Yellow Alert For Maui: The Jaws event may run

The Hawaiian winter is on for real with 30 feet of the Pacific’s Finest steaming towards Jaws for the Peahi Big Wave World Tour event. Should the Peahi Challenge run, it will be the first paddle-in event held at surfing’s finest colosseum. “We have a lot of activity in the Northern Pacific right now,” says Pete Mel, WSL Big Wave Commissioner and wearer of fabulous scarves. “Things are lining up very nicely for Peahi on Sunday so we’ve placed it on Yellow Alert with hopes of Greenlighting on Thursday for a Sunday competition.” The 24-man field for the Peahi Challenge will be comprised of the WSL BWT Top 12, led by reigning world champion Makua Rothman, as well as six WSL BWT wildcards and six local wildcards. Surfline, official forecasters for the 2015/2016 WSL BWT season, are reporting: Very long period energy will be on the rise rapidly through the afternoon/evening hours on Saturday with sets up to 25-35’+ faces (15-18’ Hawaiian) by sundown. At this point we expect to see the swell peak in the pre dawn hours on Sunday (~2AM), with the strongest waves at Jaws at first light on Sunday in the 30-45’+ range on the face (20’+ Hawaiian), although gradually easing. The swell will ease further through the day, but should remain in the 25-35’+ range (15-18’+ Hawaiian) through mid afternoon.