2016 Vancouver and Napoli trips

20 days without blogging and not missing it a bit... you guys better hope I won't get too used to this.

I've been busy travelling and doing things and just now I'm finding the time for this post, mostly thanks to the fact that on the other half of the screen I'm watching the WSL Big Wave Tour contest in Puerto Escondito (on demand, of course). Great show, too bad they got the forecast horribly wrong and didn't run the whole event on the first day that was much bigger. If it happens to the pros, you guys will understand how difficult of a game wave forecasting is and forgive me if and when I'll do some bad calls myself.

This post is a collection of photos taken with my phone camera. They are quite random and unlinked, but hopefully entertaining nonetheless for someone.

As planned, I left Maui on June 7 and I spent the day after in Vancouver with my buddy Glenn. I did the same already 2 years ago and we went again for a hike at Cypress Mountain because it's not as busy as the many other ones that can be found just outside town. This time it was also drizzling on and off and that meant that there was pretty much nobody around. Just plenty beautiful nature and wildlife.

A remarkable moment of the hike was when we got to this beautiful lake and the only noise we could hear was the sound of the thin rain drops hitting the surface of it.
We are so used to all the artificial sounds our modern society surrounds us with, that it felt almost uncomfortable not to hear anything but nature.
That's just a little example of how much "progress" and technology screwed up our lives.

 

We kind of lost the trail at one point and had to go through some challenging passes. To be honest, the photo makes it look much more radical than it was.

 



Living in Maui, I'm not used anymore to seeing this amount of people all packed up inside a subway train (and not smiling to each other). City life is not for me anymore. Fortunately for them, the Vancouver citizens can easily escape into the beautiful nature that surrounds their city.

 

 

From a beautiful city to another, my home town Napoli sure does not lack in good looks. Below a gallery of them.

 

 

 

 

Here's a series of Vesuvio shots.

 

 

 

Pretty but far from perfect. Napoli's worse aspect in my opinion: the citizens' lack of respect for the others.

This sign was in the elevator of the building where my parents live (and where I grew up), which - supposedly - is in one of the best neighborhoods. It says:
"The tenants are kindly requested not to throw any objects or cigarette butts from their windows and balconies."
Imagine what happens in the less educated ones.

 

 

There we go, I promise this is the only garbage shot I'll post. A very moderate one.

 

Random shot of the leftovers of one of the many big family lunches/dinners. Expensive champagne bottle on the left, 2 euros unlabeled underground straight from the farmer Falanghina white wine on the right. Without a doubt, the latter would be my pick any time.

Food was unreal as usual. I enjoy experiencing once a year all those amazing flavors that used to be a normal daily thing. Sometimes I even run into something I forgot the taste of. Love it.

My folks are 82 and 85 and they are the main reason why I go back to Italy every single year. The Moet/Falanghina combo made dad have a good old time!


My brother got himself a used Porsche and even though cars might as well be at the very bottom of my material things preferences, it was sure fun to drive it.


He used to have one of those when he was 18... love the racks!


Eating apricots straight from the tree. Priceless.

 

Coffee is another special taste of Napoli. At least we claim so.

Napolitans are extremely superstitious, and those things are supposed to bring good luck.
You might think it's only tourist souvenirs, but it's not.

My niece had a small photo exhibition outside of this small wine and food shop in the middle of one of the most historical parts of the town. Unfortunately my phone camera sucks at night.

It was right in front of a building called Palazzo dello Spagnolo inside which there is this famous staircase.

 

 

That staircase has been featured in a bunch of Italian movies and also in a John Turturro's one in a beautiful dance scene that you can admire in this video starting at minute 6.40. 

PALAZZO DELLO SPAGNOLO - i luoghi di Napoli nel Cinema from Napoli nel Cinema on Vimeo.

Gonna end with the usual ad billboard contest. These two tied for first place.

 

PS. I'm posting from Bali where I arrived a few days ago. Not sure when next post will be, but I promise that there will be waves.

6am Hookipa has up to head high windswell with a little bit of wind on them.

7 6 16 morning call

A surf session, a massage and a windsurf session was how I filled my morning yesterday before my last work shift for 2.5 months.

I'm about to leave for my long summer trip in fact, that will see me first one day in Vancouver, 12 days in Italy, 2 months in Indo and 3 days in Melbourne before being back in Maui on August 21. The morning calls will hence resume on August 22, but of course I'll keep posting during my trips. Just not every day.

