8:20 a.m hookipa is now windy. The wind model was spot-on
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Saturday 6 30 18 morning call
A shortboard and a SUP foiling session for me yesterday. This shot is from the first one. That's my small waves board that I got from Albee. Love it.
5am significant buoy readings
South shore
W
3.1ft @ 12s from 150° (SE)
SW
3.3ft @ 12s from 144° (SE)
SE
2.9ft @ 12s from 152° (SSE)
Barbers
2.8ft @ 13s from 190° (S)
South swell easing up and down to 12s at most buoys, it should still provide some fun size waves for the weekend. Thigh to belly is my guess, I don't think I'll have the time to drive there today.
North shore.
Pauwela
4.6ft @ 9s from 64° (ENE)
Windswell trending down together with the trade winds. Gonna start being high again mid week, but what's in the water will still provide fun size waves at Hookipa and the east facing shores.
Wind map at noon shows lighter winds than the past whole week. Should stay lighter for a couple of days and then start blowing strong again.
North Pacific has a distant and weak WNW fetch and the windswell one.
South Pacific has a weak fetch oriented towards us (in red) and a stronger/bigger one oriented to the east of us (in blue) of which we'll get some angular spreading. Don't forget that yesterday it was much better oriented towards us, so this will prolong the related next weekend swell.
Morning sky. The weather has been delightful, imo.
5am significant buoy readings
South shore
W
3.1ft @ 12s from 150° (SE)
SW
3.3ft @ 12s from 144° (SE)
SE
2.9ft @ 12s from 152° (SSE)
Barbers
2.8ft @ 13s from 190° (S)
South swell easing up and down to 12s at most buoys, it should still provide some fun size waves for the weekend. Thigh to belly is my guess, I don't think I'll have the time to drive there today.
North shore.
Pauwela
4.6ft @ 9s from 64° (ENE)
Windswell trending down together with the trade winds. Gonna start being high again mid week, but what's in the water will still provide fun size waves at Hookipa and the east facing shores.
Wind map at noon shows lighter winds than the past whole week. Should stay lighter for a couple of days and then start blowing strong again.
North Pacific has a distant and weak WNW fetch and the windswell one.
South Pacific has a weak fetch oriented towards us (in red) and a stronger/bigger one oriented to the east of us (in blue) of which we'll get some angular spreading. Don't forget that yesterday it was much better oriented towards us, so this will prolong the related next weekend swell.
Morning sky. The weather has been delightful, imo.
Friday, June 29, 2018
Friday 6 29 18 morning call
A shortboard session for me yesterday. The waves on the south side were really good, but I got no photos of the day, here's one of those crazy images from Clark Little.
2am significant buoy readings
South shore
W
3.3ft @ 13s from 140° (SE)
SW
3.9ft @ 13s from 162° (SSE)
SE
4.1ft @ 12s from 155° (SSE)
Barbers
3.2ft @ 15s from 181° (S)
South swell peaked yesterday and now it's down a second. Barbers still reads 15s, while the outer buoys read 12-13, I don't know how to explain this. But as long as there's waves, I don't particularly care. Beach report sometimes in the morning, but it should be still waist to chest at least.
North shore
Pauwela
6.2ft @ 9s from 63° (ENE)
Windswell still up even though it's now predicted to start declining. Should still be plenty waves at Hookipa.
I'm posting really early, so that's why the model hasn't updated yet. This wind map at noon is more than a day old.
A small/weak WNW fetch and the windswell fetch in the North Pacific today.
Solid fetch east of New Zealand. Decent swell for next weekend. The south swell season continues to provide.
Morning sky.
2am significant buoy readings
South shore
W
3.3ft @ 13s from 140° (SE)
SW
3.9ft @ 13s from 162° (SSE)
SE
4.1ft @ 12s from 155° (SSE)
Barbers
3.2ft @ 15s from 181° (S)
South swell peaked yesterday and now it's down a second. Barbers still reads 15s, while the outer buoys read 12-13, I don't know how to explain this. But as long as there's waves, I don't particularly care. Beach report sometimes in the morning, but it should be still waist to chest at least.
