A shortboard session for me yesterday. When I first saw Hookipa in the semi-dark I gave it a 8.5 from the cliff. But then I moved to a place that would show the texture better and I managed to reduced the beach report score to 7. By the time I paddled out, the morning sickness leftover by the offshore onshores (sorry, sounds weird but just offshore the island, there were northerly light winds) made the conditions more like a 4. Then between 7.30 and 8.30 the thermal offshores made it a 9, pretty much just as good as the epic Thursday. And by the time I left around 9.30 the offshore was over and it was back to a 7. I write all this, to remind you guys how quickly conditions can change.
I only had very little time to take photos, here's a couple taken during the 9ish time frame. Beautiful empty lefts.
Bit out of focus, but shows the glassiness.
Here's three photos taken by Jimmie Hepp later in the morning (full gallery here).
Cody Young's style in that controlled tail slide top turn that he does is quite unique. And for sure the spray and everything else is at top pro levels.
Imagine you don't know it's him and someone photoshops the hair color and tells you this is Julian Wilson. I'd believe it...
Seen his brilliant performances in the Sunset and Pipe WCT contests, I asked him if he was going to follow the WCT contests around the world in order to try and qualify. He said he's going to Australia for some and then he'll decide depending how he does. Best luck to him.
This is a frame grab from a video posted by a Fijian friend on Facebook. Obviously (pumping) Cloudbreak. That is the result of the strong Tasman Sea fetch we observed on the map of the 26th. The Samoa buoy reads 1.8ft @ 16s from 208° (SSW) at 3am. In the post Buoys to Maui travel times and Maui's shadow lines I calculated the travel time from that buoy to Maui at 3.3 days, so expect some south shore action Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (2ft 15s on Surfline).
3-4am significant buoy readings
South shore
Lanai
2ft @ 14s from 206° (SSW)
1.9ft @ 13s from 228° (SW)
Nice SSW and SW combo at Lanai. I taught a lesson in Kihei yesterday and it was knee to occasionally waist. Hard to say how big it's going to be today, but it shouldn't be flat. Check the webcams before going, soon we'll be able to check the new Lahaina webcam too. Keep the donations coming, summer time is almost around the corner.
North shore
NW101
6.7ft @ 11s from 359° (N)
4ft @ 9s from 2° (N)
2ft @ 20s from 272° (W)
Hanalei
6.1ft @ 13s from 328° (NW)
3.7ft @ 11s from 334° (NNW)
3.5ft @ 9s from 340° (NNW)
0.8ft @ 20s from 315° (NW)
Waimea
6.7ft @ 13s from 336° (NNW)
4.1ft @ 10s from 336° (NNW)
0.4ft @ 25s from 327° (NW)
Pauwela
7.3ft @ 13s from 333° (NNW)
4.1ft @ 9s from 345° (NNW)
Lots of waves these days. Let's first notice that the highest energy in the water has now become more north than the past couple of days. That's because it's now the energy generated by the relatively strong fetch that the nearby low that I named Dewey offered on the 27th and 28th.
7.3ft 13s from 333 is a little less than Surfline's prediction of 9.6ft at 12s, but we'll take it anyway.
7.3ft 13s from 333 is a little less than Surfline's prediction of 9.6ft at 12s, but we'll take it anyway.
Also notice the very long period NW energy on the rise. The NW101 buoy indicated a W direction, but that's unreliable (the NW001 buoy has it from the NE instead, imagine that). That is the swell that will pick up noticeably only tomorrow in Maui and Surfline predicts to reach 5ft 18s in the morning (might happen a little earlier than that, imo). That is instead the swell generated by the other low I named Huey, which had a strong fetch on the 28th and kept stirring waters for the following few days (although with less intensity). That means that this swell will stat tomorrow (today too much other energy in the water to make a visible contribution, if not in the late afternoon) and last pretty much till Friday April 5th, when another NW swell which we haven't seen yet on the fetches map will replace it.
No shortage of waves on the north shore, that's for sure. There's no sign of a season change yet in the North Pacific, I'm going to stubbornly still call this Winter. Once again the conditions will be influenced by the local winds. Yesterday at sunset Hookipa looked pretty bad with onshore wind and I'm afraid that might give it again a bad morning sickness like yesterday. It should be calm though, until the usual 10ish and hopefully a little bit of thermal offshores will clean up things also today. Otherwise, it's likely a day to look for sheltered spots. Honolua and all the west side will have waves too, but without the offshore trades, might not be classic Bay. Might still be pretty good nonetheless if glassy in the early morning.
No shortage of waves on the north shore, that's for sure. There's no sign of a season change yet in the North Pacific, I'm going to stubbornly still call this Winter. Once again the conditions will be influenced by the local winds. Yesterday at sunset Hookipa looked pretty bad with onshore wind and I'm afraid that might give it again a bad morning sickness like yesterday. It should be calm though, until the usual 10ish and hopefully a little bit of thermal offshores will clean up things also today. Otherwise, it's likely a day to look for sheltered spots. Honolua and all the west side will have waves too, but without the offshore trades, might not be classic Bay. Might still be pretty good nonetheless if glassy in the early morning.
Wind map at noon.
Huey still offers a nice elongated but not too strong fetch in the North Pacific. The other two circled ones are pretty weak. No worries, more stronger fetches tomorrow.
Nothing in the South Pacific.
Morning sky.
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