Friday 10 20 17 morning call

Below is the 6.3 old board I quickly and easily converted into a foil board thanks to the stick-on Foilmount. It was my first time I tried a prone foil board and it was challenging because of the non ideal conditions. The wave by the jetty at the harbor jacks up pretty quickly and I found myself looking over a shouler/head high ledge while paddling for the set waves. Forget about taking off on such a steep/big section when you don't know where to put your feet to control the foil, so I moved on the inside to catch the white water after the wave broke.

Which I managed to, but I didn't think that standing up in the flats on a shortboard and landing with the feet in the right position would be so difficult with my old and stiff body. I managed to do that a couple of times, and got the foil up with a couple of pumps, but to learn this I need a knee/waist high wave on the south shore, so that I can get up on the face of the wave. It would be a lot easier to land with my feet in the right spot that way. It was fun to try anyway and a good successful test for the mount.

The main reason why I went this way, is that the stick-on mount offers 3 inches of adjustability and I wanted to learn what difference the position of the foil does. I did need to get a tuttle to plate adapter to make it work too. A little extra weight and drag and a little extra length in the foil mast. Gonna learn what that does too.


The experimenting part of this "new" discipline is a big part of the fun for me and for whoever is involved in it. I had the pleasure to share my session with bruddahs Chris and Dave Kalama and the latter kept changing wings to learn about the different setups. That's how you play the game, if you want to play the game.

I know, foiling is not exactly a new discipline (photo below is from 2004), but it's new to most of us anyway.

Before work, I had time to test this 81L Quatro Cube that we just put in the rental fleet at Hi-Tech: great board. I especially liked the MFC fins setup: it never spun out on me. Upper Kanaha was pretty fun and the windswell bumps were getting bigger and bigger the more I sailed away from the shore.
I couldn't help myself imagining Kai Lenny effortlessly linking them on his foil. It was more like Kai Lenny with my face, actually... who knows, maybe one day.

This photo of Jimmie Hepp from this gallery, shows the waves at Hookipa. That's what 10 seconds period looks like.

5am significant buoy readings
South shore
None of the outer buoys shows southerly energy, and the fetch maps of a week ago confirm that, so my bet is that the south shore will be flat to knee high again today (it was yesterday).
Next pulse of southerly energy is due on Sunday.

North shore
NW101
4ft @ 13s from 336° (NNW)

Waimea
3ft @ 15s from 333° (NNW)

Mokapu
9.3ft @ 9s from 38° (NE)

While the windswell is still pumping at Mokapu (hence also in Maui), a new NW ground swell filled in and Waimea shows 3f 15s from 333. Should be similar in Maui too all day, even though the forecast was calling for twice as much size.

Wind map at noon shows trades lighter than the past days.

 But Windguru shows that the lighter winds should only happen tomorrow, we'll see. Look at the lack of wind for next week, unfortunately with some onshore days. Sounds like foiling to me.
Having a lull in the wind just before the windsurfing contest is a good thing, IMO. Statistically, the probability of wind during the waiting period increases, in fact.

North Pacific shows:
- the west fetch out of the typhoon south of Japan. The storm will stay pretty stationary for a few days.
- a strong NW fetch, next week is going to have plenty swell
- a still strong NE windswell fetch

South Pacific shows a small but well positioned fetch east of New Zealand and a much stronger, but very distant one south of the Tasman Sea. Apparently there's a narrow corridor for the swell to reach us (red arrow on the map on the right), but we never know how much energy will manage to pass through the maze of Polynesian islands.

Morning sky.