Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Tuesday 6 30 20 morning call

For a change, I surfed Kihei side yesterday and then I went to Dumps and took some photos. Some sets were solid.


Enjoy that vision, it's not gonna last long.


I had the pleasure to witness the true excitement of Jackson Bunch when he arrived on the beach and saw the pumping waves. The kid was glowing. Still a grom at heart, but already one of Maui's best surfers.


This bottom to top turn combo was sweet.


Here he pulls in into a closeout barrel, but he came out on other ones.


4am significant buoy readings and discussion.
South shore
Barbers
3.1ft @ 15s from 190° (S)            

Lanai
2.8ft @ 15s from 184° (S)            

South swell on its way down, but with around 3ft 15s at the buoys, there should still be plenty waves on offer today. Check the Lahaina webcam if interested, for size, conditions and consistency.


North shore
Pauwela
3ft @ 8s from 38° (NE)            

Tiny waves at Hookipa, bigger on eastern exposures.

Wind map at noon
(the other ones can be found at link n.-2 of GP's meteo websites list in the right column).


Fetches map (circles legend: red: direct aim, blue: angular spreading, black: blocked, yellow: apparent direct aim, but out of the great circle ray map, so not 100% sure).
North Pacific (about 4 days travel time from the NW corner of the North Pacific):


South Pacific (about 7 days travel time from east/west of New Zealand):


Morning sky.

Monday, June 29, 2020

Monday 6 29 20 morning call

Gorgeous day of surfing on the south shore yesterday, here's some photos I took after my session and before going to work. They're labeled with the degree of difficulty of "spot guessing".

Very difficult


Moderately difficult.


Written all over.


Virtually impossible to guess where I surfed instead, seen the lack of reference points, but you can tell it's not Launiupoko. Notice once again how much the board flexes: in the first shot, I have very little pressure on the deck (the steep drop felt pretty weightless in fact, and you can see my toes off the deck) and you can see the logo. In the second one, I made it to the bottom and I'm applying pressure with my feet (toes pressing on the deck) and the logo disappeared.

That might be part of the reason why my 6.8 Bushman sets the rail so beautifully in the bottom turn and then springs out of it like if on a train track. Very happy about my choice of using a step-up for this place. The drops were intense. So intense that I only caught three big waves and that was enough. I did get caught on inside after impatiently going for a small one tough, and duck diving in extremely shallow water wasn't fun. I couldn't push the board down too much, the white water would always roll me around and even though I was holding my board the whole time, I always felt the reef dangerously close. All good, but next time I'm gonna use a 2mm long sleeve top there, just in case.


This is how Maalaea looked on the webcam later on.


5am significant buoy readings and discussion.
South shore
Barbers
3.3ft @ 17s from 180° (S)            

Lanai
3.4ft @ 17s from 187° (S)            

The second long period swell that Pat Caldwell announced never really was that separate from the first one. What counts is that the swell is still pumping at 3.4ft 17s, and it's going to be another fantastic day on the south shore. Check the Lahaina webcam if interested, for size, conditions and consistency.


North shore
N
5ft @ 8s from 54° (ENE)            

Pauwela
3.9ft @ 8s from 49° (NE)
     
The windswell is coming from a NE direction today and that should give Hookipa and the eastern exposures some small waves.

Wind map at noon
(the other ones can be found at link n.-2 of GP's meteo websites list in the right column).


Fetches map (circles legend: red: direct aim, blue: angular spreading, black: blocked, yellow: apparent direct aim, but out of the great circle ray map, so not 100% sure).
North Pacific (about 4 days travel time from the NW corner of the North Pacific):


South Pacific (about 7 days travel time from east/west of New Zealand):


Morning sky.

Sunday, June 28, 2020

Sunday 6 28 20 morning call

South swell was beautiful, but I don't have any photos, so here's Hookipa in this photo out of Jimmie Hepp's album of the windsurfing action of the day. Still some occasional head high ones on the second day of this out of season NW swell.


Gofoil posted an excellent video of a Maliko downwinder. Most of participants with the wing (Greg Drexler's Cloud wings look really good and I love his style too), and Dave Kalama with the paddle only.
Yesterday was my first wing session after my surgery and it went well, so I'm back on that game. Haven't bought one yet, at the moment I think I'll get either Jeff Henderson's Hot Wing (which I tried) or Greg's (which I haven't tried yet, but will).

In the meantime, I've done a few more SUP foiling downwinders. I'm now at attempt n.22 and the thing is still pretty damn hard. If it wasn't for Dave telling me it was the hardest thing he's ever learned, I might feel pretty discouraged by now. Instead I keep loving the challenges of the discipline, and having Kai Lenny fly by me while I was struggling to get up on the foil provided me with another motivational super charge.

