Manageable Swells; Maui Surfer Wins Punt of the Year

By Carlos Rock

Big Ho’okipa. Photo: Carlos Rock.

A decent size 6-10 foot northwest swell is hitting the islands, making the surf a little more manageable for the average surfer. Ho’okipa Beach Park is still showing some size as there are still some 10 foot sets rolling in.

When the outer reefs outside of Kanaha Beach stretching all the way to Tavares Bay are showing some whitewater, then that means the waves at Ho’okipa will have some size to it. The outer reefs protect the coastline from getting hammered by the huge swells.

However, Ho’okipa doesn’t have an outer reef so the place just gets all sizes of swell from 1 foot to 20 foot.

Today and yesterday have been the most surfable Ho’okipa has been for a week or two with a gigantic swell making the place literally unsurfable except for a few madmen willing to brave the conditions.

Enjoy it while it lasts as the swell will jump in size to the 15-25 foot range for Friday, and 15+ foot for Saturday making many spots unsurfable, and the surfable spots like Tavares bay – which does see protection from the outer reefs – extra crowded.

A decent size (10 foot) WNW swell will be on tap for Superbowl Sunday so do what you want with the day.

If you live and surf on Maui and are somewhat immersed in surfing culture, then you must have heard of Albee Layer by now. The Maui boy from Haiku has been blowing up the surfing scene with his recent exploits paddling in at Jaws.

But most recently, he won the Surfline Punt of the Year contest for pulling off the first ever 540 degree air.

Albee Layer $10,000 air. Photo: Carlos Rock.

The first one ever to do it marks his place in surfing history forever. The air is almost too much to comprehend because there are so many rotations its crazy. He did it going straight into the wind so the board would stick to his feet.

Here’s a link to the surfline interview with Albee about his victory which netted him $10,000: http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/albee-layer-wins-punt-of-the-year_91181/

This win just further solidifies the island of Maui’s place in the surfing world with the new talent leading the way in the big wave game as well as in the air.

If you can’t surf today, check out the Volcom Pipe Pro on the live webcast or on Oceanic Time Warner Cable channel 250 or 1250 HD.

There are a bunch of Maui surfers scattered throughout the event, and a good swell forecast will most likely make the event very exciting to watch, especially with the 15 foot WNW coming in tomorrow.