North shore
Pauwela
6.2ft @ 9s from 63° (ENE)
Windswell still up even though it's now predicted to start declining. Should still be plenty waves at Hookipa.
I'm posting really early, so that's why the model hasn't updated yet. This wind map at noon is more than a day old.
A small/weak WNW fetch and the windswell fetch in the North Pacific today.
Solid fetch east of New Zealand. Decent swell for next weekend. The south swell season continues to provide.
Morning sky.
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Thursday 6 28 18 morning call
Another Wednesday off and another spectacular day of action for me, with three shortboard and one longboard sessions. As you guessed, I really wanted to surf my shortboard, as it was a long time since last time I did that (might have been the day of the injury at Restaurants). Here's a little nugget that satisfied my appetite for turns.
After all that low performance surfing, I went to Thousand Peaks and played the waiting game on the wind which was howling offshore. Got lucky again and scored a wonderful one hour session with mostly light offshore or no wind. This wave belonged to the first category.
Gavin got some good ones too.
Always a pleasure to share a session with Mr. Crowe.
Back to the north shore, with not enough juice left in the tank for a downwinder (breaking waves still have my preference), I got tempted into a possible windsurfing session by the observation of the Hookipa windsurfers from the distance.
Unfortunately, once I pulled in the parking lot, I noticed a pretty bad chop on the face, so I wisely passed on that. Might have got better at sunset, but I don't really do sunset sessions anymore, as I much prefer to go to sleep very early to hit the very early morning waves.
4am significant buoy readings
South shore
W
3.3ft @ 14s from 158° (SSE)
SW
3.7ft @ 14s from 160° (SSE)
SE
3.8ft @ 14s from 165° (SSE)
Barbers
2.5ft @ 17s from 185° (S)
Below is the collage of the maps of June 20,21 and 22. The two fetches you see on the first one are the sources of the two swells recorded by Barbers. In the next few days, the 14s one should gradually go down in period, while the 17s should fade too because the fetch turned to aim east of us, but they should both still provide (smaller) waves to our south facing shores, before a new low SSW swell (coming from the Tasman Sea fetch we observed in the last few days) will kick in as the new week starts. Beach report coming up before 6am (I hope).
Wind map at noon.
North Pacific only has a well oriented windswell fetch.
South Pacific looking good with one large fetch SE of New Zealand and a smaller/closer one. Other than those four days of tininess last week, this summer has been pretty good so far, imo.
Morning sky.
After all that low performance surfing, I went to Thousand Peaks and played the waiting game on the wind which was howling offshore. Got lucky again and scored a wonderful one hour session with mostly light offshore or no wind. This wave belonged to the first category.
Gavin got some good ones too.
Always a pleasure to share a session with Mr. Crowe.
Back to the north shore, with not enough juice left in the tank for a downwinder (breaking waves still have my preference), I got tempted into a possible windsurfing session by the observation of the Hookipa windsurfers from the distance.
Unfortunately, once I pulled in the parking lot, I noticed a pretty bad chop on the face, so I wisely passed on that. Might have got better at sunset, but I don't really do sunset sessions anymore, as I much prefer to go to sleep very early to hit the very early morning waves.
4am significant buoy readings
South shore
W
3.3ft @ 14s from 158° (SSE)
SW
3.7ft @ 14s from 160° (SSE)
SE
3.8ft @ 14s from 165° (SSE)
Barbers
2.5ft @ 17s from 185° (S)
2.2ft @ 14s from 195° (SSW)
Lanai (NOAA)
| 2.3f | 15.4s | S |
Today should be the peak of the current south swell and the outer buoys in fact show relatively high numbers. What they (inexplicably) fail to show is the longer period energy that Barbers registers too. Surfline hasn't added Lanai back to their page (link n.11, gonna send another email), so I reported the NOAA indication, but I consider that pretty much useless, as it always only reports the dominant swell, not the multiple different swells in the water.
