surfing and wave sailing

Hay there Fat Paul, I hope you got some great waves today. We have had some great surf conditions lately but we are in for a flat period I'm afraid. Work and home chores should fill the void till mid week when we are scheduled to get another bump. I'm keeping my fingers crossed about that.

I got some great waves today..Just kidding, that was years ago..Damn it, Puerto is really calling my name these days..

Sick Christian! Is that you in that barrel?

Thanks Olaf! That's me, though I have no way of proving it hehheh

Christian,If you say it's you then,IT'S YOU DUDE! Great shot! It is soo flat here at the moment and nothing of any significance forcasted.That could change but I'm not holding my breath. I am going climbing in Colorado in about a week. I'm so stoked!I'm depending on my bros to do the leading since my leg is untested in that arena but it will be great to get some air under my butt and pull on some holds.

So, am I the only one that's been surfing lately? I think 'NOT' So post up Dudes!

Below is y'day's surf report for where I live in NJ. Not much surfing going on here. Cold and rainy for the last 2 weeks...

June 11th, 2009
Surf is less than knee/knee hi. Wind ENE 8 going ESE 5-10 later. Hi 11:10 Low 5:01. Water temp 60 degrees. Winds expected to increase some later and go SW tomorrow. A small wave is poss Fri/Sat.

Hey Ryan, go climbing! Weather looks good for Saturday here in the Jerz.

I'm currently in Scotland and I had high expectations for surfing here, even though winter is supposedly their best season. We stayed for two weeks in the Southeast where surf comes in from the North Sea, but it was completely flat the entire time. We then traveled across the country out to the far western isles (Harris and Lewis) in hopes of finding good surf, as they have direct exposure to the Atlantic. I watched three days of perfect shoulder high waves before I could track down a rental board (not exactly a lot of surfers here!), only to have the swell disappear as soon as I found one. There was still a bit coming down from the north so I've been able to get a couple of decent days of knee to waist waves in choppy and windy conditions. But hey, I live in Colorado so any wave is better than what I have at home!

Sort of a crazy feeling to paddle out alone, enveloped in a thick wetsuit, to completely deserted and unknown breaks. There aren't even people on the beaches, which honestly look like the Caribbean. The islands themselves sort of give me the heebie jeebies though, very isolated and close-knit culture with a strong vein of pagan-laced Christian fundamentalism. It's like stepping back in time hundreds of years.

We actually bailed early to the area around Ben Nevis, which has absolutely fantastic climbing. Definitely is making up for my surfing disappointments. Surfing is a tough sport for the impatient!

HIGH SURF ADVISORY FOR SOUTH FACING SHORES

Surf along south facing shores will be 6 to 9 feet through Monday.

Surf along east facing shores will be 2 to 4 feet through Monday.

Surf along west facing shores will be 4 to 6 feet through Monday.

Surf along north facing shores will be 2 feet or less through Monday.

Outlook through Saturday Jun 20: a series of south and southeast swells will keep the surf elevated along south facing shores through the week.

We just had a GREAT south swell event!
I surfed 12 days in a row.
The waves over head or better most of the days(one day there were sets that approached double over head).
We were blessed with very little wind.
It was often glassy smooth.
The water had the texture of a layer of oil on the surface and was clear enough that I could actually see the reef 6' below.
There was no wet suit needed since the water is the temperature of a bath over there.
The awesome south shore of Maui land scape and the sunsets that no camera could do justice made the most ideal setting imaginable.
There were waves at every spot that had southern exposure with very little island blockage from the Big Island.
The surfers were spread out with out giant crowds.(except at dawn patrol).
I surfed with a lot of friendly people at "Woody's" my favorite spot on the south side every day.
There was often only a hand full of us at the peak at any one time mid-day that is.
Everyone got a lot of dynamic rides and there was mega Aloha from everyone.
Looking at the ocean from my house I see that there's a north swell today.
I'm hoping to have an out of season wave sailing sesh at Kuau today (fingers crossed?)
The wave models for the north Pacific indicate that the next south swell should arrive the middle of next week.

Olaf I'm gonna have to come out there and visit you.

Didn't even know Maui had South Shore surfing, always think of Ala Mo, Kaisers, etc.. on Oahu when I hear "South Shore"

I'll be surfing again in a couple of weeks after a two year LOA, based on that gotta figure out whether to plan a surf trip for the end of the summer (not sure if Puerto or somewhere more exotic like Micronesia..)

