Sunday, June 30, 2019

Sunday 6 30 19 morning call

I forgot to shut down the computer yesterday evening and this morning I had this image on my browser: the Lahaina webcam showing solid head high size at sunset. Today should be quite bigger, but I hope I'll be on the road already when the sun comes out, so you guys check it out yourselves. I haven't surfed for a week!


3am significant buoy readings
South shore
Barbers
2.8ft @ 20s from 193° (SSW)

Lanai
2.5ft @ 18s from 200° (SSW)

Very solid numbers at the buoy. As a reference, one of the biggest south swells I've seen here was 4ft 20s. As usual, many spots will close out at the size/period combo, so look for places that can hold. Below is the week's tide graphs for Lahaina, notice the extreme lows and highs due to the new moon.


North shore
Mokapu
3.9ft @ 8s from 63° (ENE)

Windswell up one second and from a less easterly direction, Hookipa might have some small breakers.

Wind map at noon.


Only windswell in the North Pacific.


South Pacific has a small fetch way down south, with a much bigger "blue" one above (aiming to the Americas, but hopefully with some angular spreading for us).


Morning sky.

Saturday, June 29, 2019

Saturday 6 29 19 morning call

No local photos of the day, this is blog reader Justin enjoying his time at Cloudbreak.


4am significant buoy readings
South shore
Barbers
0.9ft @ 13s from 204° (SSW)
0.8ft @ 22s from 195° (SSW)
 
Lanai is only showing the long period energy intermittently, but Barbers shows that it is obviously here. This is how Pat Caldwell describes the fetch that generated this swell.
 
A series of winter-caliber low pressures systems spaced about a day apart tracked east within 60-65S to the S to SE of New Zealand 6/22-28. It is expected to make overlapping events locally keeping the surf heights average or higher through next week. All of the sources aimed highest at the Americas, placing Hawaii just west of the primary swell swath, and increasing the error bars for the local surf estimate due to the near miss of the highest swell. The first event is predicted to be the largest.

The first source intensified rapidly 6/22 S of New Zealand with a wide, long fetch of storm-force winds building seas to 40 feet as it entered the Hawaii swell window within 190-200 degrees east of the New Zealand shadow. The large area of storm-force winds continued over 24 hours. The system slowly weakened 6/23-24 with the head of the fetch of gales to severe gales nosing to near 45S, 170W. The system moved east of the Hawaii swell window as it weakened 6/25.

Below is the collage of the maps of June 22 to 25. The color legenda is:
red = fetch oriented directly towards us
blue = fetch not oriented directly towards us, but close enough that we should get some angular spreading
yellow = fetch that could be oriented towards us, but I don't really know for sure because it was off the great circle ray map


The start of a long period angular spreading swell means high inconsistency, so I didn't feel like waiting for a proper set (there's not many). Bit of onshore texture this morning in Lahaina. Check it yourself before going. The swell should build all day and it be significantly bigger tomorrow.



Wind map at noon. I apologize if yesterday I posted a wrong map.


North Pacific only has a windswell fetch.


south Pacific has a strong fetch which is partially oriented directly towards us (red circle) and partially to our east, but close enough for angular spreading (blue circle).


Morning sky.

Friday, June 28, 2019

Friday 6 28 19 morning call

Less than an hour ago Jimmie Hepp saw the light of a beautiful sunrise and went outside to take this shot.



5am significant buoy readings
South shore
Barbers
1.3ft @ 11s from 190° (S)

Lanai
1.5ft @ 11s from 180° (S)
1ft @ 15s from 194° (SSW)

The numbers at Lanai are decent and but there's only occasional sets once in a while in Lahaina, plus it's onshore this morning. I wonder if it's a southerly flow associated with the clouds west of us. No signs of the new long period swell (should start with 20s or more) predicted for tomorrow.


North shore
Mokapu
5.4ft @ 7s from 91° (E)

Easterly windswell building, but from that direction Hookipa will still be flat. Eastern exposures won't.

Wind map at noon.


Only easterly windswell in the North Pacific.


South Pacific has a fetch, but it's only 20 knots. Not gonna do much for us.


