Strong currents in the bay, possibly enhanced by the harbor, can make the wave break faster. According to Justin Stopa, a scientist at the University of Hawaiī at Mʻanoa, the speed has a lot to do with the dramatic transition of the seafloor from deep water to shallows. Surfers ride inside the barreling wall of water, pumping their boards to keep up with the speeding wave. On the occasions when waves in Māʻalaea Bay do break, they do so with crushing speed like a freight train. (Notice the wind turbines in the image above, poised to take advantage of this so-called Venturi effect.) In Māʻalaea, located on the island’s leeward side, strong trade winds from the north are accelerated as the air is forced between the peaks of Mauna Kahālāwai (west) and Haleakalā (east). But offshore winds that are too strong can make the waves very difficult for surfers to catch. Gentle offshore winds support the wave front, helping create the smooth, steep face that surfers seek.
The strength of offshore winds also matters. The late season waves were probably influenced by Hurricane Walaka, a category-4 storm centered about 750 miles (1,200 kilometers) west of Māʻalaea. In the image above, acquired on October 3, 2018, with the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, a small amount of foam is visible near the harbor. The foam produced by breaking waves shows up in satellite images as a white band close to the shore. But the waves can lose energy along the way as they encounter numerous island chains in the South Pacific. The waves can travel thousands of miles, crossing the equator and eventually reaching Maui’s southern shore, where it is summer. The large waves, or swells, are typically generated in the southern hemisphere during winter, when large storms brew in the southern Pacific Ocean. Conditions need to be just right: namely, large waves must approach the bay from the perfect southerly direction. However, surfers suggest that the substantial, surfable break here is relatively rare. The surf break known as “Freight Trains” rips across Māʻalaea Bay on Maui’s southern shore.
Freight Trains has been called one of the fastest surfable waves in the world, while Jaws is better known for big-wave surfing. They are revered by surfers for good reason. “Freight Trains” and “Jaws” may sound like summertime blockbusters, but the names belong to two of Maui’s most iconic waves.
0 kommentar(er)
