Photo shows a little line coming in at Puamana. It's flat to very little and the start of a Tasman sea swell is even more inconsistent that a straight south one. 

Windsurfing for me yesterday, wind was gusty, waves were mostly windswell, not even remotely as good as the day before. Photo of the sunset by Jimmie Hepp

Buoys.

NW
3ft @ 9s from 78° (ENE)

3ft @ 12s from 308° (WNW)

Waimea

2.5ft @ 6s from 40° (NE)

2.3ft @ 9s from 346° (NNW)

1.4ft @ 4s from 37° (NE)

0.9ft @ 14s from 313° (NW)

 

Pauwela

4.6ft @ 8s from 85° (E)

3.3ft @ 6s from 67° (ENE)

0.6ft @ 13s from 14° (NNE)

0.4ft @ 15s from 330° (NW)

Barbers
2.5ft @ 9s from 173° (S)

2.2ft @ 6s from 133° (SE)

1.3ft @ 13s from 203° (SSW)

0.4ft @ 20s from 201° (SSW)

New WNW swell on the rise. The direction at the NW buoy started very west (still is at 308, but it was even more west yesterday). This swell is going to do exactly like the one of the past few days: start west and turn more north, so the best days will be tomorrow and Thursday.

Lovely 0.4ft @ 20s from 201 at the Barbers buoy. That's what we get from that big Fiji swell I pointed out 7 days ago. This is the weather map of the 12 (13 down under) that shows the fetch in the tasman sea.

 

 

Wind map shows two lovely fetches NW and south. That means waves in respectively 3 and 7 days, but don't forget they were there the past few days also, so it's looking good for this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also because there's a lovely low pressure about to form right north of us (map below is from Friday evening) that will stop the trade winds.

 

Here's how the windguru week outlook looks like in fact. Still windy today though.
BTW, the wave forecast disappeared on my computer (still there on other computers). Not that I miss it much (you guys know how little I care about the wave forecast on windguru), but I'm just puzzled why that happens. Is that because I talked bad about it?


Enjoy your day in the water, I'm off to the south shore for glassy (hopefully), small, clean long period waves before the low tide gets them. Might be able to post a report.
Scab is still there, but I might try regular surfing this morning. It's been 2 weeks since I lay down surfed. I just miss that feeling of pushing up after catching a wave. I just miss everything about surfing.

5 18 15 morning call

Yesterday recap:
south shore was very fun for me. I was out at 6am at one of my favorite spots by myself for what I wanted to be SUP session n.5 without falling.
First 2 sessions I used big boards. Then I got bored and I switched to my 7.4x29.5. Then I got bored and I switched to my 6.6x29.5. That board is just perfect for the south shore, since it got very little rocker and a wide tail.
Tide was very low and when I was paddling for a one foot wave, since it was as glassy as it can, I could totally see the rocks on the bottom and the fact that I was moving backwards. By the time of the drop, the waves had grown to three feet.
On my first one I first had a speedy section to race and when I got on the shoulder I had the opportunity to crank one of those sliding cut backs I can pretty much do on demand on that board.
But because my body was used to longer boards, I moved the back foot way too far back and ended up putting it in the water right off the tail and did the splits with the front foot still stuck in the footstrap.
Would have been a fun gopro video from the nose of the board if I had one.
Photo below is from an offshore windy spot.

Well since I got the scab wet (and it was just fine after that), in the afternoon I went windsurfing and had a blast. My favorite conditions, light offshore.
After that I took some photos of the surfers and here are the best ones.

Morgan.

Buoys 6am.
NW

3.5ft @ 8s from 103° (ESE)

2.9ft @ 10s from 328° (NW

Waimea
2.7ft @ 7s from 39° (NE)

2.2ft @ 11s from 316° (NW)

1.7ft @ 9s from 334° (NNW)

Pauwela
4.7ft @ 8s from 76° (ENE)

1.9ft @ 11s from 345° (NNW)

Barbers
2.7ft @ 6s from 132° (SE)

2.4ft @ 9s from 168° (SSE)

1.2ft @ 14s from 201° (SSW)

 

1.2ft @ 11s from 281° (WNW)

 

 

Pauwela going steadily down, today the waves will be smaller. Tomorrow a new small NW swell should pick up throughout the day.

 

 

 Nice little fetches both NW and South.

 

 

MC2km at noon says wind, but the sky looks cloudy as I type, so unless it clears up, that should keep the wind speed down a notch.

5 17 15 morning call

The NW swell is held up yesterday as the photo of sailor Sarah Hauser by Jimmie Hepp shows.

Meanwhile, that Tasman swell is rocking Tavarua, this is Restaurants. Photo by Namotu Resort.

