The smokin spring and summer Maliko report

[PonoBill]

This is what it looked like when I woke up the morning of our pre-April Fool Run





Sometimes it's just kind of obvious it's going to be a good day. Those swells are about 3/4 of a mile from my house. They're good sized.

Today was a pretty good surf day at Kanaha. I hit it for dawn patrol. Left a board and paddle on my jeep for Rod. Ho'okipa was pretty big, lumpy and crowded. I would have had to surf the far end of Lanes, which I'm not fond of. Kanaha had nice size, was flat calm erly but the wind came up just as I hit the lineup. There was a squall going by and I was banking on the wind being from that. I was right. It died again. We had a lot of nice overhead sets and a few real pounders that cleaned the lineup. I caught some nice waves, Rod got to try the Kalama board and got some impressive rides. Wind came up, and I left. went to Costco to score a new HD GoPro for 199.

[headmount]

We shoulda launched at the bay in front of your house.  That's quite a pic. 

Hope you told Rod how much of a fool I felt.

Rock star park job in front of Flat Breads tonight?

[LaPerouseBay]

Fun run today.  Boy, the north shore is so exciting after a few days on the south shore.  Hope the wind holds for the weekend.

 

[headmount]

1:44 and 3:38-3:40 have some great stills you could cull out of that video, especially the 1:44.  They would be low res but fine for internet.  Notice how on a grey day like today that the bright colors (boat and cap) are crisp and the dark colors like your shirt and arms have a muddy texture to them.  But these low light days also have a certain magical look to them when you overlook the mud.  Yes I did enjoy that brief underwater shot and you getting back in your boat.  That's interesting for me.

[LaPerouseBay]

1:44 is frozen. 

[JF808]

Does maui have wind on the north and south shores all year round?

[PonoBill]

Tradewinds blow on maui about 61 percent of the time. January is usually the lightest at 42 percent and june, july, and august are all above 90 percent.

It's been a weird winter. All these rockin' runs we've been having are in the typical lightest wind time. When I used to come here for windsurfing we wouldn't think of getting here before the end of April, and even then there would be days when we'd surf all day. It's 7:20 AM and there's whitecaps in front of my house.

[headmount]

Great LPB.  Do you like that pic?  Thought the little wave pyaramid over the back was cool. Also looks like a drop into a good size trough.

JF808... yes there can be DW caliber wind on both sides of the island ... any month of the year.  Feb is usually the calmest month, but not this year, in fact it was just about the best month for DW I've seen in awhile.  May through August would be the main trade wind months but we get tropical depressions that roll through and even during these months the wind can back off for a week.  What I've also seen is that the month of March has some of the strongest days.  If you have kids with you, chain them to a car or they'll blow away.  

Last year's winter was pretty calm Nov-early March which is kind of norm.  But if you're willing to drive, you can usually find something worthy.  And if you're planning a trip, check in with the guys here to let you know what the trend is.

[LaPerouseBay]

It's been a weird winter.

La Nina (NEEN ya)

 
Last year's winter was pretty calm

El Nino (NEEN yo)

Great LPB.  Do you like that pic?  Thought the little wave pyaramid over the back was cool. Also looks like a drop into a good size trough.

Yes, the pic is fun to look at.  It reminds me of ice.  As for a drop in, yes it was a good size swell. 

I'd encourage anyone to shoot video.  Not to post them, but to see just how different the footage is from your memory of the run.  You can pop the memory chip into most computers and the vid starts instantly, in HD.  I'm a pc, so I open the file and run it on windows media player.

Editing is another can of worms.  It gets much easier with practice.  Lot's of tricks to streamline the process.   

The vids do not come close to representing how big those swells are.  I know HM sees it because he's edited some footage.  DJ's footage is even more deceptive because of the high mount.  We all use a wider angle than the human eye, which flattens the waves.  Trust me, those swells may not be pitching across kanana, but they are tall, and very fast.   

[PonoBill]

That's the most irritating and deceptive thing about these videos. Everyone that has seen the videos on the zone and shows up on Maui to do a Maliko gets a serious case of the wide eyes when we paddle out of the gulch. Doesn't matter how many times we say that in words, when you see a swell as tall as a three story house rolling towards you, it all gets VERY different.

