Very strange July winds we’re having in Maui. Wind strength and direction is more like January with light onshore conditions dominating on the north shore the past week. Strongest winds have been in Kihei where it has cranked on some days. Wind came up a bit better on the north shore on Friday but I was in meetings all day and missed it. Karen reported:
Talking with Sharon reminded me how relative “good conditions” are: She’s been enjoying the wind the last few days, and when I showed up, because it had finally gotten windy enough for me, it was too windy for her! She’s lighter than me, and yesterday she sailed 5.9 and was very happy. Today she sailed 5.4 and 4.7. There are a lot of guys who live here who won’t sail anything as big as a 5.9! But with the right gear, windsurfing can be fun in a wide range of conditions.
I didn’t sail this past week because it was too light for my gear. I guess most of us who live here have a limited set of equipment, based on what we can afford, or what we have room to store or transport, or what conditions we enjoy most, or how much time we have available to sail. We sometimes forget that visitors can rent a wide range of equipment choices and have fun in conditions we don’t even consider sailing in. So, visitors, don’t let local attitudes keep you off the water, and locals, don’t dismiss the possibility of having fun in less wind than you usually sail!
Check out Karen’s blog for the full report.
Things changed for a few hours yesterday afternoon once I rigged my 5.3. Yup, the wind decided to kick in to 4.5 range. Too lazy to rerig so I just kept with the 5.3. Extra bonus of the day was a small NNE swell rolling in – giving us some watery bumps to bash and thrash down the line.
With the light winds last week I had some extra time on my hands and decided to start putting together the 2011 Maui Windsurfing calendars. I decided to do two separate calendars this year; a wave calendar of course, but also a slalom calendar, for all all the die-hard Maui slalom fans out there. Still in the photo selection process on and designing the front cover still. Here’s the probable cover for the wave calendar:
2011 Maui Windsurfing Calendar Cover
For the slalom calendar, I’ve got three cover design options I’m considering:
2011 Slalom Calendar Cover Option 1
2011 Slalom Calendar Cover Option 2
2011 Slalom Calendar Cover Option 3
So, if you’re a Maui slalom windsurfing fan let me know which of these three slalom calendar covers you like best by submitting comments below.
