Epic Uppers

Kevin Pritchard aerial at Hookipa

An early out of season north swell has been rocking the north shore the last two days, pegging the stoke-meter for all Maui windsurfing wave hounds who’ve been able to get out.

Friday started out a bit light, 5.7 for me with a floaty 95 liter wave board. Got some really fun logo high rides at Uppers though with no crowds. Before long the wind was up a notch and it was time to downsize to 5.3 and 85 liters. Sailed for a couple of hours until fatigue set in.

While yesterday was fun, today was epic Uppers. Uppers often can be sloppy and trashy and not a clean ride, but there are days when it just works and you can get big, clean rides all the way from Camp One  down to “lower Uppers.” I hit the water at 11:00 with 5.3 and 85 and my first wave set the tone for the day – l0g0 high, clean and at least 6 top to bottom turns. It was so nice I though, “if I don’t get any other waves today, that one wave made the day.” As it turned out that, there were a lot more waves where that came from. From 11:00 to noon was one of those sessions that you dream about – big, clean waves, and no crowds! There were probably half dozen of us out at Uppers in that time frame, so there was never an issue of someone being in the way or snaking a wave. Awesome!

After an hour, I was getting overpowered and I figured I needed a water break. Came in, downed some water, grabbed a 4.7 and headed back out for another hour session. By this time it was getting a bit more crowded but still not too bad. Sets were mast high at times and still long and smooth. Board shaper Peter Thommen commented to me after the session that he caught a wave way up at Camp One and got 10 turns on it before tiring and kicking out, and still could have got more.

By 2:00 my tank was empty. Time to go check out Hookipa. Lots of people out at Hookipa in conditions that ranged from head high to an occasional mast high set. Big names out included Robby Naish, Kevin Pritchard and Levi Siver. Got some photos and video of the action. I’ll post photos and video of the action when I get more time to go through and edit them.

More wind and waves tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday too!