Respectable trade winds returned to the north shore today and brought with them a surprise guest, some funky, but fun waves at Uppers!
The wind got off to a slow and shaky start today as clouds and showers assaulted the north shore. But by lunch time the clouds were clearing and the winds were building. By the time I got to the beach around 1:30, Kanaha was pretty crowded with windsurfers finally getting what they came here for. Most crowded I’ve seen Kanaha outside of a race day in awhile. I guess the summer crowds are back.
Conditions were pretty good compared to what we’ve been seeing for the last three weeks. 5.3/85 was about right most of the time. The wind was a bit up and down and got a bit flukey when it switched offshore for awhile, but overall it was fairly strong and consistent.
I haven’t figured out where the out of season waves came from. These were different from the usual summer time wind swell that breaks up at Camp One. There was more of a north component to them so you could actually get a couple of down the line turns on some of them. Most were in the waist- to shoulder-high range and pretty short period. But hey, this July. We’re lucky to get even that here on Maui in July.
So, everyone I talked to was pretty stoked about the day’s sailing. Also in attendance were the Goya guys, Francisco Goya, Josh Stone and others out doing a photo shoot of some new Goya sails up at Camp One. The new Goyas are looking quite a bit different from last year’s – they looked pretty sweet.
Perhaps the best news is that it looks like the trade winds will stick around for at least several more days. The potential fly in the ointment is they might get soggy at times. But hey, the overall pattern is a good strong trade wind pattern, more typical of July in Maui, so we’re all happy here about that.
