Category: Maui Surf
The National Weather Service has issued a high surf warning for the North Shore of the Hawaiian Islands. Waves are predicted to rise rapidly overnight with wave faces reaching 20-30 feet at select surf breaks and along the outer reefs. These conditions are expected to persist into Friday.
On days like tomorrow, some of the island’s best surfers will test their skills at breaks like Jaws along the cliffs of Haiku. Ocean conditions like this make for great spectating. However, people should not venture out in these conditions unless they are experienced and highly skilled. Be safe and enjoy nature’s great spectacle!
The North Pacific has been very active over the last week spinning a series of low pressure systems towards Maui and the rest of the Hawaiian islands. These weather conditions have brought much needed rains, gusty winds and very large surf. The National Weather Service issued a high surf warning today for the North Shores of the Hawaiian Islands with waves running between twenty and thirty feet. The source of the waves was pretty close to the islands. The shorter travel distance made the waves a little unruly. I took the opportunity to duck out of the office and watch the surf first hand. This is one of the bigger swells I have seen over the last couple of years. Walls of whitewater crashed towards the shore from the outer reefs, salt was thick in the air and the ocean provided a steady sound of thunder. I did not have the opportunity to make it all the way out to Haiku to watch Jaws, but I did hear that there were surfers out and the waves were pretty big even by Jaws standards. If I see any good pictures or video from today’s action, I will post links to them on the blog.
This week has seen our first legitimate high surf advisories of the year. Waves along the North Shore of Maui have been pushing 15 foot plus face sizes over the last couple of days due to a couple of different swells. Today a new swell arrived from a bigger storm closing out most surf breaks. The waves are expected to continue over Thanksgiving and may reach High Surf Warning Status by Friday. High Surf Warnings mean wave faces of 25 feet or more can be expected at selected reefs. Depending on wind conditions, you may this may mean the first real Jaws swell of the season. Jaws is the world renowned surf break located off the cliffs of Haiku. It is widely acknowledged as one of the biggest waves on the planet with wave faces in excess of 80 feet reported. While we won’t see wave heights on that scale over the next few days, the conditions are experts only. These waves generally are not attempted by traditional means. Instead, wave riders have to be towed in behind jet skis to reach the speeds necessary to catch the fast moving walls of water. These conditions are way over the head of Billy and myself literally and figuratively. That being said, we both enjoy the spectacle of these waves and the excitement that they bring to our side of the island.
A new North/Northwest swell will start to grace the Hawaiian islands overnight. The surf may come close to the threshold of 15 foot faces that warrants a high surf advisory. Typically, we experience our first advisory sometime in late September. However, we have yet to have large advisory size waves hit our North Shores this season as of the 13th of November. This is approaching three standard deviations from the statistical norm. Smaller surf conditions are somewhat typical for a La Nina year such as this one. While the waves have been smaller by Hawaiian standards, the ocean is still quite powerful. Beach goers along northern shores should exercise caution as the surf comes up tomorrow. For more experienced water people, enjoy the waves. Whether it hits advisory level or not, this is likely to be the biggest swell to date for our winter surf season.
The north shores of the Hawaiian Islands are renowned world wide for their large surf. During the winter months, surf heights commonly range between 10 and 15 feet. A few times each winter, the waves will reach heights in excess of 50 feet at selected off shore reefs. Summers along this stretch of coast line are another matter. Waves are few and far between and much of the time the waters offshore look like a lake. Around the first of September, a sense of anticipation builds among island wave riders. They know the surf season is not too far away. We are just starting to see the first signs of activity along the North Shore with a series of small swells forecast for the next week. While these small swells are a far cry from the giant surf we can expect later in the season, it is an exciting harbinger for larger surf just around the corner.
In a recent post on this blog, I discussed the growth of stand up paddling since we first started posting on the sport three years ago. This year in particular has seen significant growth. The Hennessy Stand Up Paddle Race held this last Sunday along the North Shore of Maui is a prime example of the growth and evolution of the sport. Last year there were roughly 30 entrants while this year there were 69 participants in the stand up class. While all of the 2006 stand up entrants were lumped together, this year there were three classifications for the stand up paddle participants including unlimited with rudder, unlimited and then a stock under 12 foot category. In 2006, I was impressed that stand up paddlers were able to keep pace with current world champion paddle boarder Jamie Mitchell, this year’s stand up paddle winner Dave Kalama not only kept pace, but he ended up winning the event by a solid 6 plus minutes. The second place finisher also outpaced the paddle boarders. It will be interesting to see the sport continue to evolve and grow in the future.
Click Here for the Stand Up Results for the 2007 Hennessy International Paddleboard Championships.