Buoy No. 1 sits about 170-miles northwest of Kauai, giving 6-10 hours advanced notice on the size of swells on the way when it's working.

"A lot of the swell measuring instruments are located below the buoy," said meteorologist Ray Tanabe with the National Weather Service.

But Tanabe said the buoy is broken. Two days before Christmas, the nearly $400,000 machine stopped transmitting.

"It's certainly an important loss for us, but it's not the only source of information we have," Tanabe said.

The weather service can use weather models and data from ships reporting from the area. But the buoy is the only thing that gives hourly updates; the best way to know when large swells will hit the shore.

Legendary surfer George Downing has been logging data from Buoy No. 1 for years. It helps him call the right day for "The Eddie," Quiksilver's big wave competition at Waimea Bay.

Lifeguards also used Downing's calculations to help gauge when they need to close the beach.

Ocean safety crews said they were especially on edge today because the waves were building and they didn't have the readings to know how fast the swell was coming in.

"When that thing (the buoy) goes out," Downing said, "it takes away information that the public has gotten used to."

As of right now, the buoy may not be fixed until March. That's because the NOAA technicians are on the mainland, and once they get to Hawaii, they have to hitch a ride to the area with a Coast Guard vessel.

That means, Downing will have to rely on his old-school forecasting tricks, to call the right day at the bay.

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