1 14 15 morning call

What a wonderful glassy day of surfing yesterday!

Below are three shots of Hookipa from Jimmie Hepp that show how pristine the conditions were (and how big the waves were!).


 

 

 

Today's forecast discussion will start with uncle Pat's table that I shamelessly stole.
That is an exceptional forecast for the following reasons:
- the consistency of the swells
- the size of the swells (between 6 and 10 for me is A LOT better than over 10)
- the lack of wind
- the lack of secondary swells

 

Well, we knew it was going to be an epic week and it definitely has not disappointed so far.
Can I say something real simple? Take the wind out of the equation, and the surfing in Maui is epic everyday, no matter the size.

Ok, today now.
Below is the usual three buoys graph combo. Click on it for the numbers and notice how the swell has gone a lot more westerly at the NW buoy (I put red arrows on the directions to facilitate your task). That is also reflected by the Waimea buoy and it is not yet reflected by the Pauwela one.
You will not see a change in the direction on that. Readings in Maui never get more west than 210, because the waves get refracted by Molokai and the West Maui Mountain and they cannot physically come form a direction more western than that (unless a meteor lands in front of Waiehu).
What you will notice is a drop in the size and even more noticeably, in the consistency. Which, btw, is something that the buoys don't tell.



So, even though on its way down, 6.0ft @ 12s from 328° (NW) is still a healty reading. That is actually one of favorite sizes to surf Hookipa (because there's still plenty overhead sets and that keeps the crowd down a bit... right!), but I personally don't know if I'll be able to surf this morning.
Too much surfing for too many days in row and 52 years of age combined for a pretty bad lower back pain. But I'll still go check it out in a while, so expect photo and report.

Let me just leave you with the exciting news that I just checked the weather maps for the next 7 days and this is what I saw:
1) light trades will return eventually, but not for long, not too strong and very easterly (which means the morning surf will still be good)
2) a big MF (that's American slang, nothing technical...) closely generated swell will hit in the afternoon of Wednesday the 21st and the morning of Thursday 22nd. Surfline is calling for 13f 18s from 310 and that means BIG JAWS!

January, I'd like to thank you in advance. You've been wonderful.

Have fun in the sun everyone!