Monday, April 30, 2018

Monday 4 30 18 morning call

Two SUP foiling and a shortboard session for me yesterday to celebrate a day that was 100% winter: lack of wind, size of waves and air temperature. Here's a few shots I took.

Kane is 17 and his dad bought him a foil for Christmas. He's now doing small airs.


Dylan tuning in his new Kalama board.


Going down with a smile.


Let's not forget the good old barrels.



4am significant buoy readings
South shore

No indication of southerly energy at the buoys, the Surfline forecast calls for 2.4f 14s. I heard mixed reports yesterday, so I won't report them.

North shore
Hanalei
9.5ft @ 13s from 357° (N)
6.3ft @ 12s from 356° (N)
 
Pauwela
7.7ft @ 12s from 327° (NW)
4.4ft @ 9s from 337° (NNW)
3.2ft @ 10s from 327° (NW)
 
Still plenty energy at the buoys, below are the graphs of the two reported ones and the Surfline forecast as it looked yesterday. As you can see, the latter has a dip during the night, but then it should come back up to 11f 14s by 8am. Not sure it will go that high, but by looking at Hanalei, it should come back up some.
 
Wind map at 10am today, since that's the one that shows the strongest moment for a little Kona pulse. Will get lighter already at noon. Check all the maps yourself at link n.-2.
 
The low N of us is sending waves elsewhere and east windswell generation is weak, the only good thing of this map, is the lack of local winds. But this week looks pretty grim.
 
Very marginal couple of fetches in South Pacific.
 
Morning sky.

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Sunday 4 19 18 morning call

A longboard and a SUP foiling session for me yesterday. No shot of the day, here's an image by Ben Thouard: Owen Right in a giant Teahupoo pit.


3am significant buoy readings
South shore

No indication of southerly energy at the buoys, the Surfline forecast calls for a rising 1.5f 14s. Yesterday Ukumehame was knee to occasionally thigh high.

North shore
Hanalei
10.7ft @ 13s from 346° (NNW)
6.9ft @ 9s from 337° (NNW)

Pauwela
6.9ft @ 12s from 322° (NW)
4.1ft @ 9s from 329° (NW)
3.6ft @ 10s from 325° (NW)

Mixed periods, but plenty energy in the local water and, as you can see from the Surfline forecast (on the right together with the graph of the two reported buoys), it should increase towards the end of the day. Once again, who really cares about the precise size, when what it counts the most is the wind. Which, in this case, is going to be much more favorable than yesterday (doesn't take much, I know). Actually, already yesterday at sunset the waves looked borderline clean, so I think today it's going to be a really good day. If you know where to go and what to do, of course.


Wind map at noon shows light onshores. Should be calm for most of the morning pior to that.


North Pacific shows the close by NW fetch, and not much else. The waves are going to be really small after this swell disappears.


South Pacific shows a couple of small fetches, good to keep the background surf going.


Morning sky.

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Saturday 4 28 16 morning call

Thanks a lot to blog reader Alex for the donation.

A SUP foiling (9 in the fun scale) and a shortboard session for me yesterday. Here's some picture of Hookipa at sunset, you can see in the background the texture left by the light onshore wind that pretty much blew all day.


But there were some clean faces too.


4am significant buoy readings
South shore

No indication of southerly energy at the buoys, the Surfline forecast calls for 1.2f 14s. Yesterday it was still knee to waist, today could be a tad smaller before a new pulse picks up tomorrow.

North shore
Hanalei
4.8ft @ 9s from 9° (N)
4.6ft @ 13s from 329° (NW)
3.8ft @ 7s from 349° (NNW)
2.4ft @ 6s from 337° (NNW)
 
Pauwela
6.3ft @ 13s from 322° (NW)
1.2ft @ 8s from 69° (ENE)
 
Interesting readings at the buoys that will give me the opportunity for a bit analysis/teaching.
 
First, have a look at how many periods (mostly short) are hitting Hanalei. That's because the head of the fetch is very close to it and all the periods are still together and overlapping (the buoy is probably in the midst of the active wind). With a more remote fetch, since they travel at different speed, the longer periods would have more time to separate themselves from the shorter ones and arrive first to the break. As a result, the waves will be a lot cleaner (provided there's no other factors like wind and other swells).

Pauwela has not been hit by that raw energy just yet, so it "just" show a solid 6.3f 13s from 322 from yesterday's swell. Below are the graphs of the two reported buoys, let's dig into them.
 