Sorry, no photos from yesterday. The NNW swell was filling in also at Honolua.

5am significant buoy readings.
Pauwela
3.4ft @ 6s from 62° (ENE)

3ft @ 7s from 18° (NNE)

2.8ft @ 9s from 351° (N)

Lanai
1.1ft @ 13s from 200° (SSW)

0.8ft @ 9s from 205° (SSW)

0.7ft @ 6s from 200° (SSW)

Still some windswell energy at the Pauwela buoy, while the southerly one at the Lanai one is very minimal. I'll check Hookipa first, I'll post an update from the beach later.

Wind map at noon shows some wind, it should be sailable again.


North Pacific showing a couple of fetches: a weak to medium NW one and a weak to medium NNE windswell one.


South Pacific shows a huge fetch east of New Zealand, the strongest part of which is aiming east of Hawaii. You guys will still get angular spreading. The south swell starting on Thursday should be long lasting.

9.30am Hookipa was more fun than it looked. Because of the northerly direction, even the bay has some waves.

7am Hookipa has waves up to head high, not too clean because of a bit of wind. White caps on the outside.

6 6 16 morning call

Hookipa was small but clean yesterday morning, this is an example of one of the best waves that were on offer.


5am significant buoy readings:
NW
5.6ft @ 7s from 33° (NE)

3.7ft @ 10s from 341° (NNW)

Waimea
4.1ft @ 8s from 2° (N)           

2ft @ 10s from 332° (NNW)

 

Pauwela
3.5ft @ 8s from 6° (N)

2.1ft @ 4s from 52° (ENE)

1.5ft @ 11s from 349° (NNW)

 

Lanai
1ft @ 9s from 216° (SW)

0.8ft @ 12s from 202° (SSW)

0.8ft @ 14s from 203° (SSW)

 

Surfline and I were both right. There is a NNW (1.5ft @ 11s from 349°) swell as they predicted. It comes from a fetch I forgot about, that was on the map on June 2nd below, but there also is the more northerly windswell from yesterday's fetch (3.5ft @ 8s from 6°). Watch out for an extreme low tide at 8.48am.

Hookipa is the spot to surf, since the energy from the south at the Lanai buoy is quite minimal. The South Pacific map from 7 days ago (May 30) shows a couple of fetches (west and east of New Zealand), but not much of it made it here. But check the Lahaina webcam if you prefer to surf over there, since it won't be flat. The extreme low tide will happen at 9.49am in Lahaina. That means that at least 1.5h before and after that it's still gonna be extremely low.


The trades are coming back today, even though still a bit on the light side. Could be sailable though as both the Windity and MC2km models at noon below indicate.


North Pacific map shows a couple of fetches, both kinda weak, but enough to keep the flatness away.


South Pacific map shows a really wide fetch well oriented for us. Next week's south swell will start around Thursday and last quite a few days.


I finished watching the ladies' contest in Fiji and that was one of the best ever. Right after it, I saw the first heat of the mens' and the conditions, in comparison, sucked. They smartly get round 1 and 2 out of the way, because the forecast doesn't look good for the next several days.
Look at the map in fact, the winds in the Tasman Sea are blowing the opposite direction the should blow for making waves for Fiji. Next swell of interested, forecasted for June 14-15th.

6.30am Hookipa has calf to knee high clean waves.

6 5 16 morning call

Surf lesson and longboard session at thousand peaks in the morning for me yesterday. I find the challenge of nose riding a perfect complement to the shortboard skills. It's all about finess and style versus dinamic aggressive style. Love it in the right conditions.

The beautiful rail of this Pearson Arrow 10f single fin. The board belongs to the rental fleet of Hi-Tech in Kahului and I dare you finding a fleet as good as ours. My students were intermediate and they loved the lesson and the boards I picked, to the point that they're going to rent them for the week.


Kids having fun on the SUP squatch.


This instead is a Town & Country 10 feet with a bit more volume.


4am significant buoy readings:
Pauwela
1.7ft @ 9s from 351° (N)

1.6ft @ 7s from 43° (NE)

0.8ft @ 11s from 56° (ENE)

0.5ft @ 16s from 60° (ENE)

 

Lanai
1.2ft @ 13s from 201° (SSW)

Sprinkles of northerly windswell at Pauwela should make for almost flat conditions at Hookipa, while the leftover energy from the south is getting minimal too. Below is the South Pacific map of 7 days ago (May 29) and as you can see, the fetch is pretty weak.

Tough choice today. Wherever you go, you'll find very small waves.


