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BILLABONG PRO TAHITI: DAY FOUR
Small surf at Teahupoo causes third consecutive layday; Slater and Drollett score secret right tubes
After three days of little-to-no surf out at the End of the Road, things have started to slow down a bit. When asked what was going on, CJ Hobgood was candid: "Getting fat," he laughed. "Other than that, nothing."
ASP tour vet Tom Whitaker has had to deal with this kind of holding pattern before. "I guess the hard part is switching off and staying relaxed then having to switch back on," he explains. "The thunder-like noises that come from the reef are generally a good trigger that it's time to switch back on."
Kelly, for his part, is keeping busy, surfing a fun secret reefbreak with local charger Manoa Drollett. And while the rest of us are waiting for those "thunder-like" noises to come from the reef -- see Surfline's offical forecast below -- what follows are a few images from paradise.
SURFLINE'S OFFICIAL BILLABONG PRO TAHITI FORECAST, 5/12
by Kevin Wallis
WEDNESDAY 13th
SWELL/SURF: SW swell fades through the day, with SE swell building and becoming the more dominant swell. Surf is in the head high to a couple feet+ overhead range, and occasionally larger.
WIND/CONDITIONS: ESE 8-15kts.
THURSDAY 14th
SWELL/SURF: Mid period SE swell remains up. Surf continues to run from head high to a couple feet overhead on the larger sets. A touch of new SW swell starts to gradually build by the evening.
WIND/CONDITIONS: E/ENE 8-15kts.
FRIDAY 15th
SWELL/SURF: SE swell holds to gradually fades, with small SW swell building. At this point it appears that surf will stay in the head high to a couple feet overhead range.
WIND/CONDITIONS: ENE/NE 8-14kts.
SATURDAY 16th
SWELL/SURF: Mid period SE/ESE swell eases and mixes with modest SW swell leftovers. Surf runs from head high to slightly overhead on the larger waves.
WIND/CONDITIONS: Possible unstable weather returning but wind looks light at this time: light/variable to light NW, generally below 10kts.
SUNDAY 17th
SWELL/SURF: Lingering, but smaller/fading, SE/ESE swell with head high/slightly overhead surf. Small SW swell running in the morning, with a possible new SW swell starting to pick up late.
WIND/CONDITIONS: Possible onshore wind out of the SSW/SW around 10kts.
DISCUSSION & LONG RANGE FORECAST
Medium size Southeast swell (125-140) will build in further on Wednesday and basically stay up through the end of the week. This run of swell will offer surf in the head high to a couple feet overhead range and possibly a little better at times. These waves will have a tendency to run down the reef quite a bit (versus really bowling up), with the barrels pinching more than what we'd see with southwest swell. It looks like we could see a brief fade in SE/ESE swell by Saturday through Sunday morning, before potentially rebuilding later Sunday and Monday the 17th-18th.
We'll also see a fading SW swell (230-245) on Wednesday. The morning will hours will still offer decent size surf with waves running from shoulder high to slightly overhead, but dying through the day.
A second bump of SW swell (235-245) will build in for Friday and Saturday. The better waves from this swell will be in the head high range or so.
Things now look a little more promising in the long range and for the end of the waiting period. It appears that a new SW swell (210-220) will build in late Sunday afternoon/evening, will be strongest on Monday and then ease by Tuesday. This will be from a storm expected to develop about 1200 miles southwest of Tahiti this weekend. If the storm behaves as currently forecast, overhead/overhead+ surf could result. It appears that we'll see more Southeast swell rebuild by late Sunday and Monday as well, similar in size to what we're expecting for the next couple days. We'll have more details on both of these potential swells in the next couple days
Wind/Weather: Easterly flow should return for the next couple days, gradually shifting from ESE on Wednesday to ENE/NE Thursday and Friday.
By the weekend it appears that unstable wind/weather will return for the weekend. For Saturday wind looks generally light/variable to perhaps light out of the northwest (at this time). More of a south/southwest flow then takes over Sunday, before SE flow briefly returns for Monday. This will depend on how a storm near Tahiti evolves over the weekend.
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May 12, 2009