Below is the collage of the maps of June 20,21 and 22. The two fetches you see on the first one are the sources of the two swells recorded by Barbers. In the next few days, the 14s one should gradually go down in period, while the 17s should fade too because the fetch turned to aim east of us, but they should both still provide (smaller) waves to our south facing shores, before a new low SSW swell (coming from the Tasman Sea fetch we observed in the last few days) will kick in as the new week starts. Beach report coming up before 6am (I hope).
North shore
Pauwela
Pauwela
6.6ft @ 9s from 56° (ENE)
4.6ft @ 6s from 64° (ENE)
Pretty elevated 9s windswell at Pauwela, check the graph below to see what caused those head and a half waves you saw in the windsurfing picture above. The blue line is the 9s component (coming from the very back of the fetch, while the shorter period comes from the head of it) and what makes it grow so big on the Hookipa's reef is the unblocked direction of around 56 degrees.
If you remember the windswell fetches I outline every morning in the fetches maps, that should be no surprise for you. It sadly keeps being a surprise for most of the Hookipa windsurfers, I'd rather be informed instead so that I have the elements to make my decisions in terms of sessions. And that's pretty much what this blog is about.
Wind map at noon.
North Pacific only has a well oriented windswell fetch.
South Pacific looking good with one large fetch SE of New Zealand and a smaller/closer one. Other than those four days of tininess last week, this summer has been pretty good so far, imo.
Morning sky.
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Wednesday 6 26 18 morning call
A SUP foiling and a longboard session for me yesterday. First one was more fun, but second one was while teaching this beautiful friend of mine, so no complains there.
Starting to go left and right is always a major breakthrough. I explained her that in order for that to happen, she needs to catch the wave in the right spot. The explanation of what the right spot looks like, is always a challenge.
2am significant buoy readings
South shore
W
2.7ft @ 14s from 138° (SE)
SW
3.5ft @ 14s from 173° (S)
SE
2.8ft @ 14s from 173° (S)
Barbers
2.2ft @ 15s from 188° (S)
Wind map at noon.
North Pacific only has a well oriented windswell fetch.
South Pacific pretty active with a smaller but closer fetch and a bigger, partially oriented to the east of us and more remote one. Distance plays a major role in the decaying of the energy when the waves travel, so I expect the waves coming from the first one to be slightly shorter period, but bigger.
Morning sky.
Starting to go left and right is always a major breakthrough. I explained her that in order for that to happen, she needs to catch the wave in the right spot. The explanation of what the right spot looks like, is always a challenge.
2am significant buoy readings
South shore
W
2.7ft @ 14s from 138° (SE)
SW
3.5ft @ 14s from 173° (S)
SE
2.8ft @ 14s from 173° (S)
Barbers
2.2ft @ 15s from 188° (S)
0.8ft @ 20s from 188° (S)
Bigger numbers at the buoys today, as this first pulse of southerly energy peaks. Barbers already shows almost a foot of a new longer period pulse, all is going according to the forecast.
Which, BTW, was also the case for the past couple of days, despite the comments of most surfers in the lineup: "The swell not here yet!"... really? what are you surfing then? Isn't knee high and 16 seconds a swell? "The swell is not as big as I imagined yet" would be a more correct statement. Humans are very good at creating their own unhappiness by making up high expectations for everything.
Yesterday late morning the bigger sets were pushing waist high, so I expect today the size to be thigh to waist with occasional belly to chest high sets. I'll post updates during the morning, not sure what time, as I might do the drive in the dark and won't be able to see much.
North shore
Pauwela
Yesterday late morning the bigger sets were pushing waist high, so I expect today the size to be thigh to waist with occasional belly to chest high sets. I'll post updates during the morning, not sure what time, as I might do the drive in the dark and won't be able to see much.
North shore
Pauwela
6.4ft @ 8s from 65° (ENE)
Also today the windswell will provide the Hookipa surfers with plenty waves to fight for at Pavillions (by far the most crowded spot on the island in summer time). Should be good windsurfing in the afternoon and pretty fun sunset foiling conditions too.
Wind map at noon.
North Pacific only has a well oriented windswell fetch.
South Pacific pretty active with a smaller but closer fetch and a bigger, partially oriented to the east of us and more remote one. Distance plays a major role in the decaying of the energy when the waves travel, so I expect the waves coming from the first one to be slightly shorter period, but bigger.
