1 7 16 morning call

Sorry for the late call this morning.

Lots of pics from yesterday, since the conditions on the north shore were good pretty much for any wave riding discipline you can think of.
I took pics most of the day, did a (too) late windsurfing attempt, and finally scored a lovely sunset SUP session with just a couple of friends.

 

Not sure this shot is from yesterday, but it's too good to pass. It shows Maui ripper Will Hunt apparently burning Kelly Slater at the Bay. But instead, that's what he wrote when he posted the shot:

"I was paddling and I seen him under me started to pull back and heard a voice say GO WILL and he looked at me and said ya go Willie some how he came around me on the outside of the barrel and pulled in in front mad props @kellyslater"

What a story that is! How did Kelly manage to go around that barrel, I have no idea. Had it been anybody else, I would have said it's impossible. But it's Kelly, so...
Btw, Will is the son of Doug Hunt who is known for having done the first backloop with a windsurfer back in the days. I had the pleasure to judge my first Aloha Classic together with him in 2004.

Photo by Dave @createandenjoy



These are the shots I took yesterday in chronological order. First two are Pavillions.

Kiter Steve Sadler is on a wave while his sporty car awaits.

Missed the grab, went down, still spectacular. Might be Kai Barger.

Browsinho knows how to close his top turns. He actually spun that into a taka at ease.

Kevin Pritchard was the first windsurfer to launch.

Albee Layer.

Lanes is such an unfriendly launch. Steve knows how to get back in.

Matt Meola bottom turns in front of a pretty fun looking section.

This long sequence shows Matt Meola doing a air 360 (I'm sure there's a more proper name) on the face of the wave without even using a chop. He just put a bit of pressure on the tail and the rest came by using the wind. Probably a piece of cake for him and his buddies, but I still think it's a remarkable feature.

These last two photos show KP laying it down twice on the same wave.

Tip of the mast is 2 inches from the water.

The three buoys are all going down and for a change no reinforcements are expected today (that'll come tomorrow).

At 7am Pauwela reads
4.5ft @ 14s from 329° (NW)

3.8ft @ 7s from 79° (ENE)

3.5ft @ 11s from 329° (NW)
and even though that might seem small compared to the past few days, it's still a really fun size, considering the clean conditions that will grace us today.

MC2km map at noon in fact, shows very little wind. It's my experience that when the trades (or the kona) are not blowing, these maps are less reliable. In other words, the afternoon onshores might be stronger than that, specially if the sun is shining strong. Go get them in the morning if you can.


The wind map for a change doesn't show massive fetches making big waves for us. It does show a WNW one that will become better tomorrow. The one right north of us is now shooting at the west coast, but don't forget how intense it was yesterday. I also put a small X to show once again where the Marshall Islands are: in the middle of a low pressure. My friends on a surf trip are not being lucky at all with the weather. The Hawaiian islands instead a beautifully sitting in the middle of a small area with no wind.