Monday 2 20 17 morning call

I recently purchased a GoFoil at Hi-Tech. As soon as we received them, we were immediately sold out ( I was pretty high on the waiting list), but we ordered 40 more that should come in anytime. Steve's waiting list is filling up again very quickly, so call him up (and please let him know you're a blog reader) if you don't want to miss out on the next shipment.

The board next to me is a Starboard 8.2x32 Wide Point that is already equipped with tuttle box for the foil and footstrap inserts (once you learn, you might take advantage of them). The other foil-ready board that we have is the 7.4x30 Hypernut.


After a week of sitting in my car, yesterday finally the right conditions arose (no good waves for regular surfing anywhere) and I put it on my SUP board and went windsurfing on it. It was cold at the harbor and to also protect my shins I pulled off the 4/3 wetsuit. I also had an impact vest and a helmet (thanks to HST windsurfing for the lend) and that's how I looked. Not a typical Maui look.


Below is the setup. It's probably all wrong, but it's better than nothing. All the windsurfing foil setups I've seen, have the foil box more back (maybe because they're using a pre-existing tuttle box for a regular windsurfing fin?) and the mast truck more forward that right in the middle where I have it. That includes Ken Winner's setup, who I briefly chatted with in the water after he showed up with a prototype of his. A random chat in the middle of the Kahului harbor with a legend of the sport whose name I knew from 35 years ago and I never met before. Things that happen only in Maui...

The foiling was still difficult, but it seemed easier than the other two other ways I've tried (behind a heavy boat that made a huge wake and catching small waves on the south shore). I was trying to keep the board half foiling (most of the board out, but with the very tail still touching the water) for as long as I could. As soon as the whole board came out of the water, everything suddenly became quite and I was filled with... peacefulness? That might eventually come one day, but nah, I'm still at the terror stage. Terror because you know that that thing is going to do something unexpected and uncontrolled at anytime, like rounding up into the wind or bearing off downwind (this last one being the most dangerous).

That can be caused by the relative closeness of the foil and mast boxes but, again, that's all I got. Nonetheless, I estimated that the 1.5h practice I had was equivalent to at least 5-10 sessions of surfing. As soon as I lost the half or full foiling and the board went back fully into the water (without wiping out), I was in fact immediately ready to try again. No need to paddle back out for the next wave. Even though I'm still far away from foiling, I believe I improved quite a bit and I'm slightly more in control now. This thing ain't easy, you guys. But the real bottom line is this: yesterday was a shitty day for all the disciplines I do and yet, thanks to the foil, I did something I never did before and got that awesome beginner feeling again.

We'll see when the next practice opportunity will arise. I intend to relegate this to the very few cases in which I have no other options of fun water activities. I'm probably the least eager-to-learn foil owner on the island. And that's not because I don't think foiling is fun. That's because I have a lot of fun doing all the other things I do! So, be patient if you're interested in this topic and keep reading the blog... you never know, I might go again today!

Here's the latest video posted by Kai Lenny of a wave he foiled at Sunset Beach (it's gonna loop forever, unless you click on it to stop it).

A post shared by Kai Lenny (@kai_lenny) on Feb 18, 2017 at 6:11pm PST

4am significant buoy readings
South shore
Nothing at the buoys, check the webcams

North shore
NW101
10.9ft @ 12s from 335° (NNW)

Waimea

6.8ft @ 9s from 335° (NNW)

6.1ft @ 14s from 330° (NW)

5.6ft @ 12s from 325° (NW)

Pauwela

8.6ft @ 13s from 325° (NW)

3.6ft @ 9s from 334° (NNW)

2.9ft @ 7s from 11° (NNE)

2.7ft @ 11s from 334° (NNW)

 

Below is the graphs of the NW101 and Pauwela buoys. Notice how the first one is still very much up and so I don't expect the size to go down much at all locally. Also notice how the second looks just like the Surfline forecast I posted yesterday. Lastly, notice all the different periods insisting on Pauwela.

This swell is closely generated so all the periods tend to arrive together because they didn't have time to space out from each other, and that will give a very stormy character to the waves, also due to the strong wind that we'll be on it. So look for a place that possibly filters out some of the extra components and is sheltered by the wind. Honolua is obviously the first place that comes in mind.
No Hookipa report today, because it's gonna be big and messy and there's no need of report to know that.

NAM3km map at 7a shows a lot of wind already, but this time from a more traditional trades' direction. Plenty sailing/kiting action on the north shore later.



Current wind map shows:
1) a solid NW fetch aiming at the west coast. We'll get the angular spreading that Surfline estimates at 7f 14s from 3176 on Thursday.
2) a small NE windswell fetch associated with the high that is going to sit N of us for a few days and save some sailors/kiters from depression by producing a good deal of trades.
3) a little low (I didn't circle it) in the Tasman sea that we'll keep an eye on.