Some may not realize that Maui has a by-law that prohibits windsurfing, windfoiling, wingfoiling and kiting on the north shore before 11 am. To avoid endangering the snorkel fisherman that sometimes are out inside the reef. The trade wind usually is best in the afternoon so it is no big deal. And everyone is cool about sharing the water.

Cool wave, love side shore winds, amazing heal side cut backs. How deep is it in the white water? Do you have to ride high on the foil through the white water?

last trip to kanaha I focussed on fin, but after seeing this next trip gotta be foil.

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John340 said..
Cool wave, love side shore winds, amazing heal side cut backs. How deep is it in the white water? Do you have to ride high on the foil through the white water?

Thanks John, for me it's all about carving on a swell and the side shore wind with the onshore break makes it easy enough even a 66 yr old part timer can have fun.

White water has a lot to it John the short answer is not always.

The area of white water at Lowers at Kanaha depends on the size/direction of the wave and the tide. If I remember correctly the wave faces that day where over head high and the tide was not real shallow so the white water was even in areas that would be a couple meters deep. But also in a couple spots where the reef would be only around a meter.
If the tide is low and the waves are smaller the white water is more over spots you want to avoid.
For me when the waves are bigger the white water is more of a stability issue because of the turbulence and air which makes it feel like you are on marbles. So I usually just straighten out and speed up though the white water.

When I was there and on foil I steered way clear of that breaking section due to fear of bottoming out, cause sometimes on fin I was standing on the reef after crashing in places upwind of there

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thedoor said..
When I was there and on foil I steered way clear of that breaking section due to fear of bottoming out, cause sometimes on fin I was standing on the reef after crashing in places upwind of there

Door is 100% correct. Staying clear of the white water on foil is definitely the right thing to do until you get the tide and shallow spots figured out. All the locals that ride waves have scars on their foils and figure its just the price of admission to ride waves.

The beauty of the foil is that you can have a blast carving on the swell long before the wave breaks over the reef. So there are many "lower tide" days I have fun picking up the swell well on the outside and kicking out to the deeper channel well before the reef gets shallow. The problem occurs when Hess gets greedy and wants a few extra turns that take him over the shallow spots.