Wednesday 1 16 19 morning call

A shortboard and a SUP foiling session for me yesterday. Here's a shot from the first one.


These are a couple of shots taken by Chris Pagdilao during the early foiling session. Jeremy Riggs is an elegant foiler. Killer light.


Mark Raaphorts' perfect use of the paddle in a tight front side cutback.


Conditions were pretty epic all morning. This is one of my many exhilarating rides I had around noon.


4am significant buoy readings
South shore
Barbers
6.5ft @ 17s from 309° (WNW)

2.2ft @ 11s from 291° (WNW)

1.4ft @ 9s from 189° (S)

 

Lanai

3.1ft @ 17s from 286° (WNW)

2.3ft @ 12s from 277° (W)

1.5ft @ 9s from 207° (SSW)

 

Ok, ok, I give up and admit that the waves that there have been in Kihei and Lahaina are from the wrap of the WNW swell. In the epic post Buoys to Maui travel times and Maui's shadow lines I analyze the shadow angles of that area on a westerly swell. I just added a map that shows the possibility of the energy squeezing in also between Molokai and Lanai and copied the whole paragraph at the end of this post. Judging from the readings at the buoys, there should be something also out of the new WNW swell that is hitting today.

 

North shore
NW101

9.4ft @ 15s from 304° (WNW)

 

Hanalei

7.3ft @ 17s from 308° (WNW)

6.8ft @ 14s from 309° (WNW)

Waimea
9.2ft @ 17s from 317° (NW)

Pauwela
8.5ft @ 17s from 320° (NW)

1.8ft @ 9s from 23° (NNE)

New WNW pulse peaked during the night. Below is the graph of NW101, Waimea and Pauwela, notice the double hump camel back shape. That means more westerly energy on tap for the day (original direction at the NW101 buoy is 304), once again 8.5f 17s are too much for me at Hookipa, once again I'll probably surf down the coast.


Wind map at noon. Pretty much another windless day and great conditions everywhere.

North Pacific has a new WNW and an old (was there yesterday) NNW fetch. Both kinda weak today.


Nothing from the South.


Morning sky.


Here's the abstract from the post Buoys to Maui travel times and Maui's shadow lines.

Kihei
Let's talk also about the Kihei coast and the westerly swells.
Google Earth shows the shadow line from Lanai to Kalama park in Kihei as 273 degrees. Anything from there to straight west, doesn't get blocked/refracted and will have a more direct impact.


Ahihi
A little better angle applies to Ahihi Bay: 283.


But don't forget that a the bigger the size and the period of a swell, the more the waves have the ability to refract around land points. The photo below shows that as long as the swell is 290 or more west, the south point of Lanai will refract energy that has not been refracted by Ni'iahu. But if a swell is big and long period enough, even if it comes from directions more north of 290, it could still refract first over the south point of Ni'iahu, change its direction into 290 or more west, and then refract again over Lanai and hit Maui. I remember one coming from around 300 that provided double overhead waves to Kihei.

It all depends on each single swell and there's no mathematical/geometrical rules you can apply that work all the times.
I've see too many times very similar swells doing very different things.
That is also because if the swell has a direction at the NW buoy, that doesn't mean that the swell hitting the south point of Ni'iahu will have the exact same direction. It is possible that it will be more west there and that the waves will be bigger than you would expect based on these information I'm providing.
So this is just a reference to try to guess when it's worth to get in the car (or check the webcams).


Another possible (but rare) possibility for the energy of a WNW swell to reach Lahaina and Kihei is to squeeze in the channel between Lanai and Molokai. The picture below shows the shadow line from Ni'iahu, which is around 285.


The close up below shows a possible refraction pattern that such swell might have.