Friday 1 7 22 morning call

Yesterday morning both the NW and the Hanalei buoys were reading 12ft 15s (from 316 and 312 respectively). That's why I called for most north shore spots to be unsurfable. Well, that was not true. This is from my first session. Well overhead, but not 12ft 15s.

Hookipa at sunset was again in the double to triple overhead range, which, again, is not 12ft 15s.

Same guy I didn't remember the name yesterday.

5am Surfline significant buoy readings and discussion.
South shore
No southerly energy at Barbers. check the Lahaina webcam if interested, for size, conditions and consistency.

North shore
NW101
9.1ft @ 14s from 311° (NW)

Hanalei
6.2ft @ 13s from 303° (WNW)
4.8ft @ 15s from 315° (NW)
4ft @ 10s from 325° (NW)

Hilo

4.7ft @ 13s from 351° (N)

4.4ft @ 9s from 89° (E)

Kaneohe Bay

3.6ft @ 13s from 360° (N)

2.9ft @ 9s from 50° (NE)

So why was it less than 12ft 15s in Maui? Let's have a look at the fetch that generated this swell in the collage below (Jan 2 through 4). It started between 290 to 300 on the 2nd and then it moved north between 300 to 320 on the 3rd and 310 to 325 on the 4th. Directions at NW and Hanalei were around 314 and the only thing I can think of is that it was only 314 up there and not down here. That seems to be confirmed by the fact that Kihei had waves, which takes a lot more west than 314. Whatever it was, it was a pleasant surprise to find out that it wasn't closing out everywhere.

This morning the swell seems to have declined significantly at the buoys, Hanalei only reads 6ft 13s, but we're about 8-9 hours away from it. Home guess for Hookipa is for double to triple overhead, slowly declining throughout the day before a new bigger swell will start rising tomorrow. Hopefully the north shore will be surfable again, but in these times of uncertainty (it sure would be nice to have the Pauwela buoy back), the usual spot check drive reacquires the importance it used to have in the old days.

Forecast of Pauwela from this PACIOOS page.

Wind map at noon. The other ones can be found here.

Fetches map (circles legend: red: direct aim, blue: angular spreading, black: blocked, yellow: possibly over the ice sheet) from Windy.

North Pacific (about 4 days travel time from the NW corner of the North Pacific):

South Pacific (about 7 days travel time from east/west of New Zealand):

Morning sky.