What a winter, the swells just keep coming every day. So it's sure to say we have a different year this year. An El nino year. Which means on Maui, that the low pressures just keep passing by rather close. In other words, a winter ( dec/ jan) with lot's of waves and little trade winds.
Take a look at this North Pacific swell forcast. One train of waves after the other. This is what it looks like in 36 hours. Dark red is 48 feet swell, orange 18 feet and green 7. The little dots in the right corner are the Hawaiian islands.
Now that means we had very little windsurfing lately but lot's of surfing, stand up paddeling and tow in. Hookipa looks often like this, closing out and to big to surf.
Lanes on a beautifull glassy morning.
This year I will keep a small waterman dairy. In short what the water action was for each day of this year. After a year we will add up all the numbers and see
Jan 1 - Stand up session Lanes, head high
Jan 2 -Stand up session Kanaha shoulder high
Jan 3 -Windsurfing Kona winds in Lanes, wasn't very big but the waves were very good
Jan 5 - Tow in training session head high, early morning until the Kona winds picked up to strong
Jan 6 - Tow in session, mast high outer reef sprecks.
So the last days I pick up tow-in again. I found a new partner with a jet ski. So we have been out on a training session on Tuesday to see how we work together. Tow in is all about your partner. He is the one putting you in the right position on the wave and he is the one picking you up, just in time before the next bomb drops on you. An exciting and thrilling part is driving the jetski. which is actually harder than surfing the wave itself. For example you have about 15 seconds to pick up your partner after a wave. You are coming from behind the wave , find him, go to him at full speed, slow down just in time , swing the ski around so he can climb on the rescue sled and then get the hell out becuase the next wave is about to break right on your head. Today we went for an other session it was a lot bigger and the Kona winds stayed away for 3 hours. We went to outer sprecks were I had a few exciting rides and a few swims. Sorry no pictures.
But here are a few images of Peahi ( JAWS) last week.
I will be back soon with more.
Aloha
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