Cyclone Pam's fringe makes for swell time on water

While many were bracing for the worst, others made the most of the early swells Cyclone Pam brought with her before it got too strong.

Onerahi local Greig Weatherley had been windsurfing yesterday morning in front of the Onerahi Yacht Club. While there were some decent waves, for a while conditions were quite strong and the group had to leave the water just after lunchtime.

"Don't go out there," Mr Weatherley said. "I think it might be alright on Tuesday but you just have to let this [cyclone] go through."

Whangarei Heads Surf Lifesaving club president Rod Boswell said the beach was closed to swimmers yesterday as waves reached up to 4m.

"During the course of [Saturday] there was a lot of water movement," Mr Boswell said. "Today we had a look at the beach and we had rips all the way down."

The real swells were likely to hit late last night with waves of 6-7m expected throughout Northland.

Tomorrow swells would decrease to 2-3m and a 1m swell was likely to stick around on Wednesday.