Morning sky.


It's been wet just west of us the last few days. 6.15am.

Thursday, June 27, 2019

Thursday 6 27 19 morning call

This is Cody Young in a photo posted on the Hi-Tech page (photo by 1more808).


5am significant buoy readings
South shore
Barbers
1.5ft @ 11s from 177° (S)

Lanai
1ft @ 15s from 194° (SSW)
1ft @ 12s from 175° (S)

Lanai stubbornly shows 1ft 15s on top of that shorter period energy that's hitting Barbers too. How big is going to be on the Lahaina side? Probably pretty small, but now we can all abandon the guess work and check the webcam to see if it's worth it. The wave in this image looks at least waist high to me and the two surfers in the lineup missed it because they're sitting more outside. Which might be a sign that there's bigger ones. I didn't look long at all and, being still injured, I'm not interested in doing so. You guys make your call. Bigger surf arriving Saturday.


North shore
Mokapu
3ft @ 7s from 88° (E)

Nothing of relevance in the water, the north shore will be flat.

Wind map at noon.



Nothing of relevance in the North Pacific.


South Pacific has a moderate fetch out of which we should get some angular spreading. The strong winds are still aimed at the Americas.


Morning sky.

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Wednesday 6 26 19 morning call

This is a photo of Restaurants in Fiji posted by the Tavarua Island Resort Facebook page. You can see how shallow the reef is. I experienced that it's also extremely sharp.



5am significant buoy readings
South shore
Barbers
1.1ft @ 13s from 184° (S)
1ft @ 16s from 198° (SSW)
 
Lanai
1ft @ 13s from 186° (S)
0.8ft @ 16s from 188° (S)
 
Couple of long period readings at the buoy, but the webcam shows very little energy. This is a decent wave (which I caught a tad late), but check it yourself if interested.
 
 
North shore
A lot of buoys disappeared from the Surfline page today. Good day for it, as there's pretty much nothing in the water and the north shore is flat.

Bad day for the meteo websites in general, as the wind maps are unavailable too. This is the Windguru 10 days table. Shouldn't be much wind today, the NAM model down the page even shows a few hours of Kona in the morning, consequence of the approaching front we can see in the satellite photo at the bottom of this post. Easterly trades should be back tomorrow.
 
Nothing of relevance in the North Pacific.
 
The only great circle maps available these days don't have the isobars on it (as the old ones did), so it's even more difficult for me to guess if the orientation of the fetch I circled in yellow is going to provide us with some angular spreading.
 
Morning sky. Yesterday's clouds didn't move much, but they are definitely closer today.
 
This is the rain radar at 6.55am and it shows some rain on Molokai.

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Tuesday 6 25 19 morning call

I went to Hookipa at sunset real quick and caught the usual Kane ripping in the leftover ENE waves (still up to shoulder high).


This is a video posted by Alex Aguera as he's SUP downwind foiling in the Gorge.


5am significant buoy readings
South shore
Barbers
0.7ft @ 18s from 200° (SSW)
Lanai
1ft @ 14s from 196° (SSW)

The two reported readings are quite incompatible with each other: there can't be only 18s at one buoy and only 14 at the other. We'll blame the Surfline algorithm for that. Fortunately with the webcam the local buoys are WAY less important than before. You just look at it and you know what's in the water. This is a good wave, much smaller in between. Check yourself and decide.


North shore
Mokapu
3ft @ 9s from 68° (ENE)

Hilo
4.5ft @ 8s from 82° (E)

The remote windswell episode is winding down at Mokapu and it looks like it turned into some more easterly stuff at Hilo. Hookipa will be flat to tiny, with the very occasional set possibly still making its way to shore once in a while, but disappearing throughout the day. Don't forget there's a webcam for Hookipa too! It looks pretty flat at this moment and the rest of this week should look pretty similar.


Wind map at noon.


Nothing of relevance in the North Pacific.


South Pacific continues its flurry of strong fetches, unfortunately oriented towards the Americas, but we can always rely on the magic of the angular spreading.


Morning sky shows clouds approaching.


