4 8 16 morning call

Still windy blown out conditions on the north shore yesterday. The photo by Jimmie Hepp shows a windsurfer at Hookipa enjoying a rare moment of good wind between squalls.


I had a SUP lesson and those couple of pictures give me the opportunity to write down a little speech I always do when I teach that.
The right time to switch from paddling stance to surfer stance when catching a wave can vary greatly. I'll give you the two extremes:
1) the wave behind you is small and soft: you keep paddling without changing stance, eventually putting your front foot on the front of the board to maximize the chances of catching the wave, but only after you caught the wave you go into full surfer stance and step back on the board.
2) the wave behind you is relatively big and steep: you switch to surfer stance well before the wave hits the board and make sure you keep paddling when you do that. You don't want to lose any speed, because you're gonna need every little bit of it.

Between these two extremes, there's an infinite number of possibilities in between that depend on the relative size and steepness of the wave. The bigger/steeper, the earlier you need to switch to surfer stance. This student of mine below didn't quite listened to me and he's way late (the wave is under me at the moment of the photo and I'm probably yelling "surfer stance!") and he's gonna nose dive and fall.


This other one did much better. Of course there's plenty other aspects to improve, but at least he successfully caught the wave.


5am buoy readings:
Waimea
5.0ft @ 11s from 339° (NNW)         

2.9ft @ 8s from 19° (NNE)

2.5ft @ 9s from 337° (NNW)

 

Mokapu:

4.8ft @ 8s from 55° (ENE)           

4.6ft @ 12s from 13° (NNE)

2.8ft @ 10s from 9° (N)

2.8ft @ 5s from 64° (ENE)

Barbers

3.2ft @ 10s from 306° (WNW)

2.3ft @ 7s from 158° (SSE)

2.1ft @ 13s from 187° (S)

1.7ft @ 6s from 123° (ESE)

So the energy from the north went up to 11-12s and that will make a significant difference in some spots. Plenty messy waves at hookipa that at 6am already has already 15mph (10-24) on the iwindsurf sensor, so I'm out of here as soon as I'm done with this. Will try to catch that energy somewhere else.
Notice still couple of feet 13s from the south at Barbers. Check the webcam(s) before going.

 

Mc2km map at noon shows wind from a more easterly direction.

 

Unfortunately the 5.45am radar still shows plenty rain, but that should start improving with the new easterly direction of the wind, so afternoon probably better from that point of view. Oh no, I did it again: I forecasted something about the rain. Don't trust me guys, I suck at that.

 

Wind map still shows the solid NW fetch that generated (it's on its way) Sunday's swell that the latest Surfline forecast calls for almost 10f 15s from 323 in the afternoon.

South pacific shows that nice but compact fetch I was talking about the last couple of days. What I like about it, is that is at least one day of travel closer to us (still a long way, though) and the related small swell will come from a unusual SSE direction. Some spots will like it better than others.