Maldives surf trip...

[spork]

yes the pic is correct. 3 days ago a fire broke out about 4am and destroyed 16 water villas. 4 people where injured- a Brazilian woman a chinese national and an 8yr old boy and a local worker. None was seriously injured. the resort is open and working as normal, albeit with 16 less rooms!

[ccdave]

Fortunately we are booked into beach villa's at Lohi's. I was going to get an upgrade in the water villas for a few nights for the misses' birthday, guess that's out of the question!!!
What am Im going to do now?? Taking her surfing will have to suffice.

[swvic]

Bummer for the injured, the resort operators and your wife, but possibly 16 less surfers. Bonus. Mum always told me to look on the bright side

[spork]

Not many surfers use the overwater villas as is is a bit of a treck to lohis from there, especially as they dont have a pushies any more. I would still go an upgrade option as there are still heaps of undamaged rooms, yur misses will love em! They gave us two free nights the last couple of times we went. The water villas are a step up from the beach ones and the breakfast menu is great in the overwater restuarant. Im back there sept 22 and taking heaps of camera gear, including my new video camera with water housing. We plan to take stills from the deck and video in the water at the same time. Should be a lot of fun.

[swvic]

Seems you just about live there, spork. Lucky bastard

[spork]

Nah, just love the lefts, lohis and chickens, unfortunately the other left at honkeys has never been working when i go. They rekon its a mad wave when its on, maybe this year. This is my 7th time! BTW, I book as a non surfer and pay for the boat when i feel like a change, it saved me $980 this year.

[Donweather]

CCDave, here's my latest thoughts. Get stuck into it big time in your first week!!!

Sun 28/7
Inconsistent 5-6ft SE swell with the upper end of this size at the super exposed south swell magnets.
Mon 29/7
Inconsistent 4-5ft+ SE swell with the upper end of this size at the super exposed south swell magnets. Swell waning slightly throughout the day.
Tues 30/7
New pulse of inconsistent 5-6ft SE swell with the upper end of this size at the super exposed south swell magnets.
Wed 31/7
Inconsistent 5-6ft SE swell with the upper end of this size at the super exposed south swell magnets. Swell waning throughout the afternoon.
Thurs 1/8
Inconsistent 4-5ft+ SE swell with the upper end of this size at the super exposed south swell magnets. Swell waning slightly throughout the day.
Fri 2/8
Inconsistent 3-4ft+ SE swell with the upper end of this size at the super exposed south swell magnets. Swell waning slightly throughout the day.
Sat 3/8
Inconsistent 3-4ft SE swell with the upper end of this size at the super exposed south swell magnets. Swell waning throughout the day.
Sun 4/8
Small 2-3ft+ SE swell with the upper end of this size at the super exposed south swell magnets. Outside chance of some similar sized, but very inconsistent but more powerful SW/S groundswell arriving very late in the day, but only at the super exposed south swell magnets.
Mon 5/8*
Small 2-3ft SE swell with the upper end of this size at the super exposed south swell magnets. Outside chance of some similar sized, but very inconsistent but more powerful SW/S groundswell, but only at the super exposed south swell magnets.
Tues 6/8*
Small 2-3ft SE swell with the upper end of this size at the super exposed south swell magnets.
Wed 7/8*
Small 2ft/2ft+ SE swell with the upper end of this size at the super exposed south swell magnets.

* Forecast is still a reasonable way out for these dates and hence subject to change depending on actual weather systems that come to fruition between now and then.

[ccdave]

Awesome Don!!
Thanks. Currently at an airport hotel with a morning flight tomorrow. Excellent forecast for the first week. Will update when I return.
Thanks again

[carpetman]

Hi Don,

Can you explain the difference in swell exposure between the Male atolls and the Central atolls?

I read somewhere that the central atolls will typically be smaller than Male but they look like they have the same exposure to the SE & S swells (with the exception of some central spots being exposed to the SW - not the SE).

[Donweather]

CMan, I don't know alot about the breaks in the central atolls, but here's a good map which shows the Northern, Central and Southern Atolls all in one.

http://www.surfatoll.com/maldives-surfi ... rn-atolls/

http://www.surfatoll.com/maldives-surfi ... al-atolls/

Once can see that the South Male Atolls are very sheltered from S/SE swells due to the Vaavu atoll to the south, so perhaps you're mistaking the smaller surf story for the South Male Atolls compared to the North Male Atolls?

There could also be some funky bathymetry going on which focuses more swell energy into the south facing breaks of the North Male Atolls?

All I know is that there is def some size difference between surf breaks along the North Male Atolls and the South Male Atolls need a bigger SE swell or an E/SE swell to really start firing.

