11 7 15 morning call

More of a mid morning call, really. Here's what happened.

I hit the tail of my board with the ribs Friday morning while surfing Hookipa. The impact was pretty mild, but the pain at the moment wasn't.
I paddled back in with one arm and once on the beach the pain wasn't too bad at all, to the point that I thought that with a seat harness I could maybe compete in the windsurfing contest in the afternoon (as I was supposed to).

But later in the morning there was a click somewhere in the rib cage and the pain got worse. Later in the afternoon another click made things much better. I took an x-ray to make sure the ribs weren't broken. They weren't, but the cartilage doesn't show on the picture and that's what I probably fractured.
I had another couple of bad and good clicks in the evening and I was lucky to end the day with a good one (cartilage back in place), so I could get some sleep.

The arrow in the picture below shows where my cartilage is supposingly detached.



This morning a hiccup put the cartilage out of place again. Fortunately my physical therapist Erika Fabian had time to see me and with her knowledgeable hands put it back in place. She taped me up real tight and told me to rest.
She's a true angel that really loves and cares for her patients. If you need a physical therapist, I would strongly recommend to give her a call. There's a banner linked to her website on the right column of this blog.

Now check what I found on this website.

What Is The Recovery Time For A Rib Cartilage Injury Or Rib Cartilage Fracture?

The usual time taken for complete recovery from a Rib Cartilage Injury is approximately three to four months because the cartilages take quite a bit of time to heal since the blood supply to them is hindered. Refraining from strenuous activities and taking adequate rest can speed up the healing time.

Allright, that's great! That's a lot better than three to four years!

At the moment it is my intention to keep doing the morning call. It will probably be a little later in the morning and with less beach reports, but I'll try to keep them coming.
Let's see what's on tap for today.
Actually, first a brief mention to the fact that yesterday was another action-packed day at the contest with both Amateurs and Masters categories completed. Results on the AWT website (linked by a banner on the right).

This is my friend and co-worker Russ who didn't compete yesterday, but it's a pretty nice shot.


The only benefit of a late morning call is that the MC2km maps are updated. This is the noon one and it shows a hell lot of wind. That is if and when there's no rain squalls, of course. Which there will be.

 

Buoys 10am.
Below the graph of the three buoys. The NW buoys went only up to 5f 15s, which is less than forecasted by Surfline. Waimea and Pauwela are slowly catching up. I put red arrows to help you identify the line to look for. It would be nice if each swell line would stay the same color, but evidently the color is assigned automatically by the software to the different swells based on their height.

Pauwela's last reading is
6.9ft @ 9s from 68° (ENE)

3.1ft @ 4s from 73° (ENE)

2.7ft @ 18s from 330° (NW)

2.7 feet is not too bad since the period is 18, there should be some nice sets today. Unfortunately, 7 feet of windswell will create multiple peaks on the waves and the strong wind will add some chop, but it's a windsurfing contest after all. Conditions like the 2004 PWA contest in Cabo Verde are extremely rare and Hookipa offers an incredible consistency.
The Pro's will be back in the water and the show will be excellent. Get down to Hookipa to watch. Bring some rain jackets for the rain squalls.

 

At 10am Barbers Point is reading
3.5ft @ 7s from 140° (SE)

3.1ft @ 16s from 187° (S)

which means that the south swell is there, but a brief look at 11am at the Lahaina webcam didn't show much (other than an unusual cloudy sky). High tide might be killing it a bit and/or we should like to thank our lovely neighbor island Kahoolawe for blocking the energy from the south again.

Check this well overhead set I just caught on the Surfline Ala Moana webcam.
Not as clean as usual though, strong trades can ruin the waves even in Waikiki.

 

Wind map shows a small fetch in the very NW corner and another one down south. 

 

But with a wind forecast like this in the Windguru table, I'm almost happy to be injured, to tell you the truth.