That was the first time I went all the way to the harbor (from Kuau): it took my 2.5h of elapsed time, half of which spent sitting on the board and recovering from the few 1-2 minutes glides I had. Because of my poor open ocean bump reading technique, when I do take off, I still have to pump and paddle too often and I always come down physically exhausted (heart rate in the 130s, while my resting rate is 45!). The other half of the time was spent while standing in surfer stance, feet in the footstraps, paddle on the front side, patiently waiting for a slightly steeper mini drop appearing in front of me (sometimes that wait can be a long one!). I still miss half of the opportunities I deem worth paddling for, which is a lot better than 99% of them, like it used to be.
Might be time for a an update video.



3am significant buoy readings and discussion.
South shore
Barbers
2.7ft @ 17s from 188° (S)            

Lanai
2.5ft @ 17s from 189° (S)            

First pulse of this swell shows lovely 17s readings, it's going to be another beautiful day of surfing with good wind conditions for the whole Lahaina side in the morning. Check the Lahaina webcam if interested, for size, conditions and consistency. Here's a 5.22am head high drainer.



North shore
Hanalei
2ft @ 9s from 332° (NNW)            

Waimea
1.8ft @ 9s from 321° (NW)            

Pauwela
3.5ft @ 8s from 80° (E)            
1.9ft @ 11s from 322° (NW)            
 
NW swell down to a couple of feet with the period soon to be 9s also in Maui. That, together with the easterly windswell, means very small waves at Hookipa.

Wind map at noon
(the other ones can be found at link n.-2 of GP's meteo websites list in the right column).


Fetches map (circles legend: red: direct aim, blue: angular spreading, black: blocked, yellow: apparent direct aim, but out of the great circle ray map, so not 100% sure).
North Pacific (about 4 days travel time from the NW corner of the North Pacific):


South Pacific (about 7 days travel time from east/west of New Zealand):


Morning sky.

Saturday, June 27, 2020

Saturday 6 27 20 morning call

The out of season NW swell provided the windsurfers at Hookipa  with some delightful overhead waves yesterday.


Pavils saw some action too. Classic mayhem over there.



3am significant buoy readings and discussion.
South shore
Barbers
1.4ft @ 14s from 193° (SSW)            

Lanai
1.3ft @ 13s from 191° (SSW)           
1.2ft @ 18s from 195° (SSW)

A couple of above average swells are predicted  for the next 4-5 days. Here's Pat Caldwell's description of the evolution of the fetches:

An active austral, midlatitude cyclonic pattern set up S to SE of New Zealand 6/19 with the overall pattern shifting east through 6/26. A series of low pressure systems should deliver a long-lived spell of overlapping SSW to S events in Hawaii starting Saturday 6/27.
The first in the series was in the common location S to SE of New Zealand 6/19-20. It had a wide, long fetch of severe gales with seas 25-30 feet within 55-65S aimed at the Americas. This hot spot for Hawaii surf has been active off and on over the last 4 weeks.

NOAA southern buoys 6/26 midday are showing an increase in the 16-18 second band. The onset stage is expected locally late Friday into mid Saturday with inconsistent sets trending up toward the average by Saturday dawn. The event should be filled in Saturday PM with a more consistent pace of sets. The onset stage of a new, even longer-wave period event is due Saturday PM.

The second fetch pattern in the series S to SE of New Zealand was just behind the aforementioned system 6/20-22. The low centered dropped to 949 mb 6/21. Winds behind a front had more NE aim, closer to Hawaii, than the first system. Severe gales to storm-force winds grew a wide area of seas within 30-40 feet, that were validated by the JASON altimeter 6/21. As the fetch approached the eastern edge of the Hawaii swell window south of French Polynesia 6/22, even more direct aim was point at Hawaii, though winds had subsided to middle gales. The pattern weakened sharply 6/23.

Below are the maps of June 20, 21, 22 and 23 that will help follow. The fetch is circled in blue because, as uncle Pat pointed out,  it wasn't aimed directly at Hawaii. Close enough though, to get ample angular spreading energy.


As usual, check the Lahaina webcam if interested, for size, conditions and consistency. Yesterday at sunset Lanai was reading 1ft 20s and the harbor had occasional head high sets.



Here's an empty 5.15am beauty. I'm calling 10-15 people by 6am.


North shore
NW101
2.9ft @ 11s from 313° (NW)            

Hanalei
3.5ft @ 11s from 328° (NW)

Waimea
2.8ft @ 12s from 322° (NW)            

Pauwela
2.9ft @ 13s from 319° (NW)          
2.9ft @ 8s from 97° (E)          
2.1ft @ 6s from 66° (ENE)
       

Out of season NW swell peaked yesterday afternoon, but there should still be waves at Hookipa (possibly up to head high or even plus) this morning with a decline trend for the rest of the day. Below is Pauwela's graph.


