Swell direction
N to NE (340°–050°)
North Shore · Maui
Maui's surf, windsurf, and SUP all-rounder. Mornings glass, afternoons fly.
Get Ho'okipa live dataFreeBuoy CDIP 187 · Pauwela, Maui
Ho'okipa Beach Park sits on the north shore of Maui just east of Paia. It's three things in one location: a morning surf spot, an afternoon windsurf arena, and a year-round longboard lineup. CDIP buoy 187 sits off Pauwela Point a few miles east — close enough that the readings translate cleanly to Ho'okipa with a small wrap-around for direction.
What you want to see on the buoy before you paddle out.
Swell direction
N to NE (340°–050°)
Swell period
10–16 seconds
When it breaks
Pavilions wakes up at 3 ft @ 12 s. Middles handles double-overhead. Outside Lanes runs the big days.
Wind
Glassy at dawn, trades fill in by 10am. After that — windsurfers only.
Ho'okipa has three peaks: Pavilions (inside), Middles (main), and Outside Lanes (big-wave). The same 187 reading shifts which peak is the play — small days are inside, big days are outside.
Buoy 187 reads about 1 ft larger than what you'll see at Ho'okipa due to the wrap. 4 ft @ 13 s on the buoy = head-high at Pavilions. 8 ft @ 15 s = Middles is firing. Above 12 ft, Outside Lanes opens up and the lineup moves 300 yards offshore. The buoy direction matters less here than at Pipeline because the headland refracts almost any north or east swell into the bay.
Trade winds at Ho'okipa are reliable to a fault — they're up by mid-morning almost every day. If you want to surf (not windsurf), you've got from first light to about 10am. Da Buoys' wind data tells you whether today is a 6am wake-up or a 5am one.
Da Buoys puts the Ho'okipa reading on your iPhone home screen. No subscription, no ads, no signup. Just the buoy.
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