Westerly storms that bludgeoned the country this week have also kept kayaker Tim Taylor firmly ashore at Murawai beach, west Auckland.

While the gale force winds have died away, there is still a large ground swell that is great for surfers, but not good for a kayaker trying to get offshore.

Tim Taylor.

'It's not ideal,” says Tim today.

'The wind's died, now I've got to wait for that swell to die back a bit. I'm hoping tomorrow might let me out.”

Weather sites are forecasting waves on west coast beaches with a face height of four metres and a groundswell of 3.5 metres.

The groundswell is expected to die back to under two metres over the weekend, but Tim may still have to paddle out through waves with a breaking face of up to three metres.

'Waves are hard to read sometimes,” says Tim.

'Anything in the two to three metre ranges is getting quite hefty on it and if you are having to punch out through it, it can be quite a challenge.

'It's not going to be easy but hopefully if the wind stays away for a few days then I will have something to go with.”

If he gets off Muruwai beach tomorrow, he's hoping to get to the Kaipara harbour, and cross over to the northern side of the entrance on Sunday.

'The tides are not really ideal for letting me out from there at the moment,” says Tim.

'On Sunday I'll paddle across the harbour so that Monday morning I will be in a position to jump straight out with the tide.

'It's a really dangerous harbour in there, big tidal flows and you can't really go against them or anything so I have to time it real well.

'With the lack of daylight at the moment I can't afford to face big current and swell in the dark, so I'll just have to wait for it to switch around for a bit.”

Tim's been staying with friends at Helensville.

He's on the final 1200km of his circum kayak of New Zealand after starting in Tauranga last November.

Weather permitting, he's expected to complete next month the mission to become the first person to kayak round New Zealand in a single voyage.