Well, since I'm getting sucked into foiling, here's a shot from yesterday by Jimmie Hepp from this gallery, which shows the Drexler family kite foiling so relaxed that it looks like they're having a fruit juice by the pool. Kainani is 9 years old and that is pretty remarkable.
2-3am significant buoy readings
South shore
W
2.1ft @ 11s from 118° (ESE)
1.4ft @ 15s from 164° (SSE)
SW
2.6ft @ 10s from 104° (ESE)
1.7ft @ 14s from 128° (ESE)
SE
1.5ft @ 14s from 176° (S)
Foot and a half @ 14-15 seconds is not a big size (and it gets affected greatly by Kahoolawe), but it does mean that the south shore won't be flat. Negative tide at 9.23am in Lahaina will affect the size, so try to hit it earlier than that. Later would still work, but you know that you're gonna get some onshores with it. Check the webcams, as usual.
North shore
N
5.3ft @ 8s from 7° (N)
Waimea
5ft @ 7s from 14° (NNE)
Pauwela
3.1ft @ 7s from 24° (NNE)
2.8ft @ 9s from 7° (N)
Below is the graph of the three reported buoys. As you notice, both N and Waimea have a couple of feet of north swell more than Pauwela, but the black line of the significant wave height is at pretty similar levels. Here's the definition of that from the NOAA website:
WVHT: Significant wave height (meters) is calculated as the average of the highest one-third of all of the wave heights during the 20-minute sampling period.
So, that is a measurement that takes into account ALL the swells in the water and their combined effect on the waves hitting the buoy. The buoy then applies some complicated mathematical transformations to the measurements to extracts the information of the different swells (you can read this page if you want to get more details about that). In this particular case, the almost 5f of WVHT are divided into two main swells at Pauwela (7 and 9 seconds periods) and so it might appear that there's less energy there, but I don't think that's the case. This said, I expect Hookipa to be at least chest high also this morning too. Clean or not clean will depend, as always, on the wind.
BTW, those buoys are sophisticated instruments and every time I say "can't trust the direction" or things like that, I don't mean to lack respect to their designers. It's extremely difficult to measure what they need to measure in the middle of the ocean, being exposed to a bunch of different swells and currents. You just need to not read the data blindly, but with a grain of salt and local knowledge that you build by reading them every day and comparing that with what you observe in the water.
8am wind map shows light easterly trades.
2pm wind map shows moderate trades.
North Pacific only offering a small windswell fetch today.
.South Pacific starting to look good again with a nice fetch across New Zealand. It should get better in the next few days, but make a mental note that next weekend a new series of south swells should start and last all week.
Bit of clouds today, it might not be as stunning as usual, but it still going to be a wonderful day in paradise. Unless you let your structure of thoughts ruin it. Don't get caught by it, stay in the moment whatever happens, and ultimately accept, embrace, enjoy every single event of your life without labeling good or bad. That's my philosophy pill for the day, good luck with it!
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