I numbered the phases the swell had at both buoys yesterday. Based on that, we can say that it peaked in Maui over the night and we can expect a gradual decrease throughout all day today (red dotted line).
 
I also pointed out that the black line is the Significant Wave Height (SWH), which in Hanalei is starting to ramp up, due to the rough and stormy conditions. That will happen in Maui too, probably towards the end of the day. To understand the importance of knowing the open ocean swell sizes instead of the SWH, please read these article 1 and 2 on Surfline. And if you're not familiar with what is the period of a swell, this article 3 should clarify it.

So how big are the waves going to be today after all that? I can't tell you that, because it depends on the break you go! Plus, what counts the most IMO, is the wind conditions, which we talk about next.
 

Wind map at noon shows the worse possible wind for the north: NW. No escape from that one and it should blow all day, as you can see from the other maps of the model linked at link n. -2.
 
North Pacific shows the fetch associated with the close by low. Most of the energy will miss out to the west (red arrow), but we'll still get plenty tomorrow.
 
South Pacific shows a couple of fetches after a couple of days with no wave generation for us.
Morning sky.
 
And rain radar at 5.25am.

Friday, April 27, 2018

Friday 4 27 18 morning call

Yesterday I went SUP foiling again. This is Jason Hall pushing the limits of putting a foilboard on "the rail".


Gonna use a couple of photos from the windsurfing session by Jimmie Hepp from this gallery to talk periods. Yesterday there were two swells in the water, a 8s one and a 15s one. That is obviously the 8s one which was also much more consistent as it was generated much closer.


Well, if that was 8s, what is this, 2 or 3? Nah, that is the almost simultaneous arrival of waves belonging to different sets. If there's more than one swell in the water, that is definitely a possibility. But that is possible also with only one swell in the water, if the swell was generated close by and the sets didn't have time to space out between each other.


I took some windsurfing photos myself at sunset and here's Kai Lenny enjoying the freedom of trying gear from different manufacturers. On this wave, he respectfully gave way to the surfer, even though he obviously caught it first, as per etiquette. It helped that the surfer was Cody Young.


3am significant buoy readings
South shore
SW
2.1ft @ 14s from 172° (S)

Still southerly energy at the SW buoy, it's been fun on the Lahaina side and there should be waves also today.

North shore
Hanalei
4.4ft @ 14s from 321° (NW)

Pauwela
5.3ft @ 8s from 70° (ENE)
3.6ft @ 15s from 324° (NW)

The NW swell (see how wrong were the directions yesterday?) slowly picked up all day yesterday as it was predicted to do. Below is the graphs of the two reported buoys and the Surfline forecast. In Maui it should still pick up a bit more throughout the day, but probably not reaching the 5f optimistically predicted by the WW3 model. It does not matter at all, what matters is that the wind conditions will finally be ideal. Too bad that 5f 8s of windswell will interact with the clean NW lines and have them have many sub-peaks. I have business to do at 6am, so I won't be able to post a Hookipa report, but it'll be excellent conditions.

Notice also the sharp rise in the wave size predicted on Sunday, I'll talk about it more down at the fetches maps.


Wind map at 7am looks like surfers delight.

Wind map at noon.


North Pacific doesn't show any relevant fetches just yet, but you can now see the formation of the low just north of us and the counter clock wise rotation of the winds around it. As an immediate consequence, the trades will shut down. As a less immediate consequence, it will generate the swell that Sunday is predicted to reach 10f 11s. Nothing to get too excited about (unless you know where to go), as Pat Caldwell points out that: With the proximity, above average surf is expected. Proximity would also give overlapping short- and moderate-period waves making for an irregular breaking pattern.


Nothing of relevance in the South Pacific.


Morning sky.



Thursday, April 26, 2018

10am lahaina side is knee to waist waves, with occasional chest high sets in the launiupoko area. Unfortunately, light onshore, but still decent

Thursday 4 26 18 morning call

My trigger fingers are improving and I should keep resting them, but I just couldn't pass on a foiling session as the conditions were really fun for it. I could have proned it, but I'm still at the no-fun stage of that, so I decided to go strapped SUP instead. Later in the day on I scored an even more fun longboard session.


