I just wanted to surf it after more than month (maybe even two), say hi to my lineup friends and see how it felt. In one hour, I caught two short waves (crowd and high tide didn't help) for a total amount of fun that I would rank as 1 in the usual scale of 10.
Then I went SUP foiling at kite beach, caught a large number of very long rides (many lasted till 50 yards from the beach) and scored a session that was a 9, but that's just because I want to leave a little room for a possible 10 in case conditions will be even better in the future.
These are a bunch of photos that Tomoko took and I shamelessly grabbed from this gallery. Check it out, there's plenty more.
Let's start with Kathy Shipman, who I call "trottolino", which in Italian means spinning top, as it seems that she never stops. How's that wall!
This is one of the many dreamy waves I had. Notice the weight slightly more on the back foot here to bring the nose of the board back up a bit.
I love this one, because it shows very little wake from the mast of the foil. It renders perfectly the idea that the board is flying on top of the water. It really is a magic carpet ride.
Dave Kalama on a wave that took him to the sewage plant.
His rides reminded me of that video of Laird at Chicama. Beautiful carves left and right like snowboarding on air. I told him that the board is riding looks like the best SUP foiling board I've seen in the water. He agreed from the functional point of view, but he would like to sexy it up a bit.
Very impressive how little the board looks like a regular SUP board and how short time it took him to figure out what works for foiling instead.
At the moment, I'm riding my retrofitted old boards, as I'd rather put my money towards foils ( got a Iwa and Maliko 200 combo on order). But I can see that at one point I'll ask him to shape me a proper SUP foil one. I'll wait for him to add net stockings and high heels.
Dave Kalama commented in the lineup:"it is perfectly slow. You catch a wave, go the distance, then paddle back out without sets breaking and having to go over the white water, then you sit in the lineup, rest a bit, chat a bit and then another set comes and the merry go round starts again. But in the meantime, the water on the inside has settled perfectly and there's no weird bumps or backwashes".
This is one of my favorite shots, because it shows just how perfect the water was.
And that's what you have in the background while riding those endless rights.
Just the right steepness. No use for surfing, but incredibly fun flying over them with a hydrofoil.
The aggressive pumping action of Junior. Every time I have to pump to make a section, I try to emulate him.
This photo instead is from the same day, but that's the beach of Capo Miseno in Napoli, which is where I did my very first windsurfing when I lived there (no breakwalls back then). A friend of mine posted it because it was a great day. God, I'm happy I live in Maui now, even though dinner might have been slightly tastier over there. In the background, the islands of Procida and Ischia.
Enough foiling? Not yet, because I just saw this video of a tidal wave in France. Once again, the right steepness (or lack of there of) enables the foiler to carve back and forth while the other guys can barely go straight. Enjoy.
4am significant buoy readings
South shore
No indication of southerly energy at the buoys, the Surfline forecast calls for 1.5f 12s.
North shore
NW101
12.5ft @ 13s from 351° (N)
Waimea
5.2ft @ 14s from 344° (NNW)
5.1ft @ 8s from 345° (NNW)
2ft @ 11s from 348° (NNW)
Pauwela
3.9ft @ 15s from 338° (NNW)
2.7ft @ 9s from 341° (NNW)
2.2ft @ 11s from 330° (NW)
New big NNW swell is on the rise at all the buoys, a bit below the Surfline prediction that calls for 9.5f 14s at 8am and 13f 14s at 2pm. Below is the collage of the graphs of the three reported buoys and the aforementioned forecast. Most likely too big and rough (because of the wind and the leftover shorter energy from the old swell) on the north shore, look for sheltered spots and/or check the upper west side. Don't forget that the harbor will have limited parking and no access to the jetty wave, because of the HSA contest.
Wind map at noon shows moderate NE trades.
The very active North Pacific shows the strong fetch that will provide us with Wednesday's big swell that Surfline predicts to peak at 18f 15s from 325 mid Wednesday. Too bad for the NE wind, otherwise it would have been an epic day at massive Jaws.
South Pacific shows no fetches of relevance.
Morning sky.
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