Great fun if you were in it, I mean. But it was nice for me to step out of the house for a couple of hours and take some pics. Jimmie Hepp got a new lens and he got a pic of my setup (when the sun was out, the heat was brutal). He has a full album of shots on his facebook page.
Here's the shots I took instead.
That's what happens when you start surfing in young age. Your body is more flexible. Every part of it. I started at 39 and my back will never be like that. At least I hope so, since the only way would be by breaking it. That is a great advantage in the mechanics of the paddling stroke. And that's why this kid will always outpaddle me and all the late starters like me.
Savanna Stone surfed good as usual.
Buoys 6am
NW
6.9ft @ 10s from 42° (NE)
2.9ft @ 14s from 345° (NNW)
2.6ft @ 6s from 352° (N)
Waimea
4.5ft @ 10s from 337° (NNW)
1.4ft @ 18s from 321° (NW)
Pauwela
5.8ft @ 9s from 75° (ENE)
1.3ft @ 3s from 200° (SSW)
1.3ft @ 18s from 331° (NNW)
Barbers
2.2ft @ 5s from 177° (S)
2ft @ 7s from 166° (SSE)
1.6ft @ 12s from 189° (S)
1.5ft @ 9s from 184° (S)
Tiny bit of energy from the north, but in Maui most of the energy still comes from the windswell.
"how come there's still windswell if there's no more trade winds?", someone asked me.
Because the fetch is still there (or it has been there for the last couple of days). Look east of the islands and you'll see it even in today's wind map below.
"how come there's still windswell if there's no more trade winds?", someone asked me.
Because the fetch is still there (or it has been there for the last couple of days). Look east of the islands and you'll see it even in today's wind map below.
Not particularly intense today (that green color is only around 15 knots), but still there. Short period waves (let's say under 10s) don't travel as much as long period ones: they dissipate their energy faster. And that's because there's a hell lot more energy stored in a 4f 16s wave than in a 4f 8s one (or even in a 8f 8s one!).
But in this case, we are just outside of the fetch of the trades that are still blowing east of us and so we still get some of the energy.
But in this case, we are just outside of the fetch of the trades that are still blowing east of us and so we still get some of the energy.
I put an L to indicate the small low that has disrupted the local trade winds flow.
To the NW of it a much deeper low that has a bit of a fetch oriented towards us. Unfortunately that one is modeled to move NE across the Kuril islands and hence stop producing waves for us.
Here's the pieces of land I would remove to increase waves in Hawaii if I were god:
1) the Kurils
2) New Zealand
3) Australia
To the NW of it a much deeper low that has a bit of a fetch oriented towards us. Unfortunately that one is modeled to move NE across the Kuril islands and hence stop producing waves for us.
Here's the pieces of land I would remove to increase waves in Hawaii if I were god:
1) the Kurils
2) New Zealand
3) Australia
Related swell will peak Thursday when the trades are modeled to have a return to the red color strength. Some windsurfers/kiters will enjoy that and maybe even the Honolua contest could get under way to get rid of round 1. Much bigger waves on Sunday, I hope they wait instead. But it could be a bit too big for a good show (the girls won't be catching lots of waves in such conditions... like last years there will be long waits until they manage to paddle out again and lots of waves would go unridden).
Lastly, I circled a now weaker Tasman Sea fetch that won't do much for us, but will keep making the Fiji surfers happy.
Lastly, I circled a now weaker Tasman Sea fetch that won't do much for us, but will keep making the Fiji surfers happy.
MC2km map at noon shows that it's blowing Kona and that, together with the very small numbers at the Barbers buoy, means that the south shore is not the place to go today.
Hookipa will be real clean in the morning instead.
"How big GP? You never say how big it's gonna be!"
That's right, because instead of guessing I prefer to report from the beach.
But since I'm not going to the beach these days, here's my answer for today:
Hookipa will be real clean in the morning instead.
"How big GP? You never say how big it's gonna be!"
That's right, because instead of guessing I prefer to report from the beach.
But since I'm not going to the beach these days, here's my answer for today:
It's gonna be as big as the mix of 5.8ft @ 9s from 75° (ENE) + 1.3ft @ 18s from 331° (NNW). Probably clean shoulder to head high peaks. You can also check the webcam for that... much better than me guessing.
The actual size of the waves for me is not the most important thing in deciding where to go surf.
Things like local wind and crowd are much more important, for example.
So, clean and crowded is my call for Hookipa on this Sunday morning.
But there's plenty other spots where you can surf today.
So, clean and crowded is my call for Hookipa on this Sunday morning.
But there's plenty other spots where you can surf today.
PS. I'd like to thank Wade Carmichael (and the Haleiwa contest judges) for bringing back power surfing into top level competitions. He won it without even trying a single aerial maneuver.
So refreshing.
So refreshing.
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