10 9 16 morning call

Yesterday was a gorgeous day of big waves on the north shore of Maui.

I had a fun surf session in the morning and then watched the spectacle unfold at Hookipa. These are the shots I took in chronological order.

That's how it looked. Gorgeous.

Kai Lenny impressed me the most. He was getting slingshot out of the bottom turns like if he was towed back towards the lip for the top turn, which he nailed with plenty power and surgical precision. I like the shots of the bottom turns better though.

Matt Meola and his friends were surfing challenging conditions at Lanes. Here's a fly out.

This other guy on his backhand was killing it too.

This sequence is remarkable, imo. I saw it coming at the last moment and manage to adjust the zoom in a way that came out pretty dramatic. I don't like editing my photos (I got no time for that), so I got to get everything right when I take them. Part of the fun.

This kite got literally swallowed.

That was never gonna end up good for kiter Steve Sadler. The kite ended up on the rocks, but someone grabbed it, Steve paddled back his board to Hookipa and 20 minutes later he was out there again. Quite incredible that the kite survived.

Kai going for a wave 360. Definitely looked easier than on a windsurfer.

One of his explosive top turns.

My coworker Russ sporting a radical bottom turn and a fresh hair cut.

Alex Aguera at the bottom of on a slightly overhead one.

One more sequence of Kai bottom turning...

...and smashing the lip. He did that on each single wave he caught and he caught a hell lot of them.

After my photoshoot, I sailed at Upper Kanaha with a bunch of other Hot Sails Maui riders. I paid the price of the lack of knowledge of the place and got caught inside by a big set that destroyed my sail.
If you've ever wondered how long it takes to uncomfortably paddle a windsurf board with your gear underneath your body from Uppers to the beach, it's 20 minutes.

I took it as a wonderful opportunity to exercise my zen attitude and I succeeded. I didn't get pissed off a single moment. I actually enjoyed many aspects of it: how my paddling fitness allowed me to paddle back without getting too tired, how calmly I managed the whole thing, how well I packed everything on my board, how gorgeous the Haleakala looked and how great of a day I was having no matter what happened. Just a few years ago I would have been swearing the whole way.

After having read reading a couple of enlightening Eckhart Tolle books, this time I'm gonna thank writer Micheal Singer for the wonderful book called The Untethered Soul that I'm reading at the moment. It's a further step towards total acceptance and unattachement. Love it.

That's the vision I had.


Here's one of the many shots taken by Jimmie Hepp. You'll find a massive gallery at the facebook page I linked.
If you got to drop in somebody, might as well pick Sunny Garcia! This is Middles.


A reader sent me this photo from Honolua which evidently was breaking already in the morning. I wonder how big it got in the afternoon.
I'm looking for a west side reader that might help with the reports from over there. Happy to trade advertising space for that.


Significant buoy readings 5am.
Lanai
1.1ft @ 12s from 192° (SSW)
Very small energy from the south at the moment.


NW
7.5ft @ 14s from 305° (WNW)

Waimea
8.4ft @ 15s from 321° (NW)

Pauwela
6.6ft @ 15s from 318° (NW)

As the graphs below show, the swell has peaked mid day at the NW buoy and 12-14 hours later in Maui. Notice the difference in size justified by those two aspects I mentioned yesterday (distance and westerly direction): 9f vs 7f. Notice also how, seen the lack of other significant swells in the water, for once the blue line of the swell coincides with the black line that gives the total energy hitting the buoy. In other words, if you check the buoys on the original NOAA website today, you're not going to be deceived. Any other day with multiple swells, you will.

So slight decline throughout the day, definitely not as big as yesterday also considering that the period is coming down too, but still big waves today.


Current wind map shows a WNW fetch. Not too big and a bit too west for us, but we'll still get some energy. How much? The buoys will tell us.


Updated MC2km map at noon shows light trades. Windsurfing is a question mark today. My gut feeling says no, but you never know here in Maui. Gonna be sunny again, so everything can happen.


One last tribute to freak of nature Kai Lenny. A downwinder has never looked as fun as it does in this video.