Friday, April 30, 2021

9am

Hookipa has waves around head and a half of poor shape. 
Windy, rainy, stormy, bumpy. 
2.5

Friday 4 30 21 morning call

Hookipa yesterday at sunset had some size, but it was tricky to say the least.

Below is just a small sample of the 167 Jimmy Lewis boards Hi-Tech lately received. I grabbed a few for the rental fleet so that we now have ALL the sizes of the following three lines: Destroyer, Maui Model and HP. You can move up to two days of rentals towards the purchase of a brand new board, so this system offers a great opportunity to our customers who want to try a board before buying it, or they're not sure about the size.

These boards are excellent: light and durable and fun. Over the last two months, the number of Jimmy's in my personal quiver went from 0 to 2. I needed to replace the 8.6 Stewart CMP that I recently broke in half (second time, but this time I'm not going to have it fixed) with a similar size performance longboard, so I got myself a 8.6 HP (like the last board on the right).
I also bought a 6.0 Destroyer (exactly like the blue one on the left) which has proved to be so ridiculously fun that I might have to do a proper review about it.




4-5am Surfline significant buoy readings and discussion
.

South shore
Barbers
1.9ft @ 18s from 208° (SSW)

Lanai

1.8ft @ 18s from 216° (SW)
1.6ft @ 11s from 266° (W)
1.5ft @ 11s from 267° (W)
1.3ft @ 14s from 212° (SW)

Long period SW swell continues with almost 2ft 18s at both buoys. There will be some beautiful sets, but the consistency will be low, as for every Tasman Sea swell. Check the Lahaina or Kihei webcams if interested, for size, conditions and consistency.



North shore
NW101

5.1ft @ 19s from 313° (NW)
4.8ft @ 11s from 5° (N)

NW001

5ft @ 11s from 347° (NNW)
4.6ft @ 17s from 303° (WNW)

Waimea

4.6ft @ 12s from 341° (NNW)
0.9ft @ 20s from 299° (WNW)

Pauwela

5.2ft @ 12s from 338° (NNW)
2.2ft @ 7s from 21° (NNE)
2.2ft @ 5s from 47° (NE)
0.3ft @ 22s from 309° (WNW)

What's happening today in the water is clearly summarized on this NOAA page:
Surf is trending up along along north and west facing shores as a mix of both medium period, north northwest and longer period, west northwest swells move around the islands. The north northwest swell should hold through the day before easing into the weekend. The long period, west northwest swell will fill in today and peak early Saturday surf near High Surf Advisory levels along smaller island northern and western exposed coasts.

Maui's west shore doesn't apply to that general statement, because we're shadowed by Molokai. The direction of the 12s energy is good for Honolua, which will likely have waves today (nothing big). The much longer period swell is a bit too west and might only add a few inconsistent sets (if any) at sunset and tomorrow. 

Hookipa is much more exposed to both, so my guess for the size is head and a half to double, possibly increasing at sunset and for sure bigger tomorrow. It's going to be windy though, so conditions will not be pretty (for surfing).

Below is Pauwela's graph. The NNW swell is peaking, while the WNW is just barely appearing on the chart.



Forecast and energy spectrum of Pauwela from this PACIOOS page.

Wind map at noon. The other ones can be found here (click on animation of the 10 meter column).


Fetches map
(circles legend: red: direct aim, blue: angular spreading, black: blocked) from Windy.
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, April 29, 2021

5.45am

Hookipa has rising short period head high waves but conditions are pretty bad with light sideon ne wind and plenty chop.
3

Thursday 4 29 21 morning call

Hookipa yesterday morning had some particularly clean inconsistent westerly sets. There were no other swells in the water and the long flat spells made for extremely calm waters and when the set came it looked like the Lahaina side kind of cleanness.


Will Hunt is in Mexico instead and is practicing riding beach break big barrels.

3-4am Surfline significant buoy readings and discussion.
South shore
Barbers

3.9ft @ 13s from 257° (WSW)
1.3ft @ 20s from 224° (SW)

Lanai

2.6ft @ 13s from 258° (WSW)
1.5ft @ 16s from 200° (SSW)
1.2ft @ 20s from 218° (SW)

The 13s is still the westerly energy that will be felt more on the Kihei side. The 20s energy instead comes from the Tasman Sea. Below are the maps of April 22 through 27 that show the fetch. The sets arrivals will probably be inconsistent.

Check the Lahaina or Kihei webcams if interested, for size, conditions and consistency.

