Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Wednesday 2 15 17 morning call

Phenomenal day of gorgeous waves yesterday on Maui's north shore. After my early morning surf session, I drove all the way back to Hookipa, because I knew there was going to be something good to shoot in the 20 minutes I had before work.

Zack Howard got the first shot.

Dicey situation, fortunately the guy that bailed his board dove deep enough and all was good.

Kai Lenny was out there too. Obviously.

Polakow's first warm up wave.

I guess it worked, since he boosted a massive air on his second one.

One last one from the parking lot. Albee Layer plays with a small section at the end bowl.

Meanwhile, somewhere else on the island this wave was doing a pretty good Pipeline imitation.


While I was at work, Jimmie Hepp was shooting the show at Lanes. I picked the photos below from this gallery.

Kevin Pritchard.
 
Kiter Patri McLaughlin likes to get barreled.
 
Looks like Michi Schweiger.
 

After work, I windsurfed Kanaha and that was one of the most offshore winds I've ever sailed. Reminded me of an epic session in Brandon Bay, Ireland. Super challenging, hence fun.
And after that, I rushed back to Hookipa to see what was going on at sunset and sure enough there was some more action to shoot.

I'll start with an empty 10.

 
Couple of surfers at The Point, Ian Gentil was one of them.
"Nah, I don't like this one... I'm gonna kick out"

Surprise!
He got stuck on the inside after wearing this set on the head and barely, but skillfully, managed to paddled back out without getting thrown on the rocks in the channel. It took him at least 10 minutes of constant paddling and that must have been exhausting, also because he looked like he was on a 7-7.6 foot board.

Kai Lenny instead was on one of his guns which he put on the rail beautifully in the bottom...

...and top turns.

Ian's bottom turn is remarkable.


Here's a digitalized closeup in the pretty sunset light. Hope the ladies will appreciate.
 
4am significant buoy readings
South shore

Lanai
3.1ft @ 14s from 293° (WNW)
Some wrap at the Lanai buoy, but there will also be the Kona windswell around for a couple of days. Check the webcams.

North shore
NW101
11.2ft @ 13s from 312° (NW)

Waimea
7.5ft @ 15s from 322° (NW)

Pauwela
7.5ft @ 15s from 329° (NW)

Below is the graph of NW101 and Pauwela. Not only Pauwela did not reach those 5f at 6am I was  talking about yesterday, but it stayed well below the Surfline forecast that was calling (and still is) for 13 feet stuff and the WW3 output that instead suggested 11f. That's a good thing if you're an average surfer like me, because more spots will stay surfable.

I put a couple arrows on the NW101 graph to point a change in the direction. 312 is the 6am number, that'll hit Maui a lot better. So, slightly declining size/period, but better angle, I'm gonna guess today is going to be just as big as yesterday. I won't post an Hookipa beach report though, because I know that's gonna be too big for my taste, so I'll leave in the dark headed somewhere else. Good luck to you guys with each own's personal search.


Current wind map shows one big (but not intense) fetch that pretty much takes the whole Pacific ocean west of us. Very long lasting energy coming from it.


NAM3km map at 7am shows very clean conditions on the north shore.


And that's how the wind is predicted to be by the HRW model on its Windguru representation. From light Kona in the early morning to light northerly with a switch around 10-11am. Check the MC2km maps (if they will get updated today) to have a confirmation of that, but the message is: surf early (if you're on the north shore, of course).



The reason the wind will switch direction is because a weak front (weak at our latitude!!) will pass by. This 4.30am satellite picture shows it over Kauai and just approaching Oahu.
Consistently, at 5.10am I can read 12mph from the north in Lihue and still very light southerly in Waikiki.



1 comment:

Garrett said...

Hey GP, thanks for the great shot of me! You know which one I am. :D