Watch: Best Ever Ma'alaea
Last week's Code Red swell at Teahupoo had an incredible second act when it hit the south-facing shores of the Hawaiian Islands.
The most impressive session was at Ma'alaea, that fabled righthander tucked deep inside Ma'alaea Bay on the predominantly waveless southwest coast of Maui. To reach the reef, swell lines require Skywalker-level accuracy to split the narrow gap between Maui's south coast and the island of Kaho'olawe, plus the remains of the Malakini Crater that rises stubbornly between the two.
Ma'alaea breaks, at best, every second year and rarely gets above four to five feet. So infrequent is it that Kai Lenny, who lives on Maui, has never surfed 'real' Ma'alaea.
When the storm was forming, this swell appeared on track to meet the four foot ceiling, however post-storm analysis by Stormsurf showed a significant undercall by wave models with the upshot of more energy expected to make landfall once the waves travelled the 8,000kms across the Pacific then pierced the mere 11km gap into Ma'alaea Bay.
As the video below shows, the size did indeed come in larger than expected with Kai getting his first taste of the freight train, plus many other surfers jagging incredible waves.
Comments
Crazy, you know it's a steep, late take-off when it looks like that on Go-Pro which usually flattens things out.
I can magically make all the ads go away, but it'll cost you $2 a week.
https://www.swellnet.com/pro/subscribe/chooseplan
Jobs done.
hahahaha
hahahaha
A swell for the ages - Ma'alaea never gets that big!
Looking at the map I thought that the swell might have come through on the western side of Kaho'olawe as it'd probably have a bit of W in it.
Or was it a dead S swell? If so that is a crazy small gap.
Edit - Looked again and see NZ probably prevents any W being in the swell so it must be between the island and the crater. Can't believe the lines are so solid still after passing through that gap!
No music. No skis. Just raw froth. Clip of the year.
Best clip in ages, what a wave.
reckon. finally something to watch that wasn't mostly a pile of fucking bullshit
Incredible scenario. Barrel of a lifetime and someone ditches a boogie board.
A boogie board! What on Earth are people doing out there if they can't duckdive one of them?
Not only that, but if he somehow dodged the lid, then another ten metres down the line was a Wavestorm waiting to kneecap him.
They are all tryin to get a shot for instagram of course mate ! The surfer probably posted, on his story before he surfed. Typical scenario, wondering why it's so crowded? all trying to out do each other with the most likes etc.
Why are those people out there should be some sort of filter for those not up to it.
Unbelievable wave, but pity about the devil wind.
A LongTwin Torren Martyn and this Place at this Size.
The clip above shows that the masters of fast inside takeoffs have an almost empty line up. But it can still go wrong...
One of my early copies of Surfer Magazine had a story on a similar day in the early 70s. Popular and crowded even then. Owl Chapman was full speed on one set wave and some paddler punching through the lip left the tail of his board sticking out in his path which hit him at full speed right in the mouth. I think the quote was something like "It hit me in the chops. Man, I wish that guy had not been there".
https://www.flickr.com/photos/inter-island_helicopters/35050922511
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Some Classic Owl
When I was 22 "I had a Cadillac, ten surfboards and ten girlfriends. Man, I thought it would be like that forever."
Always wondered what Owl looked like.
Wow, wonder how they knew a swell was coming back then!
That brief quote and you’re wondering about forecasting. I’m getting in the gutter. Where’s Groundswell when you need him
Haha, well such a super fickle spot, to be busy back in the 70's where it might turn on for a day. Fascinating.
Also the quote and photo are also epic.
They flew in for the day (Owl and Sammy Hawk) - maybe saw the south shore was huge and building so just went with a photographer. Strike missions like that are commonplace now but not then.
They did it for Honolua Bay as well in the 70s. Perfection has always been pursued.
I remember another Owl quote at the time (yelling from car is my recollection to unknown Australian author) "you tell Rabbit no way is Kirra close to Maalaea! not fucking close!".
Thought i was back in Sunday school....images of these waves in my head all class and hearing God's name so many times!!
hawaiian kirra!
Insane! Is it 1000kts offshore there every day of the year?
Give or take. Watching a wind surfing clip on Maui. It’s the windiest island for some reason.
Venturi effect - NE tradewinds squeezed between Haleakala on one side (east) and the West Maui mountains on the other side - wind goes through the middle and accelerates.
Yep, at this time of year. Great for kite surfing, wind surfing and there are plenty of waves to be surfed with a bit of protection to.
Pumping! How good is it out on days like that, so raw and electric.
