Maui Chargers Feast on Waves During Thanksgiving Weekend
Thanksgiving weekend has become synonymous with waves in my mind, so it came as no surprise that the ocean roared to life in Hawaii this past weekend. What was surprising, though, was how big the swell was.
For a week leading up to Thanksgiving, the models bounced around showing both swell and favorable winds but nothing necessarily in the XXL category. But on Thanksgiving morning, the outer buoy numbers were huge, almost confusingly so. The swell was significantly over-performing the models, and while sitting at the Volcom house at Pipeline on Thanksgiving day, we watched as the swell started filtering in.
The outer reefs were likely magnets to the new energy quickly growing and sucking in the swell. By dark it was clear by the massive buoy readings (Northwestern Hawaii Buoy One recording 26.2ft @ 19 seconds) and near wash-throughs at Pipeline that a trip to Maui would be the best bet. Between Jaws and Honolulu Bay, Maui has multiple breaks that can handle a swell of this magnitude. Here’s how it looked on Black Friday.
‘Baby' Steve Roberson on one of the waves of the day. This was his first wave, and although it was a touch smaller than his second one (yes, you read that correctly), it was still absolutely massive and photographed so beautifully with clear skies and no mist from the previous wave.
Ryan "Chachi": Craig
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