Buoys:
NW
4.1ft @ 8s from 94° (E)           

4ft @ 12s from 324° (NW)

3.4ft @ 10s from 328° (NW)

Waimea

2.6ft @ 12s from 312° (NW)

3.2ft @ 6s from 43° (NE)

Pauwela

4.3ft @ 8s from 81° (E)           

3.1ft @ 11s from 331° (NNW)

Barbers

3.3ft @ 9s from 164° (SSE)           

1.6ft @ 12s from 296° (WNW)

1.4ft @ 14s from 212° (SW)

Still some energy from the NW on tap and 1.4f from the south, even though the energy looks minimal at the Lahain webcam.
I am at SUP session without falling number 4, let's see how long can I make this last.

 

Wind map shows a tiny NW fetch and a solid south one. Good news for next week.

 MC2km not updated yet, windguru shows the usual wind.

 

5 16 15 morning call

The WNW swell showed up at Hookipa in the afternoon and here's a couple of pics.

Morgan Noireaux. Photo Jimmie Hepp.

 Pavillion beauty. Photo Jason Hall.

 

 

 

 

Buoys:

NW

4.5ft @ 9s from 88° (E)

4.4ft @ 12s from 306° (WNW)

 

Waimea
3.3ft @ 13s from 305° (WNW)

Pauwela

4ft @ 9s from 82° (E)

3.7ft @ 14s from 320° (NW)

 

Graphs show that the swell has peaked, but it's not over yet. The Pauwela graph is exactly what Surfline was predicting, btw. By far, the most reliable surf forecast in the business, imo.

 

 

Barbers is showing the wrap of the WNW swell and not much from the south, which is confirmed by the early observation of the Lahaina webcam. Still not flat, but smaller than the past few days. Extreme low tide in the morning not helping either.

3.8ft @ 13s from 304° (WNW)

2.1ft @ 8s from 160° (SSE)

1.7ft @ 9s from 162° (SSE)

0.4ft @ 11s from 212° (SW)

Couple of fetches NW and south (east of New Zealand). Pretty good for spring time.

 

 

MC2km not updated yet, here's what windguru says for today: windy.




Since I still don't want to get my head wet to allow the scab to heal nicely, I'm gonna do no falling SUP surfing on the south shore again. I might be able to post a photo report from there.

Can't wait to do lay down on a surfboard again.

5 15 15 morning call

There's a bunch of kiters in town. Some pretty ones too. Photo Jimmie Hepp.

I apologize with the readers: yesterday I thought it was Friday and I followed the surfline forecast more than the buoy readings to call the NW swell picking up late in the afternoon. Instead it was Thursday and there was no swell.
Let me try to do a better job today. Buoys:

NW
6.2ft @ 14s from 294° (WNW)

Waimea
1.7ft @ 16s from 304° (WNW)

Pauwela
4.1ft @ 8s from 75° (ENE)           

1.8ft @ 6s from 58° (ENE)

1.1ft @ 16s from 318° (NW)

 

Below is the graph of the first two. 294 is a direction that will get heavily blocked on the north shore of Maui, so despite the encouraging 1f 16s reading at 7am, I won't expect to see a lot of energy today. The later the better, but those remarkable 6f (I didn't quite see the start of this fetch since I was in Bali, and I'm a little surprised to see that number) will be greatly reduced in size and consistency.
I wouldn't be surprised to see some reports of waves on the Kihei side, actually.
Your best bet for a sunny morning windless surf will still be in Lahaina though, since the Barbers point buoy is still reading

2.5ft @ 11s from 161° (SSE)                      

2.1ft @ 16s from 225° (SW).

 

Wind map shows a little lighter trades than the past few days.

Lovely NW fetch up in the usual corner, the north shore is not dead yet.
Down south, the strong Tasman sea fetch is crossing over New Zealand. If that lovely couple of islands weren't there, we would get a lot more waves. But I could say the same about the whole Australia and even Indonesia with this kind of thinking. We're lucky enough the way we are.
South shore staying active all next week and life could be a lot worse.

Uluwalu looking fun and I'm hating this phone

Went to the south shore yesterday and it was solid waist high with some nice scenery.

 Keeping your head up while paddling requires some trained muscles. This lady is giving them a break by resting with her chin on the board. Only way I know to make them strong is paddling as much as you can.



Finished the book Journals from the edge by my friend Bill Boyum. Excellent read.

90% of the time you see a fin in the water, it's a manta ray (like in this case). The other 10% is a turtle.

Buoys.

NW

4.1ft @ 9s from 97° (E)

2.8ft @ 7s from 84° (E)

2.3ft @ 13s from 137° (SE)

2.3ft @ 6s from 91° (E)

Waimea

3.1ft @ 8s from 40° (NE)           

3ft @ 7s from 39° (NE)

1.1ft @ 5s from 36° (NE)

0.4ft @ 16s from 334° (NNW)

 

Pauwela

6.6ft @ 8s from 65° (ENE)           

1.3ft @ 11s from 83° (E)

0.7ft @ 5s from 55° (ENE)

 

No sign of the NW swell at the NW buoy means that the swell will be showing up late in the afternoon. Which is confirmed by that 0.4ft @ 16s from 334° at the Waimea buoy.