I’ve been seeing that spot pop up in the media as long as I can remember,it always has that strong offshore but I guess without it it’s just too fast.
Wasn’t that Low basically the same thing that was an ECL on the east coast 2 weeks ago that then smashed into NZ?
Wow, yes great spotting.
Actually I take that back, seperate systems.
The storm was south of Tahiti as the Tasman Low was still sitting across the Tasman Sea.
Last Monday, the 11th..
Almost gave you another article!
I was typing it out in my head as I was checking. Damn,
Bummer, I love a system that ends up sending swells to a range of coasts would have been a good read.
A query around SAM though - it’s been negative since the end of that SSW swell in June and like clock work we’ve had a bunch of lows in the Tasman with SAM being positive. Forecast to go negative and we have S swell (albeit with E as well) in the water so it’s obviously a fairly good predictor of swell direction in the Tasman sea.
Yet a massive system springs up just to the east of NZ at the same time (I get there is some randomness to everything). So does SAM only really affect this part of the world? Or does it somehow affect South America and Africa as well, if so how?
It's actually been positive since that June negative..
And it's a Southern Hemisphere index, but more Australian centric I think regarding the obs that go into it (will have to check).
I feel the SAM isn't always the best gauge as it depends where the LWT is focussed even when the SAM is negative. If over towards West Oz, they get all the fronts, but if Vicco or east, the south-east of the country does.
Sorry, I meant positive. Interested to see what you come back with.
How is that long area of fetch pointing straight North? HUGE!!!
Tanners wave is incredible
Sick clip
The very memorable photo of Owl Chapman at Ma'alaea was this one.
It’s a lot smaller wave than those in the featured clip, but it’s still a great shot.
Going on memory again of the Surfer story from the 70s (read that mag many times), I think Owl commented in the original article: "I've got a lot of beer in me there"
Fantastic clip. It's real. Love the sound of the wind, the crowd hooting, the waves crashing, the speed of the waves in real time - feels like being there in the carpark. So much prefer this style, compared to the slowed down clips, which fail to convey any sense of reality. No more slow mo!
Everything about this clip and thread is gold. What a wave.
Not the same, but evokes horror offshore North Point days for mine, just longer.
Is it over a sand bottom?
It's coral and it's very shallow (it rarely gets wave energy to subdue growth)
That swell looks a bit more comparable to Kirra.
This recent one is insane.
Say what you like about Hawaiian's surfing, but they have nailed the glue foot stance.
Heard from a local, the last time it broke this well was17 years ago.
Not one claim yyeww
Nebulous in my memory is the name Maalaea Bay, "the fastest wave in the world". Mentioned rarely but in a hallowed tone by surf writers and captioned the same way by editors. Amazing to see a day for the history books almost live.
I can't believe how narrow the gap within the islands is!!! Must have been monster big on those outer islands.
https://hanahou.com/8.2/the-blue-moon-break
https://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/entry/maalaea-saved
http://public.surfrider.org/files/maalaea_makingwaves1990.pdf
Mike Stewart still rocking it. Legend.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/18/hawaii-waves-swell-south...
front row property got worked
Looks like a tricky wave - with all that wind you want a decent sized gun to get into it early, but then you would prefer a shorter board to pump in the barrel. Hypothetically, what would you ride out there?
You can ride whatever. There's some longboarders making waves on video, Some boogers too.
Looks like the deepest riders had boards a bit longer than a short board.
My choice ; is about 6"8 - 7"6 ,
desert storm, multi fin.
Albee Layer on getting burned twice during makeable deep barrels...
Not a chance he was making that second one
And while we're on insta, Ian Walsh with a very nice pit
Looks just like the old photos. Was gonna say..."didn't they kill that wave with some marina development...?" but thanks udo...they did not. I remember a "top ten waves in the world" article from Surfer magazine circa 1980-81 'ish. Had all the usual suspects and only one I hadn't heard of at that point...Ma'alaea. Although not easy with that wind I doubt its rideable without the very stiff offshore to hold it up.
Now that shows the crowd a lot better..looks like a hard place to get wired and once every 17-20 year swell? good luck.Even though im part bodyboarder i dont understand why someone would take off deep there and get up drop knee..too slow way too slow...if you can get to your knee you can get to your feet on a precision designed surfboard made for fast barrels.Go fast especially on a Roy Stuart which maybe made of timber measure 10 to 12 foot and weigh 90kg but they go 180km an hour!
Best POV surfing I’ve ever seen
hard day at the office
First half sponge / second half stick.