Surfers should enjoy good rides all weekend
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
The waves were rolling in on all shores yesterday, and forecasters said excellent riding waves should remain all weekend.
National Weather Service lead forecaster Roy Matsuda said an 8-foot-wave advisory for O'ahu's windward shore was canceled yesterday morning at 9.
"It kind of died out," he said. "The trades died down with it."
Still, windward shores on O'ahu, as well as southern and leeward shores, were all receiving high wave faces in the 5- to 6-foot range. Waves for windward and leeward shores were expected to decrease to the 2- to 4-foot level today, with the southern shore dropping to the 3- to 5-foot level.
A larger-than-usual number of North Shore surfers were enjoying ridable waves with faces in the 7- to 10-foot range from Hale'iwa to Pipeline yesterday, and forecasters were predicting similar conditions, with wave heights diminishing to 4 to 6 feet today.
"It's a public holiday weekend, so you've got tons of people on the beach," said Capt. Bodo Van Der Leeden of the city's Ocean Safety/Lifeguard Division yesterday. "There's been about a dozen rescues so far, but nothing has turned out to be major.
"It's going to stretch out nicely for the next couple of days, according to the weather service. There will be slowly decreasing surf over the weekend."
Matsuda said a west-northwest swell would probably produce surf above the high-surf advisory level of 15 feet for the North Shore and 12 feet for leeward shores Wednesday night.
Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.