[LaPerouseBay]

Whoops, I certainly wasn't trying to deceive anyone.

When I said the swells were 'tall' I should have said less than 10 feet.   

As for three story house sized swells, those are the exception rather than the rule at maliko.  The only 30 footers I've seen this year were on 3-10.  4-1 was great, but 20 footers max, if that.

Kai Lenny's recent Jaws video is 20 and 30+ feet.  I'll try to keep the numbers real to add authenticity to the thread.  We don't want the real experts to roll their eyes at our tales of derring do. 

 

 

[headmount]

Huge pack that launched with shuttle crew today.  I paddled out with Dave, Scott, and Livio, three powerhouses and let myself fall off the wind a little earlier than them so I could be just a tad ahead when they turned off the wind.  Then I just stuck my blade in the water and watched as DK let loose with guys he races with.  It was a sight to see.   Wish I had my camera but I think the best moments are always when there is no camera.  Anyway it was a grey day for video.  But I felt lucky to see that level of finesse and power.  And that's the thing about these Maliko runs, you see some stuff from the best.

The clinic continued and I caught a great glide just as an OC-1 caught me. We rode together for that glide and then he connected and I didn't... sayonara.

Conditions were much better than I anticipated.  Not great but if you worked hard, glides were there. 

[808sup]

Not too many takers today. Probably due to the modest NE winds. Or maybe it was due to the latest swell to hit our N facing shores. Whatever the case I went for it. Started off out of maliko into fairly light conditions and stayed that way to Kanaha. No reason to paddle out away from shore to get into the wind line because there wasn't one to speak of. You just needed to stay out far enough to not get creamed by the surf. The outer reefs were working and from Kanaha  through Pier1. My line was inside more than usual so I had to keep one eye on the Himalayas  breaking on the outside and the ones on the inside. In the middle of the maelstrom I caught a glimpse of a prone paddler who I had seen earlier at maliko. My neck started to hurt just looking at him.I couldn't help but wonder what he must have thought about the surf. Laydown guys can't see as far ahead as we can. The paddle in the harbor was a breeze due to the light NE wind. A pleasure for sure! Could have used some company but fun anyway. 808 out...

[PonoBill]

Okay, two story house, that's MUCH better.  Though from trough to peak a 10 foot ocean swell is 18 feet tall. Open ocean swells are measured from base to peak. In the open ocean the swells don't build a deep trough because they are not being slowed by drag against the bottom. In places like Camp One where the water is relatively shallow the wave speed decreases rapidly and the swell stacks, producing BOTH a peak and a depression (trough). What you experience as a visual height being in the trough is the full size of the wave face. Call it what you will, it's intimidating.

When people say a wave at Peahi is 25 feet they mean from base to peak, base being mean ocean level. In fact a 25 foot Peahi wave is typically 45 feet from peak to trough. Take a look at the standing size of a surfer in jaws, assume that's five feet, and see if you think he's in a 25 foot face. Apples and oranges.


This is a 25 foot wave at Peahi. The bottom of the trough isn't even really visible. I count eight Garrett McNamaras between the top and bottom. 

Actually the takers today were pretty dang numerous. Shuttle was full plus, one guy sitting on the floor and two rack spots stacked two deep. Plus a bunch of people in the bay when we showed up. Dave Kalama and Bill Boyum shuttled themselves. as did several other SUPs and another rack trailer full of OC-1. I guess it depended on when you went.

I came in with Sharon and a raft of OC-1, probably six of them. Boyum and Rod were already on the beach, Kalama. Livio, and Scott Trudon were packed up and gone. I was spending so much time looking down at the nose of my board working on what Jeremey taught me the other day that I didn't watch where I was going and wandered into upper Kahana. Nothing serious, got knocked off the board by whitewater and had to paddle out like a lunatic to avoid a big set, but I made it without incident.

Light wind, moderate winf swell. pretty good ground swell. Interesting and fun. More fun tomorrow.

[LaPerouseBay]

South shore was going good, nice whale jumps in Makena. A malolo bashed into my armpit, a few near misses over my head.  None of the wildlife is on the video.  Had a fast minute averaging 11 mph.  Great fun.