And the 6.05am rain radar shows the associated rain. Windguru shows the clouds, but it doesn't indicate much rain at all for Maui. We'll see.

Monday, June 24, 2019

Monday 6 24 19 morning call

I got yet another little injury (ankle sprain) yesterday while windfoiling Hookipa. My foot got stuck between the sail mast and the board when falling on a wave. Nothing I could do at that point, but I should have bailed earlier, which confirms the foiling golden rule: if it's going wrong, don't try to save it, but bail as soon as possible. Jimmie got some shots in this gallery.


In that gallery you'll also find plenty photos of Robby Naish and Miki Schweiger foiling on the waves with the wing thing. I'll get a wing at one point mostly for the downwinders (the transitions like tacks and jibes look fun too). I haven't tried one on the waves yet, but I thought it wasn't going to be much better than the windfoiling I'm doing. But now I see the footstraps on Robby's board and I am a bit jelous. Can't use footstraps on mine and don't really feel the need. But I love them on my SUP foiling board which looks a lot like Robby's board. Well, seen the self harm I can do even without straps, maybe it's a blessing.


6am significant buoy readings
South shore
Barbers
1.3ft @ 11s from 182° (S)
0.9ft @ 15s from 211° (SW)

Lanai
1.2ft @ 15s from 209° (SSW)

The predicted small long period swell is at the buoys. Below are the maps of June 17 and 18 that show the fetch that generated it.


These are the kind of sets that are showing at the harbor, but it's going to be a relatively small day for the south facing shore. That is going to be the case for the whole week, while the next two weeks should see much more size. Check the webcam yourself and decide.


North shore
Mokapu
3.6ft @ 9s from 70° (ENE)

Hilo
4.7ft @ 9s from 74° (ENE)

Hilo has been consistently one foot bigger than Mokapu, sign that this ENE swell is stronger south of us. Maui is probably somewhere in between, let's say 4.2ft 9s and Hookipa has waves that seem up shoulder high again.

Wind map at noon.


North Pacific has nothing of relevance.


South Pacific has a fetch SE of New Zealand (red circle), but there's also a massive and intense fetch even more SE of it. The fetch maps on the right doesn't reach down there, so I don't really know if it's oriented along the great circle rays (that's why I circled it in yellow and put a question mark), but it sure looks like it might send something. Once again, next week the south shore should be pumping again.


Morning sky.

Sunday, June 23, 2019

Sunday 6 23 19 morning call

Sunsets have been amazing lately, the only way you didn't notice would be if you are not in Maui.


Didn't take many photos at all, this is one of Kane to illustrate the size (and very poor shape) of the waves at Hookipa, which were in the chest to shoulder high range with very occasional head highers. I watched from the cliff and, spoiled after weeks of Lahaina perfection, decided to go for a swim.
"Do I really surf this place during the winter?!?" was the question I had in my mind.



3am significant buoy readings
Barbers
1.1ft @ 14s from 185° (S)
1.1ft @ 11s from 170° (S)

Lanai
1.3ft @ 12s from 179° (S)
0.8ft @ 16s from 206° (SSW)
 
Lahaina side "finally" taking the break I've been calling way too early. Even yesterday it looked pretty good all day on the webcam and even today, if you wait long enough, you get sets like this one below. Check the webcam and decide. As you can see, the Hookipa alternative in the bottom half of the screen is not too exciting.
 
North shore
Hilo
4.5ft @ 9s from 67° (ENE)
 
A bunch of buoys disappeared from the Surfline page, Hilo says 4.5ft 9s from 67 and that's probably what we have in the water also locally. Below is the collage of the maps of June 18 and 19, the ones with the stronger NE fetches. Waves should be in the same yesterday's range I described up top, even though I have the feeling that the peak was yesterday at sunset. Eastern exposures will have waves too.
 
The wind should be calm every where until mid morning. Below is the map at 8am.
 
Wind map at noon shows the usual thermals, but no real trades.
 
North Pacific has practically nothing.


South Pacific's strong fetch keeps looking like the one of last weekend's big swell. I'm really curious to see what this one is going to do in a week. Still learning about the angular spreading.


Morning sky.