	Chop	Period	Swell dir	Sea dir	Wind	Gusts
			m	m	m	s	°	°	kts	kts
4h	8		0.3	0.1	0.3	10	SE	W	S:2	2
10h	9		0.4	0.1	0.4	4	N	W	N:2	2
16h	6		0.9	0.1	0.9	5	N	NW	NW:11	14

Forecast updated at 22:54 Thursday 21 January (Pacific/Auckland local time)