surfing and wave sailing

Great photos Hayne! Thanks for dropping in Brah!

Olaf, where have you surfed in the Pacific (other than Hawaii)? My girl and I are planning a trip and are open to suggestions. Trying to get away from the crowds.

Cheers bruv

Dave,My surfing experiences are limited to Maui,Oahu,California,Florida,North Carolina,Oregon,Baja and also some on the mainland Mexico. I have been here on Maui for the past 12 years and would love to guide you to an inexpensive,unclouded,relatively easy to get to place with great waves but I am also looking my self. Please pass all info on my way as your quest develops.

Olaf, great to hear from you. I'm searching the south pacific for sweet spots. Most of what I find are the places we've all seen in mags and vids. Epic tapwater vis barrels over sweet reefs...full of crowds. I have found a few places that demand further investigation. I'll send ya the beta as soon as I get some positive results. One thing's for sure...gotta be warm, tropical, and sandy :)

Cheers bruv

The surf outlook for my neck of the woods reads like this:
The north shores will remain large this weekend…from the current northwest swell train of waves, gradually lowering through Monday. The west sides will be larger than normal Saturday and Sunday as well…. They will be gradually lowering into Monday. Surf along the east shores will remain active Saturday, rising some into Sunday along with the strengthening trade winds. South shores will be very small to flat through Sunday.
Hookipa: 6-7
Kanaha: 4-6
Note: Wave face readings are approximately twice the surf forecast numbers indicated above.

Talking about stoke..... after 15 years of my handedmedown ripped and curled 4/3 wetsuit I got a new (slightly used) oneill psychofreak, last years model for $150. Sheesh what a difference, Feels like I'm buck nekkid except I'm warm!

Stoked.

On another note, Olaf, I see where on the above forcast is a "note" stating the wave face is double that size.... yea, there always has been the ole "6 foot hawaii is 12 foot california" standard. While viewing this years triple crown events, I noticed the wave heights were way over called, ie they were saying sunset was 12 to 15 when it would have usually been called 6 IMO. I thought maybe they were just hyping it for the masses.

Well, in talking to my friend who has a coffee shop on the NS and lives at sunset, he informed me that they (ASP) and local surf forcasters were having to adapt to mainland standards due to a current lawsuit being filed on behalf of someone (haole*) who read 6 to 8 and thought thhey were on it until they got out and realized it was nearly 20 foot faces and got in trouble...

Crazy stuff if it's true: The Pussification of America at work.

Other than propping up somebody's fragile ego, I can't see any advantages to calling 8-12 foot Sunset "6 foot".

Well, I'm no Oceanographer* but when a swell breaks on a reef or beach, the wave face is usually double the size of the swell itself.

Difference of measuring the wave from the back or the front, been a topic and conundrum for the 35 some odd years I've surfed.

And if I had to say, I'd have to say the fragile egos are the ones calling it 12 to 15 feet (hyping manhood?) when it's only a 6 foot swell running, but to each his own, I respect everyone's opinion.

Really though, Hawaiians are calling it 6 foot and you can't see the danger, even standing right there on the beach, and paddle out anyway cause you rule 6 foot at home?

I watched on the livestream the day they called 12-15 feet, and the largest wave I saw ridden was about 12 foot (about 25 foot face). So they were exaggerating, but it was definitely NOT "6 foot".

From the forecasting service's point of view though, what's more important? A) Some locals have a transition period of a few weeks, where they figure out it's not being called in "Hawaiian" numbers anymore, and maybe they get to the beach a few times and it's smaller than they thought it would be.

or B) Some inexperienced guy (i'd just say "kook" normally lol, but many years later I'm a little more humble lol)paddles out and drowns. I mean, yeah ideally he "should" have been smarter, but shit happens. That's somebody's son or daughter that just died.

The trend is slowly moving to the face value rather than the back of the wave. Glen James(Maui Weather Today) still uses the old school way while Uncle Pat Caldwell( Surf forecast guru for the National Weather Service in Oahu)has adopted the front of the wave for the very reason mentioned earlier.

My ribs are slowly healing and I hope to be back in the game by the time the next substantial north swell arrives. Having two rib injuries back to back has been a real drag, although I have been fortunate in that I have been able to surf/wave sail the best days we have had this season so far.

BTW: Happy Solstice!

I can appreciate the sentiment over someone dying in the waves. Considering I have kids of my own, I hope they will be smart enough to look out at a lineup like Pipe, and realize that it's double to triple overhead, no matter what the "surf report" say's.

It's sad that it's taking a lawsuit against the state of Hawaii to get them to change the "surf report" in a Hawaii, a wave estimation that has been in place for decades.

BTW, coffee you get from McDonalds might be hot, so be careful out there.

We have quite a few reliable sources for swell and wave reports.
Pat Caldwell,Glen James,Guy Hoggi,O-Maui,Magic Sea Weed and the list goes on.
The wave models provided by the Navy and various other sources can give accurate data for any where in the world if you just take a second to check them out and compare them to local the local forecasters predictions.
There is nothing better though than local knowledge and experience.
The ocean is omnipotent!
industryartcollective.com/?…
vimeo.com/33052074

Happy Holidays folks!

I'm sitting in Denver with over a foot of snow on the ground...but my surf board is on the roof of my car and in a couple of days I'll be driving west.

Can't wait to get wet!

cheers,

josh

North shores – Thursday will find the surf coming up from the northwest again for several days..gradually lowering into the first part of the holiday weekend. A second northwest swell will arrive Sunday, and then a third early in 2012. Game On!