Winter Reflection, and One Last Swell?

By Carlos Rock

Honolua Bay winter dreaming. Photo: Carlos Rock

Well that was it. The winter season is apparently over and done with.

And as you take some time to reflect on all of the memorable rides that you had from epic swell after epic swell, also take the time to acknowledge how lucky you really are that you even get to surf in the first place.

The 2012-2013 winter season was great. A slow start to begin with, but once January rolled around, it was just epic swell after epic swell.

Tons of big northwest swells kept surfers on Maui happy all winter long. It was possible to surf every single day at Ho’okipa which is expected during the winter months.

There were a few straight north swells that lit up certain spots and kept things interesting. There were also great runs of Kona winds and light winds coupled with awesome swells making epic conditions.

In other words, your surfing should have progressed exponentially with all of the opportunities to surf your brains out.

Did you accomplish your goals? Did you stomp that air? Get spit out of a barrel? Gain more confidence in your surfing?

Pipeline. Photo: Carlos Rock

Did you break your favorite board? Did you snap your leash at maxing Ho’okipa and have to swim in with 10 feet of whitewater? Did you get that perfect set wave out at Honolua Bay?

Hopefully you did because those are all highlights worthy of an epic winter.

However, there may still be one last swell out on the horizon set to come in on Saturday.

A decent 5- to 9-foot west-northwest might be the last swell of the winter season. However, since Maui suffers from blockage by other islands, west swells don’t really reach their full potential here on the Valley Isle.

Surfers might be lucky to see waves half the size at the north shore’s top spots, but that’s not likely.

Honolua Bay firing again. Photo: Carlos Rock

The south Pacific should start kicking into gear and churning out south swells while Maui surfers recover and try to make sense of what happened over the last 6 1/2 months of winter. Get ready for some south swells Hawaii, because if the summer is anything like the winter, it could be an epic summer as well.

Here are a couple more pictorial highlights from around the island from the past winter.

Enjoy.

Merry Christmas. Photo: Carlos Rock

Light winds at Ho’okipa. Photo: Carlos Rock