Tuesday 3 11 19 morning call

Two shortboard sessions for me yesterday. Despite the fact that the waves still looked like this when the set came at Honolua, the time between sets was so long that one would fall asleep. That's exactly what happened to me. I took a nap on the cliff, woke up, counted 13 guys at the cave waiting for the more and more inconsistent sets, drove back to Lahaina and surfed one of my favorite spots by myself with light onshores. No, it didn't look like that.


Talking about Honolua, I finally found a page that has the full results (heat by heat) of the weekend's contest. The one I feel like reporting is Zane Schweitzer's victory in the longboard division over Kai Lenny. Imo, Zane has the same amount of talent as Kai, if not more. I'm a big fan of both.

4am significant buoy readings
South shore
Lanai
2.1ft @ 12s from 195° (SSW)

1.3ft @ 16s from 202° (SSW)

The first south swell of the season (which I prefer to call an out of season swell, as the season has not started yet), has now tapered down to 2ft 12s, but Lanai feels a new small long period pulse at 1.3ft 16s. That should provide the south facing shores with small waves also today.

North shore
NW001
4.4ft @ 13s from 344° (NNW)

Hanalei
4.2ft @ 13s from 331° (NNW)

Waimea
2.5ft @ 15s from 322° (NW)

2.1ft @ 13s from 326° (NW)

Pauwela
6.3ft @ 9s from 67° (ENE)

3.1ft @ 15s from 321° (NW)

2.5ft @ 13s from 329° (NW)

The weekend's big NW swell is now down to a couple of feet 13s, but Waimea and Pauwela feel a new pulse at around 3ft 15s. This is Pat Caldwell's description of the fetch:
A zonal jet stream set up in the central north Pacific 3/8 and is expected to hold through the week. Short-wave troughs in the jet and their associated low pressure cells are modelled to race east north of 40N. This should make for a series of moderate overlapping events within 315-360 degrees.


The low near the Date Line just south of the Aleutians Friday 3/8 was the first in the series along the zonal track. It passed north of Hawaii Saturday 3/9. Highest seas were aimed well NE of Hawaii. Mostly gales beyond 1500 nm point to Hawaii. This new event should pick up overnight Monday 3/11 and build to a notch under the March average on Tuesday 3/12 from 315-330 degrees. It should peak Tuesday night then slowly drop on Wednesday 3/13.

Below is the collage of the maps of March 8, 9 and 10. The numbers suggest Hookipa will be head high plus (let's not forget the strong easterly windswell), but I won't have time to report, as I have business to do on the other side.


Wind map at noon. Much lighter than the past few days, but still windy on the north shore.


North Pacific's main fetch is the easterly windswell one.


The map on the right suggests that part of that strong wind area in the South Pacific is oriented towards us, but to me it looks like it isn't. And even if it is, the Big Island might block the energy.


Morning sky.