The first video of the new Maui north shore wave season kicks off with a rare north swell in August. Prominent in the video are Robby Naish and Kevin Pritchard, including a nice shared wave between the two.
As I mentioned earlier, Kevin was super stoked about this session, as he pointed out on his blog:
“North swell in August!! That was the most fun I have had since Cabo Verde out windsdurfing. That was so much fun! What a treat to be back here and catch the perfect north swell with 4.7 wind, smooth waves and just down the line attack. Plus there was nobody out. Just Naish and me for the first hour with a couple others but we were having so much fun. I caught a wave with him and we must have hit the lip 5 times each! Too much fun. Nice to know how sweet it is to go out after a long summer of jumping and slalom racing. Makes you want to do it forever!! The other thing is it makes you never want to leave.”
Speaking of Pritchards, congratulations to Matt getting back on the water. Saw Matt out at Uppers today taking it easy, loosening up the recovering ankles. He said it was his first full hour of sailing after 6 months recovery, that it felt really good to get back on the water but that he still expects it to be a couple more months before he’s back on form.
Day 4 of our August north swell continued today with a reinforcing swell bringing in logo- and mast-high sets at Uppers. A bit bumpier at times than Saturday’s epic waves and not quite as long a rides, but still really fun. 5.0 was the call for me, well-powered. Lots of big, meaty monster waves to get the adrenaline and endorphins pumping. This swell is a NNW swell as opposed to Saturday’s north swell, which I’m guessing explains the quality difference. According to the Hawaiian Surf forecast:
“mid Monday on northern shores has moderate breakers from 340-010 degrees at 12-14 second periods. It was generated by gales near the Aleutian islands about 1500 nm away last Thursday into Friday. The system tracked steadily east. The episode should be short-lived. Buoy 51001 shows a major drop in swell energy Monday morning. Small breakers should hold on Tuesday, back to the summer minimum by mid to late Wednesday.”
So, looks like we should still get some leftovers tomorrow but then back to more typical summer wave conditions. As for wind, no rest for weary windsurfers. Looks like more trade winds are on tap through at least Saturday.
