Rare Light Winds and Big Swell This Weekend

By Carlos Rock

Hmmm, NW swell? Photo: Carlos Rock.

A great swell for the weekend and light winds will keep surfers happy until they have to go back to work on Monday.

The past week and a half has seen glassy mornings creating epic dawn patrol surf sessions if you get up early enough. For others, the afternoon session after work are just as good with light winds lasting the whole day.

It is so rare for Maui to have light winds that when it lasts for more than a week, surfers feel the need to take advantage of the glassy conditions. However, the surf has been providing as well, for now.

Unfortunately the winter surf can’t last forever as March is slowly coming to a close, and summer flatness on the north shore is looming in the distance.

The thought of that is so depressing that it’s better not to think about the inevitability of it. Surfers live their lives one swell at a time, and at the moment, there are a few still on the horizon.

Saturday is looking like it is going to be a big one with 10-20 foot faces coming from the NW and possibly some south wrap around. Big NW swells only mean one thing for some surfers with the proper knowledge of what spot breaks the best on  a huge NW.

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If you are keeping up with the professionals on the ASP world tour, then you know that the first event of the year is over and done with and ended in exciting fashion.

Kelly Slater won the first event of the year the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast by beating current world number one Joel Parkinson (AUS) in pumping, draining barrels at one of Australia’s premier surf breaks, Kirra Point.

King Kelly. Photo:ASP

The contest and the webcast was epic as viewers got to watch the pros pull into perfect barrels and get jet-skied back out to the lineup. Sounds like a dream job. When it was all said and done, Kelly Slater, the greatest surfer ever, bagged his 52nd tour victory at 41-years-old and even further cemented his legacy as the best, period.

Hawaii’s John John Florence suffered an ankle injury during the event and did not surf the rest of the contest, we wish him a speedy recovery for a full on assault on the ASP World Tour and to bring a World Title back to Hawaii.

However, if you’re not into that stuff, the waves are pretty good at Ho’okipa still with the light winds.