Morning sky.
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Tuesday 6 26 18 morning call
A SUP foiling session for me yesterday. Didn't have time to go for a downwinder, like instead Dave Kalama did on the Gorge. Photo by Destination 360.
3-4am significant buoy readings
South shore
W
1.9ft @ 14s from 157° (SSE)
SW
2.3ft @ 15s from 162° (SSE)
SE
2.3ft @ 15s from 177° (S)
Barbers
1.5ft @ 17s from 185° (S)
Lanai (NOAA)
Decent numbers at the buoys, as predicted a new low long period swell is filling in from the South. I'm very perplexed about the 3s difference in the period between W and Barbers and I have no explanation for it. I can understand how the detection of the direction can be challenging in rough seas, but the period shouldn't be affected. Anyway, Lanai records 16.7s too, so we have long period energy locally in the water and that's good news. Stay tuned for a beach report around 7am.
North shore
Pauwela
5.8ft @ 8s from 60° (ENE)
Get used to windswell only on the north shore, I don't see any change for at least two weeks. Size should be similar to yesterday, waist to chest high with occasional bigger sets.
Wind map at noon.
North Pacific has a remote WNW fetch and the local windswell one. As you can see from the color on the map on the right, the intensity of the wind is pretty similar, but only the second one will produce waves for us, thanks to its proximity. The ones made by the first one are going to be to weak (small and low period) to make it all the way over here.
South Pacific would have a decent fetch, but it's sitting right on top of New Zealand and that breaks it down into two so and so fetches.
Morning sky
3-4am significant buoy readings
South shore
W
1.9ft @ 14s from 157° (SSE)
SW
2.3ft @ 15s from 162° (SSE)
SE
2.3ft @ 15s from 177° (S)
Barbers
1.5ft @ 17s from 185° (S)
Lanai (NOAA)
| 1.6f | 16.7s | (S) |
Decent numbers at the buoys, as predicted a new low long period swell is filling in from the South. I'm very perplexed about the 3s difference in the period between W and Barbers and I have no explanation for it. I can understand how the detection of the direction can be challenging in rough seas, but the period shouldn't be affected. Anyway, Lanai records 16.7s too, so we have long period energy locally in the water and that's good news. Stay tuned for a beach report around 7am.
North shore
Pauwela
5.8ft @ 8s from 60° (ENE)
Get used to windswell only on the north shore, I don't see any change for at least two weeks. Size should be similar to yesterday, waist to chest high with occasional bigger sets.
Wind map at noon.
North Pacific has a remote WNW fetch and the local windswell one. As you can see from the color on the map on the right, the intensity of the wind is pretty similar, but only the second one will produce waves for us, thanks to its proximity. The ones made by the first one are going to be to weak (small and low period) to make it all the way over here.
South Pacific would have a decent fetch, but it's sitting right on top of New Zealand and that breaks it down into two so and so fetches.
Morning sky
Monday, June 25, 2018
Monday 6 25 18 morning call
A SUP foiling session and a SUP foiling downwinder for me yesterday. The downwinder was my attempt n.6 and what I thought I figured out the day before didn't work at all. I only had two good flights, but it was because I caught breaking waves on the reefs along the way. I did manage to make it fly a couple of other times in the open ocean, but I didn't go anywhere. The main problem so far is too much yaw in the board when giving the last couple of strokes. I might have to introduce some modifications.
The SUP foiling session at Hookipa instead was a lot of fun. Waves were in the shoulder high range and it looks like they got even bigger later on when the wind was pumping the windswell.
Massive waves in Puerto Escondido instead, as this photo taken by Sol Avila shows.
3-4am significant buoy readings
South shore
W
1.4ft @ 15s from 134° (SE)
SW
1.6ft @ 15s from 169° (SSE)
SE
2.1ft @ 12s from 134° (SE)
Barbers
1ft @ 16s from 192° (SSW)
Lanai (from the NOAA page)
In the past 4-5 days, knowing the waves were small everywhere, I've been lazily waking up late and doing other things. Now the south shore is going to come back to life, so time to get on the good old routine. Let's see what we have on tap.
