The 25th annual Maui Race Series kicked off today with fast and furious slalom action in cranking wind and blazing sunshine. Morning heats started off with the age group divisions, Junior Men, Men 19 – 39, Men 40 – 49, Men 50 – 59, Men 60+ and a women’s division. I don’t have official results but some prominent action saw Junior Men’s Jake Golm dominating with Kai Lenny turning on the heat with a bit of coaching from a recuperating Matt Pritchard watching from the beach. Neil Pryde’s product manager Peter Biejl dominated the next age group and in the Men’s 40 – 49 Phil McGain dueled it out with North Sail’s designer Kai Hopf.
After four go-arounds the fleet took a lunch break and then it was time for the ability level classes – Advanced, Expert, Semi-Pro and Pro. Naish’s Bernd Roediger blew away the competition in the advanced fleet and will be advancing to the Expert fleet in the next race event. In the pros, Peter Biejl and Phil McGain were the dominant players in most heats. Official results will be published on the Maui News website local sports sectxion tomorrow or the next day.
Trade winds will continue to blow strong tomorrow and possibly Monday then back off a bit into more moderate (but still sailable) levels mid-week before ramping up again later in the week.
