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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 12:04 p.m., Wednesday, November 27, 2002

High surf likely until Tuesday

By Mike Gordon
and Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writers

The monster waves may be gone but big waves are still headed for Hawai'i's northwest facing shores.

Wave faces today had dropped into the 10- to 15-foot range after two days where waves twice as large pummeled beaches, the National Weather Service said.

A high-surf advisory remained in effect for all northwest facing shores.

But three additional "swell trains" are expected to keep surf in the 10- to 15-foot range possibly until Tuesday, lead forecaster Roy Matsuda said today.

The monster surf yesterday closed Waimea Bay for a second day in a row and sent high waves over beachside roads in some areas.

Lifeguards stayed busy helping 11 people from the water yesterday, including a 27-year-old Texas visitor who was rescued unharmed off Makaha at 5:48 p.m.

Surf on the Leeward Coast was forecast at 5 to 9 feet today after reaching up to 14 feet last night.

South-shore surf remained at 1 to 2 feet, and waves on the east shore were estimated at 1 to 3 feet.

Conditions here are being generated by weather as far away as Japan, where Typhoon Heishan turned a corner last weekend and pushed 18-foot seas eastward, with resulting surf expected to reach Hawai'i late Friday or early Saturday.

Forecasters' models indicated the same storm would strengthen rapidly north of Hawai'i today, generating 40- to 50-knot winds at sea tomorrow as it races north-northeast to Alaska by late Friday.

Another storm off Hok kaido, Japan, may provide low surf on Sunday, forecasters said.

Forecasters expect a shift away from trade winds beginning late Saturday