Too much of a good thing

[PonoBill]

The wind was howling all night. Shaking the house. Both the wind swell and the ground swell are huge--amplifying each other. The island off shore from our house is swamped with foam and has waves crashing over it from three directions. Every time I look at it I wonder "is a Maliko possible?"

Then sanity overtakes me and the answer "not for you, bucko".

The wind angle should be fine for southside, but somehow it's not. I think it's wrapping around the east end of the island too much and shoving the wind line on the southside outwards to Kahoolawe. The wind direction has been reversing at the Kam beaches. I need to get in the water. This sucks.

[RainWaves]

 Funny that you mentioned this, as I was meaning to ask you if that was going on. I've been following the progress of a tug & barge that was Hawaii bound, coming over from Long Beach in the past 2 weeks. They just arrived in Honolulu yesterday afternoon, for a pit stop on their way to Guam.

 While the Trades behind them for the past week were averaging 25 knots, they had a huge groundswell following as well. Much bigger than what the "average" conditions should have created. Anyway, cool to confirm that you're getting it.

[headmount]

Yes this is the land of 'too much'.  Mostly too much food to eat when I'm not paddling.

Like PBill posted, it's frustrating.  It's out there but there's just too much.  I think we'll make a south run happen today one way or another.  THinking we could go DW with the backwind until we hit the real wind and turn around for a non-shuttle ideal.  Yeah right.  That'll happen.

[headmount]

Four beginner SUPs  and a kayak had to be rescued as they blew offshore in the gale force winds we've had the last three days. 

[SEA]

Went for a HK run today portlock to Kaimana beach in 1 hr 6 minutes winds were 35 to 40 mph gusts . I was on my bullet and I think that was the close to max conditions for it. I thought I was on dancing with the stars, I was moving around so much. It took A LOT to keep the nose out if the water..........  BUT IT WAS FUN !!!  DAM !!  I was considering taking my F-16 but I'm glad I took the bullet it was smokin out there and it had some LONG glides, the kind of glides F-16's just can't sustain.  I sure do love that bullet now I have a better idea of it's limits.

Feel for you guys on Maui. Hope you caught South side somewhere Headmount. Let us kmow how it went

Aloha

[Takeo]

I guess when Maui is too much, the rest of us get good wind.  Did a couple runs yesterday with JF808 on the westside.  Made a couple videos, maybe I'll post them. The Bullets, both V1, V2, and Bullet 12 was going off!

[LaPerouseBay]

Maliko was  good today.  Good wind, big E swell.  It must have rained like crazy uphill, maliko's river was raging.

The entire gulch was brown, full of branches and cold.  It felt like a 20 degree difference once we hit blue water.  Big sets but not closing out.  The N swell was not an issue today.

It drizzled rain on the drive up, so I nixed the camera.  That usually means the sun will blaze, which it did, for the entire run.  Fun day.  

After the run a south shore friend called to say it was smoking.  I think HM got some.  It looked pretty good when I got home at 3:30.  Yesterday it blasted from 3:30 to 5:30.  

When it's big east, the south shore is tempting, but fickle.  Great for 30 minutes then hellish offshore.  Beware.

Maliko was a bit crossed up at the beginning, so PB is right, it was very challenging for standups.  Boats are ok when it's nasty.  It smoothed out past the airport tower.  Nice big ramps.      

[headmount]

PBill and I took a conservative inside line skirting as close to the reefs as I ever have.  Wind was blasting gale force for first half and mellowed a bit in the second half.  A good safe run in conditions that demanded full attention... and IMO a rudder.

PBill was on a roll with his V2 and locked the great line right off the get go.  Really makes a difference having someone else beside you for reference and also gives you confidence to let yourself get pulled out on the exceptional set-ups that come your way.. as long as you correct later for your slip off the line.   Angles were subject to change as you went further out.   Glances to the outside revealed a heavy white froth.  No country for old men.

The south side on a day like today is like a river that flows out into a desert and disappears.  But even though the wind dies, there is a residual pulse that goes on for a mile or two.  You have to really hammer for those glides but their smooth texture allows easy navigating once you're on them.  It's a neat way to wind down from the adrenaline of high wind.

[headmount]

Great to hear about all the runs on the other islands.  The BI was in the local news for twisters around Kawaihai.  Looked gnarly.

You guys doing the west side of the BI have your cajones in place.  With this kind of wind, I'd be nervous as a cat over there.

[JF808]

I can't imagine how crazy Maui is right now. The Alenuihaha channel is ripping!!!!!!  Big island downwind conditions, we are seeing wind speeds maxing out at 50+ on our downwind highway. Slightly offshore conditions make it a "only experienced paddler" kinda day for sure.  We had some rescue calls go out through the week.  We are not lucky enough to have ground swell assist like maliko but for us here it's still EPIC!!!!

The whales track through our downwind course making things really sketchy, there are hella lot of whales here right now, breaching and putting on a show... we've been lucky so far

[headmount]

Didn't see any whales on our south side today... they musta all gone to the BI.

[PonoBill]

Bill and I had a fun southsider. It was offshore, but lots of fun with a rudder board. Good glides, and a new thing I've been working on--waiting a little before trying to turn into the trench of the wave--worked like gangbusters. My thought was that there would be more power down low in the wave, so I wait until the nose is about to bury, and then I turn hard, using the paddle up at the nose as well as the rudder to make the turn. Worked great.

The wind veered out about a mile before Sorrentos, but there were still some glides almost all the way in. We considered doing a second, short run to Cove Park, but it was late and we both had stuff to do.

I stopped above Maliko Gulch to see if we were making a mistake going south. As the picture shows, I think not.

[Takeo]

Great to hear about all the runs on the other islands.  The BI was in the local news for twisters around Kawaihai.  Looked gnarly.

You guys doing the west side of the BI have your cajones in place.  With this kind of wind, I'd be nervous as a cat over there.

Bill,
Since I'm from Hilo side, was good to be with JF808 and our other buddy who knows the wind lines really well.  Interesting how certain areas light up, and other areas can blow you off shore if you aren't careful.  When they took an inside line, so did I.  I think many take it too lightly, especially novice paddlers, and end up in trouble. 

[SEA]

Wow that picture of Maliko looks like sharkcolate milk  

[JF808]

Didn't see any whales on our south side today... they musta all gone to the BI.

hahaha, you know what? good for the tourist, bad for paddlers!! here's a shot of a humback whale casualty off the Kona Coast... Paddler was rescued, and is ok.  As for the OC1... no big deal it was a Hypr canoe anyways probably did the owner a favor.