Author Topic: Weird Wrap  (Read 2388 times)

stoneaxe

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Weird Wrap
« on: July 12, 2017, 08:11:54 PM »
Anyone that has been out around Gurnett Point and Brown's Bank knows they generate some weird conditions...look how extreme this wrap is....waves from the NE end up breaking SE.

Bob

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PonoBill

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Re: Weird Wrap
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2017, 08:25:11 PM »
Yeah, that's an interesting lens refracting the waves around. An extreme version of Kanaha's Portuguese Triangle.
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Zooport

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Re: Weird Wrap
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2017, 09:17:17 PM »
I'll bet the tip of that point can offer some long lefts in the right conditions.
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nalu-sup

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Re: Weird Wrap
« Reply #3 on: July 12, 2017, 09:52:42 PM »
When I lived on Kauai back in the mid 80's, I used to spend a lot of time surfing and windsurfing Tunnels reef on the north shore. The reef would wrap the tradewind swell so far around that you could ride the windswell with a cross-offshore wind direction on the wave face. Since the waves were breaking on the very shallow reef coming in from the opposite direction of the winds that had created them, the faces were always completely glassy even sailing in 25 mph winds.
I am attempting to attach a couple of aerial views. The beach faces due north, the trades come in from the NE, and the waves we would ride are along the NW and W corner of the reef. The aerial view shows that the swells coming in from the NE are coming around and breaking from the W as they wrap around the reef.
If you ended up crashing on the shallow reef which was often just a few inches deep (we used to nickname it the "Penalty Box"), getting off could be tricky as the wind pushed you and your rig straight across the nearly bare reef towards the breaking waves, and then the next wave would roll you right back across the reef towards the inner lagoon in an endless cycle. While surfing there one time, my leash wrapped around both ankles and managed to tie itself into a knot. I spent about ten minutes getting rolled back and forth across the sharp reef like a rotisserie in about 4 inches of water.
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supthecreek

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Re: Weird Wrap
« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2017, 03:05:48 AM »
Anyone that has been out around Gurnett Point and Brown's Bank knows they generate some weird conditions...look how extreme this wrap is....waves from the NE end up breaking SE.


That's very cool, and exactly what makes reefs and points bowl up so nice
The shallows grab the closest part of the wave and slow it down as it breaks
the end of the wave in deeper water, maintains speed and passes the breaking wave, creating those awesome bowling shoulders.

I surfed Noosa in 1984/5.... it is a classic example
Big onshore mess at Alexandria Bay, would wrap around the points
and deliver smaller and smaller, clean surf as it spun around the headlands

Prevailing wind in green


surfcowboy

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Re: Weird Wrap
« Reply #5 on: July 13, 2017, 07:31:31 AM »
Great topic. I have to say, the time I spent geeking out on weather and waves (I came to surfing later in life) has paid off more than almost anything else I learned about surfing.

Keep this going, I love learning about how spots work. (Careful to only post public spots of course )

I've seen guys caught in a wash like you mention nalu. 2 dudes paddled out right across the reef and almost made it. Almost. They spent about 5 minutes bouncing over the reef. Must have felt like an hour!

PonoBill

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Re: Weird Wrap
« Reply #6 on: July 13, 2017, 07:38:40 AM »
The Portuguese Triangle at Kanaha is infamous for that. When I windsurfed there it was no man's land, unless you could go across at high speed, for exactly the reasons Nalu mentions. Fall into it and you're getting scrubbed over the reef in both directions. Now it's the edge of the channel on surfer's left for getting out to the inner reef. It still goes against my instincts and memory to paddle for it and cross part of it. I've been trapped there too often.
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stoneaxe

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Re: Weird Wrap
« Reply #7 on: July 13, 2017, 06:00:54 PM »
The really weird part about the area is the bank and how the cove at the far end acts as a lens. I've had knee high waves coming from out of Warren cove on an otherwise just mildly choppy day....and it's happened a few times....how do waves come out of a cove 2 miles away when any wind is against them? I've only seen it on days when its choppy out of the NNE. I'm pretty sure it has to be the cove focusing the energy.
« Last Edit: July 13, 2017, 06:02:26 PM by stoneaxe »
Bob

8-4 Vec, 9-0 SouthCounty, 9-8 Starboard, 10-4 Foote Triton, 10-6 C4, 12-6 Starboard, 14-0 Vec (babysitting the 18-0 Speedboard) Ke Nalu Molokai, Ke Nalu Maliko, Ke Nalu Wiki Ke Nalu Konihi

 


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