I usually choose the windsurfing photo out of Jimmie Hepp's gallery mostly based on how well it shows the wave size, but in this case the move is obviously much predominant. You don't see often stuff like that.


3am significant buoy readings
South shore

W
1.7ft @ 14s from 170° (S)

SW
2ft @ 14s from 147° (SE)

SE
2.3ft @ 14s from 163° (SSE)

Southerly energy at all the outer buoys, so there will be waves also today on the Lahaina side. I should be able to post a report from there around but only around 9am. Yesterday the biggest sets were pushing shoulder high in the Launiupoko area. The Lahaina bypass is already a great improvement to the traffic on the side, btw. When it's going to be complete, it's going to be even better.

North shore.
Hanalei
6.6ft @ 8s from 60° (ENE)
1ft @ 16s from 334° (NNW)

Pauwela
7.6ft @ 8s from 43° (NE)
0.7ft @ 18s from 355° (N)

New long period NW swell on the rise (directions at the buoys are not reliable until the swell gets bigger), but my guess is that it's going to be too small to make a significant difference in the water for most of the day. That's because 7.6f 8s from 43 should provide plenty overhead waves at Hookipa. For sure when the NW lines will start getting bigger in the late afternoon, they will look very different from the short period energy.

Wind map at noon. Might be the last sailing day for a while.


North Pacific only has a small local windswell fetch.


South Pacific doesn't show any fetches of relevance.


Morning sky.



Wednesday, April 25, 2018

9am lahaina side has inconsistent knee to waist waves, best in the launiupoko area where it's occasionally chest high. Ukumehame windy.

Wednesday 4 25 18 morning call

Longboard session for me yesterday as the waves on the south shore got up to occasionally pretty clean waist high in the late morning. Nothing like Bali though.


3am significant buoy readings
South shore

SE
2.3ft @ 14s from 204° (SSW)

Lovely reading at the SE buoy, the Surfline forecast calls for 1.1f 15s. There should be waves also today.

North shore
Hanalei
7.4ft @ 8s from 51° (ENE)

Pauwela
6.9ft @ 8s from 44° (NE)
3.3ft @ 11s from 328° (NW)
 
NW swell already disappeared at Hanalei and that means that it will soon also in Maui. We're left with a windswell from the NE and trade winds.

Wind map at noon.


North Pacific looking pretty grim with only a northerly windswell fetch.


South Pacific even worse with no fetches at all.


Morning sky.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

6.30am lahaina side has extremely inconsistent knee high sets. Flat otherwise.

Tuesday 4 24 18 morning call

No water action for me yesterday. This is a photo by Jimmie Hepp from this gallery showing the effect of a footstrap failure and the size that the NW swell reached at Hookipa.


3am significant buoy readings
South shore

No indication of southerly energy at the buoys, the Surfline forecast calls for 0.9f 15s as a new SSW swell is predicted to pick up.
Here's how Pat Caldwell describes the fetch history: A large area of gales to storm-force winds in the southern Tasman Sea 4/15-17 is expected to give a long-period swell locally from 208-220 degrees starting late Monday 4/23. The PacIOOS/CDIP Pearl Harbor Entrance buoy shows a trace of 16-18 second energy. Surf should hold within background to near the summer average 4/24-26 with a downward trend 4/27-28.

Below is the collage of the maps of April 15, 16 and 17 that might help following his description. I will be on the Lahaina side quite early, but I'm not sure I'll be able to post a report. If there, for sure the new energy will be very inconsistent.


North shore
Hanalei
6.3ft @ 8s from 79° (ENE)
3.8ft @ 12s from 321° (NW)

Pauwela
4.5ft @ 7s from 58° (ENE)
4.4ft @ 13s from 315° (NW)
3.6ft @ 9s from 72° (ENE)
 
The graph of the two reported buoys below shows that the NW swell peaked yesterday afternoon in Kauai and so we can deduce that it peaked during the night in Maui. As a result, it will slowly go down in size all today and tomorrow before a new very similar swell hits Friday/Saturday, coinciding with a change in the weather pattern that should see the formation of a trades-killing low north of the islands.


Wind map at noon.


North Pacific shows a fetch in the NW corner, the main part of which is directed to the mainland. There's also a NE windswell fetch, but I forgot to circle it.


Similar situation in the South Pacific, this time the main part of the fetch is aiming at South America, but the very tail (and hopefully some angular spreading of the swell) is aimed at us.


Morning sky.