As usual in the presence of a relatively strong easterly windswell (5-6f 8s), the direction at the outer buoys is totally unreliable, imo. The collage of the maps of June 17, 18 and 19 shows that there were no SE fetches. Barbers is not affected by the windswell and offers a much more reliable indication.
And from that seems like a lifetime, we welcome the Lanai buoy back online! I'll immediately send an email to Surfline to add it back to their fantastic buoy page (link n.11), for the moment I took those readings from the NOAA page, but it's like comparing apples and oranges.
The fetches were pretty strong, but very remote and not perfectly oriented towards us, hence the low numbers. But 1f 16s is a lot better than nothing. I'm jonesing for clean waves (even if small), so stay tuned for a possible early beach report from the Lahaina side, even though I might check Hookipa first.
North shore
Pauwela
5.1ft @ 8s from 79° (ENE)
Windswell still up at Pauwela, conditions should be similar to yesterday on the north shore.
Wind map at noon.
North Pacific insists in offering only the windswell fetch. At least it has plenty N component in it, so it will hit Hookipa with much more energy than a pure easterly one.
South Pacific pretty active instead. Today we have a good fetch to the SE of New Zealand, a weaker one in the Tasman Sea and a very remote SSE one. I confess this is the first time I'm regularly checking that region under 60 degrees of latitude and that might be the region where a lot of "undetected" swells originated. Never stop learning.
Morning sky.
The SUP foiling session at Hookipa instead was a lot of fun. Waves were in the shoulder high range and it looks like they got even bigger later on when the wind was pumping the windswell.
Massive waves in Puerto Escondido instead, as this photo taken by Sol Avila shows.
3-4am significant buoy readings
South shore
W
1.4ft @ 15s from 134° (SE)
SW
1.6ft @ 15s from 169° (SSE)
SE
2.1ft @ 12s from 134° (SE)
Barbers
1ft @ 16s from 192° (SSW)
Lanai (from the NOAA page)
| 1.3f | 16.7s | SSW |
In the past 4-5 days, knowing the waves were small everywhere, I've been lazily waking up late and doing other things. Now the south shore is going to come back to life, so time to get on the good old routine. Let's see what we have on tap.
As usual in the presence of a relatively strong easterly windswell (5-6f 8s), the direction at the outer buoys is totally unreliable, imo. The collage of the maps of June 17, 18 and 19 shows that there were no SE fetches. Barbers is not affected by the windswell and offers a much more reliable indication.
And from that seems like a lifetime, we welcome the Lanai buoy back online! I'll immediately send an email to Surfline to add it back to their fantastic buoy page (link n.11), for the moment I took those readings from the NOAA page, but it's like comparing apples and oranges.
The fetches were pretty strong, but very remote and not perfectly oriented towards us, hence the low numbers. But 1f 16s is a lot better than nothing. I'm jonesing for clean waves (even if small), so stay tuned for a possible early beach report from the Lahaina side, even though I might check Hookipa first.
North shore
Pauwela
5.1ft @ 8s from 79° (ENE)
3.1ft @ 7s from 77° (ENE)
Windswell still up at Pauwela, conditions should be similar to yesterday on the north shore.
Wind map at noon.
North Pacific insists in offering only the windswell fetch. At least it has plenty N component in it, so it will hit Hookipa with much more energy than a pure easterly one.
South Pacific pretty active instead. Today we have a good fetch to the SE of New Zealand, a weaker one in the Tasman Sea and a very remote SSE one. I confess this is the first time I'm regularly checking that region under 60 degrees of latitude and that might be the region where a lot of "undetected" swells originated. Never stop learning.
Morning sky.
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Sunday 6 24 18 morning call
Attempt n.5 at SUP foiling downwinding for me yesterday and I finally saw some light at the end of the tunnel. The thing is still incredibly challenging, but I finally had a sustained flight of what seemed like 10s (which means it was probably 5s) and I actually covered some ground. I took off next to a friend and when I came back down she was a good 30 yards behind me. As little as that might sound, that had a special "I can actually do this!" meaning. Going again today no doubt, so many things to still figure out!
