Thursday 7 6 117 morning call

Yesterday was as epic as a day with very small waves on the south shore and completely flat on the north shore can be. And that's thanks to my two new summer 2017 toys.

First, after spending some extra time on yesterday morning's post, I looked at the Lahaina cam and it looked too clean to pass. So I drove over there and was lucky that the onshores didn't pickup till 11am. I caught a massive number of knee high waves (with some occasional waist high bombs) and had a blast on my 9.4 single fin nose rider.

Then I did something that is becoming a summer staple: the harbor check. Wind conditions were absolutely epic for windfoiling with light steady wind and I rigged my 4.0 to check the lower limits of it. I love having as small as a sail in my hands while windfoiling, but the 4.0 proved to be a tad too small (the wind got lighter too). So I went back in and, in classic windsurfer manner, I changed sail and rigged a 4.3 (can't even remember last time I did that on a regular windsurfer). The video below speaks by itself, have a look at that.


If by now you watched it once, watch it again (if you care) and notice the following:

1) after pumping sail and board into foiling, I instinctively hooked in the harness. After 37 years of regular windsurfing, in which you always hook in the harness after having pumped your way into planning, it's something that it's understandable. I also needed to rest my arms for a tiny bit. But because of that (and for the reason I explained yesterday), I immediately almost lost the foiling. And that's when I hooked out of the harness, got the foil back up and never hooked in again. I just foil better without using the harness.

2) around minute 1:40, in order to keep it foiling, I started doing subtle downwind/upwind little s-turns to help the foil generate speed. Those are much easier to do with the box in a forward position as opposed to a box all the way at the back. With the box in the back, I would be probably just sheeting in more and maybe pumping the sail. Once again, the overall greater maneuverability of the whole thing is what makes me prefer the forward position.

The whole harbor session lasted something like 2 hours and at the end of it, I was exhausted. But a very reluctant (to the windfoiling idea) friend texted me that he was going to give it a try in the Sprecks area and I felt like dropping by and giving him some tips. He had a little experience behind a boat and some downwinder attempts and he's an amazingly accomplished, efficient and subtle windsurfer (past winner of an edition of the Aloha Classic with Robby Naish in it!). He did so incredibly well on his first attempt, that I had to join him. I rigged up again and had an absolute blast foiling into the sunset.

Unfortunately I was so excited that I forgot to dip the gopro in the water before starting to shoot and the video clips have some drops on the lens. Here's a couple of shots anyway, it was totally gorgeous out there.




And after that, I only had one thing in mind: the Mana Foods salad bar! I also needed some grocery and that's what I bought. Everything you see is 100% natural and unprocessed... with the exception of those two rolls of bread, of course. A day like that deserved a little unhealthy reward... what the hell, I even got some peanut butter for it!
The empty bottles of water show my water consumption for the day, which I exactly calculated in 2.75 liters (0.72 gallons). Being hydrated is absolutely key when you do the things I do, and that might have not even been enough, considering that I'm happily back at drinking coffee... damn it!


5am significant buoy readings
South shore
W
1.8ft @ 12s from 131° (SE)

SW
2.4ft @ 12s from 129° (ESE)

SE
2.2ft @ 13s from 73° (ENE)

Smaller and smaller SE energy at the outer buoys, check the webcams for size and conditions.

Here's Pat Caldwell comment on yesterday's conditions:
Mid Wednesday on southern shores has surf at a summer minimum with dominant energy from 130-150 degrees with 10-14 second intervals. Most breaker zones are near nil with select locations higher due to greater refraction from the localized sea floor shape. Similar surf is predicted for Thursday.

North shore
Pauwela
3.3ft @ 8s from 87° (E)

That means flat.

Wind map at noon. This model wasn't particularly correct for the wind at Thousand Peaks in the early morning, but it was totally spot on at noon, when I drove back.


There's a few lows in the North Pacific, but they're all small and weak, so the only relevant fetch also for today is the windswell one.


South Pacific has a well oriented but small and weak fetch east of New Zealand. The SE one will be blocked by the big island, as we saw.


Despite some clouds, I'm gonna announce again that another stunning day is on its way.


I didn't review this post well enough, sorry for the eventual typos and mistakes, but I work at 9am and I need to get going, because there's a session to be had before that... or is there?
The Lahaina cam doesn't look too exciting, but those bird flying by are a clear message. If you are as stoked and happy as I am, at least.