Jamin Jones: Big NE Swell

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Big NE Swell

Over the past few days on Maui we've had a strong high pressure cell situated far to the north combined with an upper level low that has more or less settled over the islands. Upstream - meaning to our NE - enough gale force wind was generated by this pattern to produce a very large NE swell.

This is an unusual direction for large waves around here and the period was on the short side - not so good for surfing at the usual north shore spots like Hookipa. Also there has been no wind the last two days so windsurfing isn't happening either.

But that's not to say there isn't any rideable surf on the island. Some beaches pick and in fact amplify this swell direction nicely - just not the regular ones. Now we happen to be staying in a house in Waiehu near a local surf spot know as "sand piles".

Waiehu on a nice calm day

This can be a fun spot even for beginners like us, but today it was mostly closed out in the chaotic surf. We were checking out the surf in our binocs when we scanned south toward the Kahului harbor, and it was like "OMG!". Not only could we see big swells rolling into and crashing onto the jetty down there, but on the outside reefs we could see jet skis and tow-in surfers catching huge waves. So we jumped in our car to get a closer look. Turns out that Dave Kalama, Robby Naish, and Kai Lenny were all out there at that time.

We climbed down onto the jetty and I took a bunch of shots with my tiny (its all I have right now) but handy Canon SD800 pocket P&S.

Getting as close as I could to the crashing waves ...

I experienced a bit of vertigo. Which inspired me to show these pictures as a movie combined with the appropriate music. At the end of this video you will see some tow in surfing right in the mouth of the harbor, including Kai Lenny catching a final really large wave into the harbor.