Only a windswell fetch in the North Pacific today. The swell for this fetch is forecasted by Surfline for tomorrow at 2.2f 11s from 243 (even though the direction seems weird to me: if anything, it should have a bit of east in it).


Strong fetch in the South Pacific for next week. Still a bit oriented towards the east of us.
Nothing for Fiji, the men's contest started yesterday, but I'm still watching the ladies. Amazing surfing from Carissa in her quarterfinal heat.


Light wind again at noon. Regular trades forecasted to be back this week.

9.30am peaks has now side wind from maalaea

8.30am peaks is inconsistent knee to waist high, rainy and clean.

6 4 16 morning call

I surfed Hookipa in the morning and that was it for me yesterday. Kinda fun, but pretty gutless short period waves. Much better than flat, though.

Didn't take photos, so the one below is from that really good session on May 31st.

4am significant buoy readings:
N
2.2ft @ 10s from 338° (NNW)

Pauwela
2.5ft @ 8s from 26° (NNE)

Lanai
1.1ft @ 15s from 217° (SW)

1ft @ 12s from 183° (S)

 

Very northerly small energy at the Pauwela buoy, with a slightly higher period one at the North buoy that will hopefully show up locally too.
Lanai reflects what the fetches generated 7/8 days ago. Below is the map of Saturday May 28 and that one foot 15s from 217, obviously comes from that fetch in the Tasman Sea. The one east of New Zealand, probably only sent a swell that is missing us to the east.
Sketchy low tide at 8.33am on the Lahaina side, because of which I booked a lesson at 5.45am... I car about the skin of my students. Gonna be only us in the water, and I will try to post a report before and after it.

North Pacific map shows a too small/distant/weak NW fetch and a closer N windswell one to keep Hookipa from going totally flat.


After a completely windless morning, at noon the HRW model calls for light winds as in the map below.


After two days of strong but America's oriented fetches, today the South Pacific map doesn't look too good for us. The only fetches oriented our way in fact, are either weak or small. Gonna get better again soon, so just a bit of a lull in next week's swell. Surfline calling for continuous energy instead, I guess the WW3 model has more faith than me into the angular spreading.


Notice also the complete lack of fetches in the tasman sea. A strong high pressure is sitting right on top of New Zealand and that is not good news for the contest. The first days of the window (that starts today!) might see some waves (they like to get rid of round 1 quickly), but after that I see a week of nothingness. Fortunately they got more time than that.
This is an interesting feature about the mechanics of Cloudbreak and Restaurants.

6am Hookipa has belly high waves and a little wind. I'll surf here, so no lahaina report. Check the webcam instead.

6 3 16 morning call

A quick sponsor message to remind you guys that Manaloa rent-a-car is still having a special and the sedans start at $110/week + taxes.

Just one but fun session for me yesterday in Lahaina. I timed the tide right and I got lucky with people and wind. The energy in the water was less than the past few days, but there was still some. I even had to dodge an odd head high set.

Didn't take any photos, here's yesterday's sunset by Jimmie Hepp.


South Pacific map of 7 days ago shows a weak S fetch and a stronger but more compact one in the Tasman Sea. Overall, we can say that after what feels like more than a week, the energy coming from down under is tapering down, but it's not dead yet. Lanai buoy reading below confirms that.


4am buoy readings:
NW
2ft @ 10s from 345° (NNW)

Waimea
1ft @ 11s from 324° (NW)

0.3ft @ 16s from 295° (WNW)

Pauwela

2.7ft @ 8s from 33° (NE)                      

1.1ft @ 12s from 353° (N)

Lanai
1.4ft @ 13s from 197° (SSW)                      

0.7ft @ 16s from 219° (SW)

 

Sprinkles of northerly energy at the northerly buoys, I'm still more interested in the longer period clean lines you will find, if you have enough patience, on the south facing shores. That wave at the Lahaina harbor below is at least shoulder high, but maybe next one of that size will be in half an hour.
FYI: the size that I post in my beach updates is the size of the average waves. There will always be occasionally bigger ones, no matter if I mention it or not.

 

Still light wind from a northerly direction also today.


Hey, Woody is back from his long vacation and here's another local wind map at noon from MC2km.
Kinda similar, but I'm liking the Windity graphical representation better.

 

North Pacific map shows two pretty insignificant fetches.


South Pacific map shows a strong wide fetch, but oriented towards central America. You guys will get the angular spreading. It will be good size, but get ready for long waits.