Wind map at noon
(the other ones can be found at link n.-2 of GP's meteo websites list in the right column).


Fetches map (circles legend: red: direct aim, blue: angular spreading, black: blocked, yellow: apparent direct aim, but out of the great circle ray map, so not 100% sure).
North Pacific (about 4 days travel time from the NW corner of the North Pacific):


South Pacific (about 7 days travel time from east/west of New Zealand):


Morning sky.

Friday, June 26, 2020

6.30am hookipa has occasional chest high lumpy sets. 
7 considering the season, 1.5 in general. 

Friday 6 26 20 morning call

Better a mediocre picture of the day of this old but epic shot of Darrel Wong of Connor Baxter at Spartans? Fortunately I don't even have a mediocre picture of the day, so...


4am significant buoy readings and discussion.
South shore
Barbers
1.1ft @ 11s from 192° (SSW)            

Lanai
1.3ft @ 15s from 194° (SSW)           

Small long period energy at Lanai translates in small but beautiful waves at the harbor. Check the Lahaina webcam if interested, for size, conditions and consistency.


North shore
NW101
4.3ft @ 12s from 325° (NW)            

Hanalei
3.8ft @ 13s from 314° (NW)            

Waimea
2.5ft @ 14s from 315° (NW)

Pauwela
3.8ft @ 6s from 73° (ENE)        
3.2ft @ 8s from 96° (E)
1.7ft @ 14s from 326° (NW)            
 
New out of season NW swell on the rise all day. For some reason, the only graph I could visualize was Hanalei, so here it is together with the Surfline forecast. On the post Buoys to Maui travel times and Maui's shadow lines we learn that at 14s it takes around 9h from Hanalei to Maui, so I drew a red dotted line to predict how the swell will pick up in Maui. The afternoon might see some head high (possibly plus) sets at Hookipa. Much smaller in the morning, I might do a beach report later.


Wind map at noon
(the other ones can be found at link n.-2 of GP's meteo websites list in the right column).


Fetches map (circles legend: red: direct aim, blue: angular spreading, black: blocked, yellow: apparent direct aim, but out of the great circle ray map, so not 100% sure).
North Pacific (about 4 days travel time from the NW corner of the North Pacific):


South Pacific (about 7 days travel time from east/west of New Zealand):


Morning sky.

Thursday, June 25, 2020

Thursday 6 25 20 morning call

The lovely Annie Reickert. Photo by Erik Aeder.


This video is 24 minutes long and I've watched the first six so far. Keahi de Aboitiz sure knows how to get barreled, no matter what he's riding.



4am significant buoy readings and discussion.
South shore
Barbers
1.4ft @ 15s from 195° (SSW)            

Lanai
1.5ft @ 14s from 189° (S)
1.2ft @ 11s from 177° (S)

Old southerly energy down to 11s, but a new small long period energy is in the water. Bigger swell is predicted over the weekend. Check the Lahaina webcam if interested, for size, conditions and consistency.


North shore
Waimea
0.5ft @ 16s from 280° (W)            

Pauwela
6.1ft @ 8s from 77° (ENE)            

Here's how Pat Caldwell described the evolution of the fetch of the NW swell expect tomorrow:
An out-of-season NW swell event is expected for Friday. A gale low formed east of the Kuril Islands 5/20 with an eastward track along 45N. Seas held within 15-20 feet while west of the Date Line. The head of the fetch of mostly near gales was over the 305-320 degrees band about 2000 nm away Monday morning 6/22. The fetch widened to 305-330 degrees once the system moved east of the Date Line Tuesday 6/23 as the winds weakened. Seas of around 12 feet were about 1200 nm away at the closest position to Hawaii overnight Tuesday night. The system moved NNE and began fading 6/24.
The new event is due to fill in Friday morning centered from 315 degrees. It should peak late Friday (4ft 13s), then decline through Saturday from 310-330 degrees.

Below are the maps of June 21 through 24 that will help follow.


As for today, only easterly windswell, so small waves at Hookipa, bigger on eastern exposures.

Wind map at noon
(the other ones can be found at link n.-2 of GP's meteo websites list in the right column).


Fetches map (circles legend: red: direct aim, blue: angular spreading, black: blocked, yellow: apparent direct aim, but out of the great circle ray map, so not 100% sure).
North Pacific (about 4 days travel time from the NW corner of the North Pacific):


South Pacific (about 7 days travel time from east/west of New Zealand):


Morning sky.