Something to keep the stoke going (sorry I'm a bit of a narcissist heehee..)

Christian,That's a great image of you on a spectacular wave!
The reason no one thinks of Maui as a south swell destination is it isn't near as dependable as Oahu on account of Big Island blocking the train of waves that should be getting in here.
We are typically a foot smaller here as well.
But, we get a share of the good stuff as it passes through.
If you try to get out and surf a lot you wind up getting a lot of great waves.

BTW : thanks for posting

Yeah not only the early bird gets the worm on the dawn patrol but sometimes in the late afternoon..

The wind switches to straight offshore and all of a sudden you're getting barreled with few people out...good memories

That's what I'm talking about!

After that phenomenal south swell event, we had an out of season north swell. It was liken to one of our famous winter swells. All of the gang came out and everybody expressed them selves splendidly. This was just a one day event, but, our strong trade winds took a slightly different direction creating a train of waves with a fetch that hit the Hookipa corridor producing a delightful 4 days of over head to logo high perfectly smackable waves.Five days in a row of classic summer wave sailing following the dozen days of surfing has worn me down. We have a new south swell in that"s registering at advisory levels on Oahu. I drove over to the south west side to check it out yesterday only to find the lowest tide that I had ever seen. There was so much exposed reef that the square acreage on Maui was exponentially incresed. We didn't want to wait for the tide to change so we didn't surf. I am hoping that today will be another story all together.

North swells in June wow

How's this for a long tube ride?

surfline.com/surflinetv/six…

Christian,That is one sick barrel! It has to be,Indo?
Yesterday afternoon/evening,I surfed smooth head high and better summer south swell waves to the back drop of an unbelievable Lahaina sunset!
On my way home,right at dark, "The Toilet Bowl"(very shallow surf break thats right on the road) was firing stand up barrels at high tide. I had to pull over and watch for a set or two. There were 4 guys out and they were literally eating it for dinner! So cool!
I'm going back over there this afternoon. I hope that the tides and wind will be favorable and the line up small and friendly!

Sounds like what we are seeing in NJ today - NOT! Guess I'll go fishing.

June 29th, 2009
Surf is flat/less than knee hi. Wind SW 5-10. Low 8:10 Hi 2:28. Water mid/upper 60’s.

I met one of the friendliest wave snakes that I have yet to come across while surfing at "Woodys" yesterday. If there had been more than the two of us out I could have tossed some attitude at him BUT he literally paddled(his Laird SUP) for every wave whether he was at the peak or not.
I tried the friendly/aloha tactict. I just sat and didn't even paddle for several waves that by rights were mine due to my possissition on the peak. I just watched with a look of amazement as he drooped in on waves that he was totally out of posisition for. When he paddled back he had the air of he was putting on a show for me and that since I was enjoying watching him surf so much he would just keep doing it. He just didn't get my gesture and continued dropping in on most of my waves. He then commented on how much fun he was having sharing waves with me. You know,like we were old buddy's.
The guy was a fairly good surfer and I'm sure that he knew exactly what he was up to. I am also sure that he conducts every aspect of his life with the same regard for others.(driving in traffic,lines at the theater,restaurants,restrooms,etc!) Oh,did I mention he was a real big guy too!
Enough ranting already!
In spite of that small nascence I got had a bunch of shoulder to head high rights. There was a slight on-shore breeze giving the water a visibly less attractive appearance that contributed to the absence of others in the line up. The sets had three waves in them so the first was bumpy but the following two were smooth. Later the wind shut down completely for a glassy sunset expression session with only three others out.

I thought that I would share Pat Caldwell's wave forecast for the 4th. of July weekend. I would say, "get over here"!

Outlook through Monday July 6: the current south swell continues to slowly fade. Forerunners from a fresh south swell are still expected to arrive today giving surf a boost in consistency later this afternoon. Overall surf will be in the chest to head high range today building to overhead Wednesday, possibly hitting advisory levels of 8 feet. Another round of south swell begins to fill in Thursday and will likely exceed advisory levels Friday and Saturday. The biggest sets will likely reach the double overhead range with some larger sets sneaking through, or roughly 10 to 12 feet. Variable amounts of south swell will wrap into adjacent east and west facing shores over the days to follow. North facing shores will be flat.