Tuesday 2 21 17 morning call

Yesterday was a really tough day to find some decent surfing conditions. I drove all the way to Honolua and didn't even think for a second to paddle out. As stated in the beach report, the waves were big and far from perfect. Take this first photo for example, and notice that big wedge induced by the mix of periods in the water. This wave ended up being quite useless.


This other one looked good for a second, but it shut down. That happened quite often.


And even this one that looked fine, didn't really do much for the surfer.


I so decided to go chase the small waves in Lahaina (there was a little wrap coming down all the way from the Bay). At least it was sunny and not windy. And that, compared to the weather on the north shore, was a blessing by itself.
Louise and her dad are two French Hi-Tech rental customers. I rented them those boards and by what I could see, they are absolutely perfect for them. She's on a Takayama In The Pink 9'3 (we also have it in 9.0 and 9.6) and he's on a T&C 10'0.
I told them to check the blog today... envoie moi un email you guys, I got more photos.



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

North shore
NW101

5.3ft @ 10s from 346° (NNW)

Waimea
4.6ft @ 12s from 331° (NNW)

4.4ft @ 9s from 339° (NNW)

Pauwela

5.6ft @ 7s from 38° (NE)

4.8ft @ 11s from 328° (NW)

3.1ft @ 10s from 341° (NNW)

 

NW swell is pretty much half the size of what it was yesterday, as the NW101 and Pauwela graphs show below. Not that that matters much, since the north shore is going to be blown out again by the strong trades.
I put an arrow on the time I was at the bay yesterday and Pauwela was reading a solid 10f 14s. No wonder that were some doh+ bombs.

Instead, let me point out how useless is this "spot report" I checked yesterday evening on Surfline. At the same 8am time, the surf was predicted (or reported, whatever that is) to be 6-7 feet. That's probably what most people look at on their phone apps (I don't know for sure, because I don't have and don't want one).
The only forecast I find valid on Surfline (or anywhere else, really) is the one you get by clicking the "offshore swells" tab on link n15 (or 14 for the south shore). That's the one that looks exactly like a buoy output and tells you what the swell will be just offshore of your spots.

It will then be up to you to integrate that information with your local knowledge and try to guess the size at your spots. It doesn't take much to build that knowledge. Every time you are going surfing or even just to check the spots, check the buoy page (link n.11) to see what's in the water. Then look at the size of the waves and make a mental association between the two. Once you've done that 10 times, you'll know a lot more. And once you've done that every day for a month, you'll be an expert compared to someone else who only reads predictions like the one below and never knows what actually is in the water.



NAM3km map at 7am shows some moderate trades, which will continue to blow all day. West side still the call for clean surf, IMO. Size should be much more manageable than yesterday.


Current wind map shows:
1) solid NW fetch. The resulting swell will be much cleaner than the actual one, because the fetch is far more distant
2-3) little windswelly fetches that are not going to do much for us.
Still nothing down south.