November Came On Like a Lion and Leaves Us...

... well, right now looking very lamb like.  It began with a giant swell that sent tow in surfers from around the globe to Jaws.  Our friend and very accomplished videographer Tormod Martinsen (also known as the "Happy Surfer") put together this video that shows the action.

Very nice Tormod! Besides that we've had plenty of action ourselves - according to Julia's handy online calender we windsurfed 16 days, surfed 7 and hiked two out of the 28 days so far. That means only five days without any on the water action. And admittedly we could have surfed and sailed more if we we're willing to drive a bit longer or sooner. For instance one day we could have sailed the spot that shall not be named on West Maui, except the wind died about ten minutes after we arrived.  But at least it was nice as you can see from this shot I took before the rain squall hit us...

And some of those windsurfing days were really great in the moderate surf we've been mostly getting.  I mean it's not like we need giant waves all the time to have a decent life here. In fact, nothing but giant waves can sometimes be trouble.  For instance, it was just one year ago when I had my biggest wipe out and swim in the huge surf that November 2009 was regularly serving up.

Now I don't have any personal videos to show you of any of this. The thing is, I purchased a new GoPro 960P (HD, just not 1080P) at the north shore clean up auction back in October.  And I'm still waiting for it to ship (hello Jake and David, I know it's in the mail, but please!).

So while I'm waiting for that, I have no videos.  However Nick Warmuth, who is my personal favorite sailor to watch at Kanaha, managed to get himself into a nice video. Unfortunately it's on FaceBook, so I can't embed and can only provide a link (and you need a FB account to see it.  Damn FaceBook!).   And as long as I'm linking to other peoples videos, I was stoked to see GP put this one together where he surfed a board at lowers that he had snapped in half and then repaired and also made the music for the video himself. See his blog for the whole story.

Julia and I also had some great surfing at lowers last week. One of the goals of our endless summer is to go well beyond the "learning to surf" phase. I'm not sure how far we can get, but if possible all the way to trying short boards. Last fall we had our costco blue "WaveStorm" boards. Those were fine for getting ourselves into the water, and since we were living right next to sandpiles at the time we had ample opportunity. Last spring we stepped up to "real" surf boards - that is 8'0 and 8'6 Elua Makani long boards. We've had some great days on these sticks, particularly at Hookipa and lowers the past few weeks.

So yesterday 2nd Wind had their huge after T-Day "Surf Saturday" all day sell-a-thon and party  (which motivated a certain individual to chug a beer to obtain a Miss Reef 2011 calender). But besides that, we also picked up a 7'7 Southpoint mini-hune (tanker) (also known as a "funboard"), which is a hybrid between short and long board. (at really great price too)

I paddled this out at Hookipa today and had a very fun day, which seems appropriate. More specifically I had better traction and control on the bigger waves, but found the paddling and catching to be only slightly more difficult than with the 8'6.  So the plan is for this to become the regular board and then, maybe at some point later, try a true short board.

So back to the November being a lamb thing.  Right now it's looking like small to moderate surf at best for most of the week, with some possible rain, and no wind for a few days.  That might sound bleak, but the trades are supposed to fill in by Wednesday which is about when the next swell arrives and builds into Friday and the rain is likely to be pushed south of the islands by the building trade high.  Also I can't complain too much when I see forecasts like this (for Hood River) ...

Overnight: Areas of freezing fog. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 24. Light west wind.

Monday: Snow likely after 4pm. Areas of freezing fog before 10am. Snow level 300 feet. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 33. Calm wind becoming east around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.

Monday Night: Snow likely before 10pm, then snow, possibly mixed with freezing rain. Low around 27. East wind between 5 and 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

Tuesday: Rain, possibly mixed with freezing rain before 4pm, then snow, possibly mixed with freezing rain. Snow level 300 feet rising to 1500 feet. High near 27. East wind between 3 and 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

Tuesday Night: Snow, possibly mixed with freezing rain before 10pm, then rain likely. Snow level 200 feet rising to 1500 feet. Low around 27. East wind around 5 mph becoming west. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.

Oh yeah, no complaints! And besides all that, the weather models ,which I can now pick up from my own page, show decent fetch  potential setting up over the weekend, which would bring better surf here by next week. Way too earlier to get excited, but at least we got that going for us.

Next I wanted to show what the Maui version of a family mini-van looks like, when all the kids are in place.

And finally, two pictures from the big day of feasting.  As we were leaving our neighborhood, we were very thankful to see the friendly neighborhood rainbow putting on a show.

We got to Kula just as the sun was setting.  The view from up there, looking over the entire central valley, south Maui, the west Maui mountains, with Lanai in the distance, is so awesome.  I barely had time to park the car, grab the camera, and run through the ohana and onto the deck and take this shot as the sun sank below the horizon.  I think the effort was worth it. Hope you do too.  Aloha!