Barbers
3ft @ 11s from 166° (SSE)

2.8ft @ 8s from 158° (SSE)

2.1ft @ 6s from 135° (SE)

1.1ft @ 20s from 199° (SSW)

 

Still some 3f 11s from SSE at the Barbers buoy with a nice 1f 20s reading from SSW indicating a new swell picking up slowly. I'm going south again this morning and will try a photo report with my new iphone5. Took me forever yesterday to try to make it similar to my old Android. Will see how it works.

Wind map shows no more NW fetch but still a solid SW fetch in the Tasman sea. Thank god for that.

 

Maui County shows 20-25 at noon. Gonna be another windy one.

 

13 5 15 morning call

I'm back in Maui and the morning call is back on the blog.

Don't have a photo of yesterday, but Hookipa was windy and had some small windswell waves. More of the same today. Pauwela reads 6.5ft @ 9s from 78° (ENE) at 8am this morning.
Also won't have a morning photo report for a couple of more days until the new phone I ordered arrives.

Below is a little cuttie from Bali.

The wind map shows the north Pacific dominated by two cells of high pressure that will stay pretty stationary and keep the trade wind flow and the storms away from the islands.
That little fetch up NW south of the Aleutians will stay there long enough to send a NW swell that Surfline is calling at 3.5f 12s on Saturday (picking up Friday afternoon).
It also shows a lovely typhoon way west of us that won't do much since it's moving away from us. Eventually in a week it will go up in the little corner where the NW fetch is now and hopefully send us some waves, but it's too early to talk about that.

It also shows a nice fetch in the Tasman sea that will generate a big swell for Fiji: 14f 15s on Sunday (Monday here) and hopefully we'll get some scraps from the SW a few days later.

That one will also do the usual crossing over New Zealand and we will have to see how big (or small) of a south swell will generate. In the meantime, the south shore still has some energy, as this Barbers Point reading shows: 1.6ft @ 14s from 175° (S). Lahaina webcam shows some fun ones that look knee to thigh high. High tide around  1pm over there.

The MC2km map at noon below shows the trades to be 15-20.

2015 first Indo trip report n.4. Balangan at low tide 2, GP 0.

The surfing part of this trip came to a sudden stop when last Wednesaday, on the first day of the big SSW swell, the low tide at Balangan had the best of me again (first time happened last year).

The usual critical situation of a big wave about to unload its energy and not enough water to duck dive. Always a mistake to end up in that position.
I found out afterwards that the only thing to do in such a case is to try to grab the reef and hold on to it like there's no tomorrow.
If you succeed in doing so, hopefully you'll get away with a few scratches on your hands. If you don't, you can only try to dive under the wave (which is what I did), but the chances to be picked up by the back of it and slammed on the reef are more than 90%, imo.

This particular case ended up with a bad cut on my head that required 8 stiches at the hospital to which I drove by myself on the motorbike with a rough and bloody dressing Rambo style.
Shoulda seen the faces of the other bikers on the road when they crossed my path.

All good though, I feel very lucky that it wasn't worse. Done with that spot at low tide and big waves, that's for sure. And I'm gonna look into some helmets when I get back to Maui.

Here's some photos to lighten up the spirits. I didn't take many, since I preferred not to torture myself and since the 1h drive from where I'm staying to Uluwatu is worth doing only if there's a chance for a surf, so the following two are from Echo beach on the high tide and a swell that was way too big for the spot.

 

 

This is as close as I've got to getting barreled in this trip (which is not close at all). Post processing by Jason Hall.

The next photo was quite a hit on my facebook page.

 

Not photoshopped. Just one of those last moment realizations that you're too deep to go and decide to sit back on the board. This was a moment before the wave engulfed my face.





 

 

And this is another kookie dismount on a right about to shut down on me.

 

Done with the gopro shots, but not with the selfies. The beautiful house where I'm staying has a little pool. I tied the leash on a pillar so at least I can get a bit of a paddling workout. I didn't paddle for two days and that did not feel good.

 

 

Just posted this one on facebook with the link to this post. Expecting the ladies to go wild on it.

Me, me, me! Saya, saya, saya in Indonesian! Since I can't surf I took a lesson of Bahasa Indonesia and it was great to challenge my brain with a new language to learn. I think I'll take more in trip number 2 later this summer.

Next ones were taken this morning while sipping a kopi at Echo beach. Tide still too high, but at least the size is more adequate for the spots.

This guy's style wasn't the most elegant, but it was quite effective nonetheless.

 

I don't think I'm gonna post another report before going back to Maui on the 13th (but you never know), so I feel like getting to a bit of summary for this trip.
A missed connection, three days of flatness, five days of fun waves, a land locking injury for the last week. It wasn't the best trip ever from the surfing point of view, but it was great from other sides (which I don't necessarily talk about on this blog).
The most pleasant surprise was the discovery of a beautiful river mouth 15 minutes from home that I have the feeling I will surf a lot more.

Life is still very good. And the "it can always be worse" philosophy triumphs once again. I'd say!