4 9 16 morning call

Scored the Bay yesterday, here's how it looked in this wonderful picture by Jason Hall.


That's how it looked in this less wonderful picture I took just before getting in the water. It wasn't always as good as this (that actually was probably one of the best sets), but it was sure fun. Solid head high and relatively uncrowded.


On the north shore of course the middle of the day was dominated by the windsurfers. Here's a funny photoshop edit by Fishbowldiaries . Looks like I was right about the lack of rain, btw.

The spiderlock grid design is an historical one from Hot Sails Maui. It's the one that Dave Osborne used for his one sail quiver. When I met him back in the days and learned that he only sailed a 4.5, the whole thing seemed absurd to me. Now I only sail a 4.3. Things and perspectives can change in life. They better, actually!
This is the article in which Dave summarizes his point. I got to the same exact conclusions, without talking to Dave at the time (I just thought he was crazy... and crazy good!) and without reading it. I only found it afterwards. I don't see anybody else doing it, and so I find that a bit extraordinary.
Well, maybe not that much. It just takes someone that doesn't like to follow what the other people do, but likes to do his/her own thing.


The reasons I went to the Bay yesterday are the following:
- the early morning strong wind on the north shore (which I mentioned in yesterday's call)
- the good buoy readings of Waimea and Mokapu (which I published in yesterday's call)
- the analysis of the fetches of the past few days (which are published every single day on this blog and remain available for future references).

In other words, all these data are available on this blog daily. That's the whole point of this morning call: to give you guys the instruments to do your own call and decide where to go surf/sail/kite.
I'm not gonna call the spot that I think it's good, because that doesn't make any sense to me, since everybody's skill and preference are extremely different. Be happy with this level of information summarized on a single web page. I don't see anything out there that is comparable, honestly.

Buoy readings at 4am.
Waimea
3.8ft @ 11s from 357° (N)

3.1ft @ 10s from 347° (NNW)

Mokapu
4ft @ 11s from 6° (N)

3.4ft @ 9s from 44° (NE)

3.2ft @ 6s from 79° (ENE)

 

Lanai
1.9ft @ 7s from 183° (S)

1.2ft @ 10s from 233° (WSW)

1.1ft @ 12s from 197° (SSW)

0.9ft @ 16s from 192° (SSW)

 

Compare those readings to yesterday's (the graphs are quite confusing these days because of the windswell) and you'll see that the northerly energy is trending down, but still there. That's what we have on tap today, no signs of tomorrow's big 10f 16s NW swell yet.
Does Jaws break on such swell? I bet it does!

 

The wind should be a little lighter than yesterday, but still plenty for the wind propelled sports. Windguru only says 15? If it's from a good direction (75-80) and sunny (and it should be both), it'll be 25 out there.
I might even give the windkooking thing a go in the late afternoon, before the strong wind will kick in next week and destroy everything.

Woody is still asleep at the moment of this post, check the MC2km website (link n.17) later for the updated maps.

 

Wind map shows a nice medium sized NW fetch. That's the one contributing to the second pulse of next week's swells.


Oh, I forgot to mention that the WSL contest at Margaret River started. Don't expect any updates on this blog, since I immediately got left way behind and will watch it on demand at my own pace as I always do.

South pacific map shows that SSE fetch that I pointed out a few days ago. I'll try to keep an eye on the Samoa buoy to see what shows up in a couple of days over there.
 Also notice that massive and intense fetch in the Tasman sea. Hopefully we'll get some energy from that. Hopefully I'll see some Cloudbreak shots somewhere on the net.