December has been amazing so far. This is Dave Kalama in a photo by Jason Hall. In a post on his Facebook timeline, he humbly acknowledged and thanked all the major players of the Peahi contest. I particularly enjoyed his comment on Albee Layer: "for being so true to himself and his interpretation of surfing".
More photos from the contest are still flooding the social media. This one is by Fish Bowl Diaries.
And this one by John Patao. Both capture how big and gnarly it was.
Buoys 5am
NW
13.9ft @ 15s from 311° (NW)
3.0ft @ 10s from 326° (NW)
Hanalei
12.6ft @ 15s from 312° (NW)
3.3ft @ 9s from 326° (NW)
Waimea
7.0ft @ 17s from 308° (WNW)
5.8ft @ 14s from 311° (NW)
Pauwela
5.5ft @ 13s from 323° (NW)
4.9ft @ 18s from 318° (NW)
4.9ft @ 9s from 69° (ENE)
Here's how the graphs look like. Notice:
1) how some medium period energy arrived before the long period one. Read Pat Caldwell if you want to know why. I only would like to report this sentence out of it: "Gales to severe gales set up the Tokyo express, or a fetch area that stretches eastward from central Japan over the 295-310 degree band." I wonder if he named it like that. Either way, I love it.
2) how the NW buoy failed to register the long period energy (probably too much mid period energy hitting it). Because of that, it's a bit hard to predict the peak of the long period energy in Maui, but based on the Hanalei's graph, I'd say mid morning. Expect more Jaws photos tomorrow. Not gonna be as big as Sunday, but still solid.
3) how once again Kauai has much bigger numbers than Oahu and Maui. Laird must be happy.
1) how some medium period energy arrived before the long period one. Read Pat Caldwell if you want to know why. I only would like to report this sentence out of it: "Gales to severe gales set up the Tokyo express, or a fetch area that stretches eastward from central Japan over the 295-310 degree band." I wonder if he named it like that. Either way, I love it.
2) how the NW buoy failed to register the long period energy (probably too much mid period energy hitting it). Because of that, it's a bit hard to predict the peak of the long period energy in Maui, but based on the Hanalei's graph, I'd say mid morning. Expect more Jaws photos tomorrow. Not gonna be as big as Sunday, but still solid.
3) how once again Kauai has much bigger numbers than Oahu and Maui. Laird must be happy.
Wind map below shows:
- a tiny WNW fetch from a newborn low that is not going to send anything major
- a last bit of fetch sending energy from the very NW corner, but the core of it has now moved too east for us (still sending waves to the west coast that has been totally pumping)
- a last bit of fetch sending energy from the very NW corner, but the core of it has now moved too east for us (still sending waves to the west coast that has been totally pumping)
- a wide but weak S fetch
- a smaller but stronger fetch in the Tasman sea that will send yet another out of season swell to the islands of Fiji
- a smaller but stronger fetch in the Tasman sea that will send yet another out of season swell to the islands of Fiji
Pipe was called off despite the swell on the rise, but now I'm a little less worried because a new large low has appeared all of a sudden on the modeled maps. Below is the one of Dec 12.
Despite the fact that it will move north of the Kurils, it will stay in that position long enough to generate a swell that will hit in a week (Tuesday 15/Wednesday 16). Surfline calls for 9f 15s for Oahu.
So no rush anymore (unless it changes again, of course), today it might be/get too big for it. It would be nice if they would run the non elimination round 1 though. But with the near drowning of Evan Geiselman a few days ago, they might be concerned for the safety of the surfers.
We'll see how it goes.
6.10am and the MC2km maps are not updated yet. I will have to come back later for the wind.
------------ 7am update ----------------
M2km maps finally up, here's the noon one that shows the wind that it shows. Looks like a rainy morning. If it stays rainy, it's gonna be a lot less wind than that or at least a lot up and down.
Pipeline looks big and unruly on the webcam. Lots of people out, but low chance for the contest to run, imo. Dawn patrol is at 7.30.
--------------- 7.40am update ----------
Contest is on at 8am! Cool, I didn't know there were the trials before the start of the main event. Gonna be a great show!
No comments:
Post a Comment