The beauty of this discipline (at least so far for me), relies in the challenge. From a strict foiling point of view, it's not more fun that foiling on a proper wave and it's a hell lot of more work than that, but it's so hard that when you get it flying it's just magic. Can't wait to learn how to cover more distance and can't wait to eventually one day be able to use a smaller/faster foil. Trigger fingers crossed. They're not 100% yet and they can flare up again any time, since I keep using them instead of resting.
I'm still so excited about those 10 seconds that I wanted to post a SUP foiling video, but I'll spare you that (for now) and propose you this one that many might have seen already on the social media. Quite unreal ride, 1 minute 55 seconds long. Despite the sandy bottom, that wave is really heavy. Check out the gopro mouth mount video too if you got time.
A sunny and windy day blessed the Maui Race Series at Kanaha yesterday, here's a shot by Jimmie Hepp from this gallery.
5am significant buoy readings
South shore
Barbers
0.7ft @ 18s from 206° (SSW)
The beauty of this discipline (at least so far for me), relies in the challenge. From a strict foiling point of view, it's not more fun that foiling on a proper wave and it's a hell lot of more work than that, but it's so hard that when you get it flying it's just magic. Can't wait to learn how to cover more distance and can't wait to eventually one day be able to use a smaller/faster foil. Trigger fingers crossed. They're not 100% yet and they can flare up again any time, since I keep using them instead of resting.
I'm still so excited about those 10 seconds that I wanted to post a SUP foiling video, but I'll spare you that (for now) and propose you this one that many might have seen already on the social media. Quite unreal ride, 1 minute 55 seconds long. Despite the sandy bottom, that wave is really heavy. Check out the gopro mouth mount video too if you got time.
A sunny and windy day blessed the Maui Race Series at Kanaha yesterday, here's a shot by Jimmie Hepp from this gallery.
5am significant buoy readings
South shore
Barbers
0.7ft @ 18s from 206° (SSW)
0.6ft @ 11s from 182° (S)
More slivers of southerly energy at Barbers, I wouldn't get too excited about it, as the observation of the Ala Moana webcam (I added the link to the webcam list) doesn't show much at all. Hang in there, a couple of more days and we should have some decent waves.
North shore
Pauwela
North shore
Pauwela
5.3ft @ 8s from 84° (E)
Some bumpy bumps on the north shore and for the first time in more than 10 years, I'm actually excited about a strong wind forecast.
Wind map at noon.
Wind map at noon.
North Pacific only has windswell.
A pretty decent fetch in the Tasman Sea is unfortunately partially blocked by New Zealand. I circled in red the weaker part that is not and in black the stronger part that is.
Morning sky.
Saturday, June 23, 2018
Saturday 6 23 18 morning call
A 15 minutes windsurfing session for me yesterday was all I needed from the ocean. Today second race of the Maui Race Series at Kanaha.
5am significant buoy readings
South shore
Barbers
0.7ft @ 12s from 200° (SSW)
North Pacific only has a windswell fetch.
5am significant buoy readings
South shore
Barbers
0.7ft @ 12s from 200° (SSW)
0.6ft @ 16s from 202° (SSW)
Slivers of southerly energy detected by Barbers. Ala Moana does show some very occasional long period small lines, like the ones in the pic. I heard contrasting reports yesterday about Maui's Lahaina side. From less than a foot to knee to waist and clean in the morning. I tend to believe the first one. Should be more of the same today with the possibility of the extremely occasional bigger sets.
North shore
Pauwela
Pauwela
6.4ft @ 7s from 82° (E)
Windswell on the way up in size, still marginal in period. Beach report was made before the call today and it's below.
Wind map at noon.
Wind map at noon.
North Pacific only has a windswell fetch.
South Pacific offers a Tasman Sea fetch (9f 14s Thursday in Fiji and 2.5f 15s Tuesday 7/26 in Maui) and another very remote who-knows-if-it's-really-oriented-towards-us fetch down south. South shore looking decent for at least a couple of weeks, starting Tuesday.
Morning sky.
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