North shore
NW001
5.5ft @ 11s from 340° (NNW)

Waimea

4.2ft @ 11s from 328° (NW)
0.6ft @ 20s from 274° (W)

Pauwela

3.5ft @ 11s from 322° (NW)
2.3ft @ 7s from 334° (NNW)

Things are about to shake up quite a bit on the north shore that has been sleepy for quite a few days. Here's Pat Caldwell's description of what happened (timing is for Oahu):

A low-pressure system that tracked across the breadth of the N Pacific 4/22-27 is giving us the tale of two swell events.

The second part was generated once the low set up NNW to N of Hawaii 4/25-27. The low center slowed in track and set up a long-lived, long, wide fetch of strong to near gale winds stretching from the Aleutians to about 1200 nm out from Hawaii 4/26-27. The system is sharply weakening 4/28.

NOAA NW buoys show the 10-12 second energy from 335-355 degrees on the rise midday Wednesday 4/28. This event should pick up locally overnight and climb above the May average by dawn on Thursday. The event should hold about the same into Friday morning, then drop to small levels on Saturday from the same direction.

Below are the maps of April 25 though 28 that show the fetch that generated the short period NNW energy on the rise today (red arrow). The black arrow instead shows the completely different and more westerly fetch that generated the longer period swell that will arrive tomorrow.

Below are the graphs of Waimea and Pauwela, together with the Surfline forecast. North shore should hence have plenty waves today (home guess for Hookipa is head high plus and building), unfortunately with light NE wind that will bring plenty chop in the lineup.


Forecast and energy spectrum of Pauwela from this PACIOOS page.


Wind map at noon. The other ones can be found here (click on animation of the 10 meter column).



Fetches map
(circles legend: red: direct aim, blue: angular spreading, black: blocked) from Windy.
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.


Wednesday, April 28, 2021

8.45am

Hookipa has very inconsistent clean westerly sets up to head high. Flat otherwise. 

Wednesday 4 28 21 morning call

Hookipa yesterday morning.

6am Surfline significant buoy readings and discussion.
South shore
Barbers

3.3ft @ 14s from 264° (W)
0.5ft @ 22s from 216° (SW)

Lanai

3.6ft @ 14s from 270° (W)
0.7ft @ 22s from 233° (WSW)

Westerly energy from that cyclone off Japan is at the buoys. I expect the Kihei side to have waves (a couple of webcams are down). Notice the fractional reading of 22s SW energy, sign of a new slowly rising long period Tasman Sea swell (which will be more substantial tomorrow). Check the Lahaina or Kihei webcams if interested, for size, conditions and consistency.


North shore
NW001

4.4ft @ 12s from 310° (WNW)
3.4ft @ 7s from 21° (NNE)
2.1ft @ 10s from 319° (NW)

Waimea

2.4ft @ 14s from 286° (WNW)
0.4ft @ 9s from 331° (NNW)

Pauwela

1.9ft @ 14s from 310° (WNW)
1.4ft @ 8s from 89° (E)

The 14s energy at Pauwela is the same westerly swell recorded by Lanai and Barbers, after it wrapped around the upstream islands and changed its direction. 310 is about as west as a Pauwela reading can physically be. I don't expect it to produce much at all, but Hookipa might have small inconsistent sets here and there to break the flatness, which otherwise will reign.
Btw, I just noticed that the wind meter on top of my house (right column) indicates strong wind from the ENE. That is obviously old/wrong as it's absolutely calm at the moment. Will have to investigate...

Forecast and energy spectrum of Pauwela from this PACIOOS page.



Wind map at noon. The other ones can be found here (click on animation of the 10 meter column).



Fetches map
(circles legend: red: direct aim, blue: angular spreading, black: blocked) from Windy.
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.


Tuesday, April 27, 2021

8.30am

Hookipa is virtually flat. Few guys out chasing glassy ankle biters. 

Tuesday 4 27 21 morning call

This came up in my Facebook memories. I've done plenty weird things with my gear throughout the years and this is one of them. Here's the words I used to explain it: "The board is a 6.2x20.75x2.5, no way to stand on it if it's still. Here's the sequence: catch the wave, standup with the front foot in the strap, grab the paddle and rip the hell out of the poor wave... I don't think it will ever be a mass sport.. LOL!"

The reason why I did it is that I love having a front foot strap and a paddle on my small wave SUP board and I wanted to see how it would feel to have them also on a regular shortboard. I tested the setup one day at Thousand Peaks and those couple of waves in which I managed to do everything right, the advantage given by the strap and the paddle were quite evident. The whole process was too complicated though, and having a footstrap under my chest was too much of a bother. Nice memory though.


6am Surfline significant buoy readings and discussion.
South shore
Barbers

1.8ft @ 15s from 213° (SW)
1.4ft @ 13s from 210° (SSW)

Lanai

2.3ft @ 14s from 212° (SW)

South shore is going to be the only option. Check the Lahaina or Kihei webcams if interested, for size, conditions and consistency.