Central atolls could have similar exposure to S/SE swells depending on where the surf breaks are along each atoll? The text on the link above tends to indicate that the majority of the breaks in the central atolls are on Thaa or Laamu atolls. Thaa is def sheltered from S/SE swells due to the Laamu atoll to it's south. Laamu coastline appears to face more NE than S/SE like the North Male Atoll so I guess in a S/SE swell direction the swell at Laamu would be like surfing north of Byron Bay in a similar swell direction (S/SE), whereas the North Male atolls would be like surfing south of Byron in a S/SE swell.

[carpetman]

Thanks Don,

I was aware of the impact Vaavu Atoll plays on South Male but don't really know anything about the Central apart from what I've read. I might have taken some misunderstanding and made it truth.

I suppose there are a few more spots open to different swell directions in the Central Atolls so its probably wrong to make a broad statement and compare it to another region when each spot will behave completely differently.

[carpetman]

Has anyone been to the central atolls and can PM me some info on their experiences down there?

[OddaP]

Hi Don, thanks for the tips on Maldive forecasting. Going 8 Aug for 10 days to Central and/or Southern Attolls. Outside your sphere or can you knock up a forecast?

Cheers.

[Donweather]

Hi Don, thanks for the tips on Maldive forecasting. Going 8 Aug for 10 days to Central and/or Southern Attolls. Outside your sphere or can you knock up a forecast?

Cheers.

Gee OP, that's a serious amount of spots all with differing swell windows that you're wanting me to forecast. Will see what I can pull together. Remind me on Wed and I'll pull together the latest forecast.

[OddaP]

Thanks Don, appreciated mate.

[localbogan]

Don't know whether this will work. Taken from my iPhone

IMG_0816.MOV

[Nick Carroll]

Hi Don, thanks for the tips on Maldive forecasting. Going 8 Aug for 10 days to Central and/or Southern Attolls. Outside your sphere or can you knock up a forecast?

Cheers.

It's gonna be fcuken bombing.

[Donweather]

OP, here's my thoughts, noting my last paragraph below, I wouldn't be as excited as Nick has portrayed.

Given that you’re going to be cruising around the Central AND Southern Atolls, there’s a wide variety of surfing location options with a very large variety of swell windows. So the below forecast is wave heights at the breaks facing the same direction as the swell (ie a SW facing break for a SW swell direction etc). Obviously if you’re surfing at a SE facing break in a SW facing swell, wave heights will be much much smaller than forecast below, so please bare this in mind.

It’s worth noting that at the peak of the solid swell this weekend, winds are forecast to be strong SW’ly so that’s really going to force you into the more E/SE facing breaks where swell heights will be much much smaller than quoted below (for the SW groundswell).

Thurs 8/8
Combination of 3-4ft SW groundswell and 2-3ft E/SE swell.

Fri 9/8
New and powerful inconsistent S/SW groundswell, starting at around 3-4ft+ early, building throughout the day to be 6-8ft at SW facing breaks by close of play. Will also be 2-3ft E/SE swell at the more E’ly facing breaks.

Sat 10/8
Inconsistent but solid and powerful 6-8ft S/SW groundswell at the SW/S facing breaks, smaller elsewhere with also a 3-4ft SE swell.

Sun 11/8
Inconsistent but solid and powerful 5-6ft+ S/SW groundswell at the SW/S facing breaks, smaller elsewhere with also a 3-4ft SE swell.

Mon 12/8
4-5ft+ S’ly groundswell, tending slightly more S/SE during the day and waning slightly (4-5ft) at the exposed south facing breaks. Smaller elsewhere with also a 3-4ft SE swell.

Tues 13/8
Combination of 4-5ft S/SE groundswell and 3-4ft SE swell.

Wed 14/8
Predominantly 4-5ft SE groundswell at the more south east facing breaks. May see a new pulse of SE groundswell of 5-6ft SE groundswell late in the day.

Thurs 15/8
4-5ft+ SE groundswell at the more south east facing breaks, waning throughout the day.

Fri 16/8*
3-4ft SE groundswell in combination with a slightly smaller 2-3ft SW groundswell.

Sat 17/8*
New pulse of S/SW groundswell, starting out around 3-4ft, building throughout the day to be 4-6ft at the more exposed S/SW facing breaks. Will also have 2-3ft E/SE swell elsewhere.

Sun 18/8*
Combination of 4-6ft S/SW groundswell at the S/SW facing breaks and 2-3ft E/SE swell elsewhere (more E/SE facing breaks).

Mon 19/8*
Combination of 4-6ft S/SW groundswell at the S/SW facing breaks and 2-3ft E/SE swell elsewhere (more E/SE facing breaks). May see a new building pulse of long period S/SW groundswell during the day, but this is still a long way off with respect to the forecast.

* Forecast is still a reasonable way out for these dates and hence subject to change depending on actual weather systems that come to fruition between now and then.