Also thanks to blog reader Mike for his donation.
Yesterday my body loudly demanded a day of rest and I wisely obeyed. Plenty windsurfing action at Hookipa (that's gonna be the case for the whole week), this photo is by Jimmie Hepp from this gallery.
But I also feel like posting this absolutely remarkable photo by OneMoreFoto. That's Kain Daly in action on December 27, best day of the winter so far. And I'm gonna add best photo of the winter too.
1am significant buoy readings
South shore
No indication of southerly energy at the buoys, the Surfline forecast calls for 0.8f 11s.
North shore
NW101
4.9ft @ 14s from 284° (WNW)
Hanalei
4.7ft @ 14s from 299° (WNW)
Waimea
3ft @ 13s from 317° (NW)
Pauwela
2.9ft @ 8s from 51° (ENE)
2.8ft @ 6s from 58° (ENE)
2.3ft @ 13s from 323° (NW)
The WNW energy is on the rise at the NW101 buoy. The collage below shows the graph of the four reported buoys. Notice how the direction changes and the size goes down as the swell wraps around the island chain. The degrees are 284, 299, 317 and 323 respectively.
This should help you guys visualize what I'm talking about. Often forgotten, there are a bunch of uninhabited islands NW of Hawaii. With such a westerly direction, the refraction and related energy reduction starts there. The yellow line indicates the 284 direction that the swell has at the NW buoy (not in the picture). The red lines angle indicates the swell angle that changes as it travels. Their shortening lengths is my graphical effort to indicate the energy reduction. Wave refraction will obviously be of the topic of the Meteo workshop I'm (very slowly) working on. I'm thinking spring time for it.
All that was to explain that even though the direction at Pauwela might not seem that west, it's because the swell has already refracted over the upstream islands and its energy and consistency has been greatly reduced. Locally, Hookipa will get the most energy, stay tuned for a 6.30am beach report, as I have a surf guiding appointment on the lookout. I love it.
W
3.7ft @ 13s from 285° (WNW)
SW
2.1ft @ 13s from 281° (WNW)
Not done with the buoys just yet, the two readings above suggest that there might be waves in the Kihei area. Those would have travelled south of the island chain instead, and wrapped around the southern tip of Lanai. The shadow lines are calculated and illustrated in the usual Buoys to Maui travel times and Maui's shadow lines post, which you find in the labels section of this blog.
Wind map at noon shows easterly trades. As I said, it's gonna look very similar the whole week. Oh well, at least easterly trades bring very pleasant weather and not too much rain. Plus, the early morning surf can still be ok.
North Pacific shows a NW fetch. No more energy from the north for a while.
Nothing of relevance in the South Pacific.
Morning sky.
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