Kihei gets some too.


North shore
NW001
3.5ft @ 15s from 285° (WNW)

Waimea

1.1ft @ 16s from 298° (WNW)
0.9ft @ 14s from 286° (WNW)

Pauwela

3ft @ 8s from 76° (ENE)
0.9ft @ 14s from 331° (NNW)

Pat Caldwell called for pancake conditions and that's what the north shore is going to look like today. The WNW energy at the NW buoys is too west for us and the easterly windswell has gone down, today is going to be a rare day of no waves and no wind. Maybe knee to waist on the eastern exposures.

Forecast and energy spectrum of Pauwela from this PACIOOS page.



Wind map at noon. The other ones can be found here (click on animation of the 10 meter column).



Fetches map
(circles legend: red: direct aim, blue: angular spreading, black: blocked) from Windy.
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, April 26, 2021

7.15am

Hookipa has waist to occasionally chest high waves with a bit of texture due to light trades. 
1.4

Monday 4 26 21 morning call

Hookipa yesterday afternoon. Photo by Jimmie Hepp from this album.

5am Surfline significant buoy readings and discussion.
South shore
Barbers
2ft @ 14s from 198° (SSW)

Lanai

1.4ft @ 16s from 207° (SSW)
1.4ft @ 14s from 229° (SW)

Check the Lahaina or Kihei webcams if interested, for size, conditions and consistency. There's some good ones today.

Most likely source for them is the angular fetch (blue circle) you see in the maps of April 19 and 20 below.


North shore
Waimea
1.5ft @ 14s from 288° (WNW)

Pauwela

4.2ft @ 8s from 73° (ENE)
3.6ft @ 6s from 68° (ENE)
1.1ft @ 3s from 84° (E)
0.9ft @ 13s from 336° (NNW)

Small waves spell continues. Home guess for Hookipa and eastern exposures is around head high. Good wind conditions for the first few hours of light.

Forecast and energy spectrum of Pauwela from this PACIOOS page.



Wind map at noon. The other ones can be found here (click on animation of the 10 meter column).



Fetches map
(circles legend: red: direct aim, blue: angular spreading, black: blocked) from Windy.
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, April 25, 2021

7.30am

Hookipa is waist to chest occasionally head high, weak sloppy and windy. 
1.6

Sunday 4 25 21 morning call

Hookipa yesterday afternoon. Photo by Jimmie Hepp from this album.

5am Surfline significant buoy readings and discussion.
South shore
Barbers
1.9ft @ 14s from 196° (SSW)

Lanai

1.6ft @ 14s from 191° (SSW)
0.8ft @ 18s from 196° (SSW)

Old 14s SSW energy at the buoys, while Lanai also feels a bit of a new 18s one. Check the Lahaina or Kihei webcams if interested, for size, conditions and consistency.


North shore 
Waimea
1.2ft @ 12s from 309° (WNW)

Pauwela

4.8ft @ 8s from 72° (ENE)
4ft @ 6s from 69° (ENE)

Pure windswell at Pauwela. Home guess for Hookipa and eastern exposures is around head high.

Forecast and energy spectrum of Pauwela from this PACIOOS page.



Wind map at noon. The other ones can be found here (click on animation of the 10 meter column).



Fetches map
(circles legend: red: direct aim, blue: angular spreading, black: blocked) from Windy.
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, April 24, 2021

6am

Hookipa has sloppy poor shape weak waves in the chest to occasionally head high range. 
2

Saturday 4 24 21 morning call

Hookipa yesterday morning.


Hookipa yesterday afternoon. Photo by Jimmie Hepp from this album.


3am Surfline significant buoy readings and discussion.
South shore
Barbers
1.8ft @ 15s from 190° (S)

Lanai
1.4ft @ 15s from 196° (SSW)

Small long period energy at the buoys. Check the Lahaina or Kihei webcams if interested, for size, conditions and consistency.

North shore
Waimea

3.5ft @ 7s from 23° (NNE)
2.8ft @ 9s from 2° (N)
1.8ft @ 11s from 340° (NNW)
0.7ft @ 14s from 300° (WNW)

Pauwela

4.8ft @ 8s from 59° (ENE)
3.6ft @ 5s from 72° (ENE)
1.5ft @ 11s from 340° (NNW)

Slivers of leftover NNW energy won't be much visible in the water. The dominant one will be from the ENE. Home guess for Hookipa is around head high with some wind.

Forecast and energy spectrum of Pauwela from this PACIOOS page.



Wind map at noon. The other ones can be found here (click on animation of the 10 meter column).



Fetches map
(circles legend: red: direct aim, blue: angular spreading, black: blocked) from Windy.
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.