March Goes Out Like a Lamb

March 31, 2007

Last day of March and we're ending the month in a windsurfing wimper. I only logged 10 days of sailing this month, pretty typical numbers for me for March here in Maui. I missed one day that I could have sailed, and there were a couple of days where if I had had a 6.5 and 120 liter board I could have sailed. We had a good stretch of wind mid-month, bookended by a set of long windless stretches. All-in-all it just adds to my already low opinion of windsurfing in Maui in March.

But, turning to more positive things, we start April tomorrow and I have always managed to get at least 15 days of sailing in April here. Looks like we may get a chance to start April on the right foot as trade winds are forecast to make an appearance on Monday and Tuesday, though they could be pretty light.

No Good News

March 29, 2007

Maui weather this week has been characterized by very light onshore sea breezes. Average readings at Kanaha have been around 8mph. I stopped by yesterday to check things out and it was perfect conditions for snorkeling - flat water, still winds and sunny. A few stand-up paddlers paddling around Uppers was the only action on the water.

This afternoon Kanaha is actually reading winds of 16 mph, but from a very odd and rare direction here, NNW. Very onshore and my only other experience with NNW at Kanaha was a session a few years ago (about this time of year if I remember right) during another long stretch of light winds. I saw the Kanaha sensor reading around 20 - 24 from the NNW and scrambled down to the beach. There were people sailing parallel to the beach, but you needed big gear due to the onshore direction. My 5.8 turned out not to be enough. Bottom line, with such onshore direction, you need to subtract about 5 - 10 mph from the wind sensor reading to get what it's actually doing.

Sadly, the forecast is still looking very bleak for sailable conditions through at least Sunday. There is a glimmer of hope on the horizon for early next week, but it sounds like there's a lot of uncertainty amongst the weather forecasters about that.

Last Call

March 26, 2007

We've had a consistent run of about nine or ten straight days of solid wind here on Maui. But, today it looks like we hit closing time as the bartender hit the last bell. Wind was sailable today for a couple hours right around lunchtime but faded steadily as the day wore on, eventually sliding off its chair and under the table in a comatose stupor. Out for the count.

For those of you planning to arrive here on Maui to start your windsurfing vacation this week ... sorry, but ya shoulda been here last week. I was beginning to think that this March would prove my theory about Maui winds in March wrong, but after reviewing all my weather sources, things are looking pretty bleak for sailable wind for the rest of the month. Looks like we're in for another prolonged spell of light and variable winds, characterized by light onshore sea breezes during the day, that, if you're lucky and have big-ass formula gear you might get to sail. But we're probably not going to see sustained winds over 10 knots for the rest of March.

Weekend Wind Report

March 26, 2007

Plenty of wind this for sailig this weekend. Saturday was a bit on up and down side and frustrating at times. Bottom line was rig whatever sail you wanted and it would be the rights size for 10 minutes or so. Then the wind would either jump a whole sail size or down one. I had and 5.0 rigged and really didn't have any fun until the late session around 4:00 when the wind kind of settled into a rhythm.

Yesterday was a steady build up to nuclear conditions by early afternoon. By 2:00 wind was averaging 30 and gusting up around 40. Went out on 4.2 and was able to make it work, but there was plenty of excess wind to spare even on that.

Waves both days are typical summertime wind swell. Not much down the line action, except for the occasional rogue wave that might straighten out slightly.

Forecast is for one more day of wind today and then for things to go a bit south - figuratively and literally and to lighten up considerably.

Summer Sailing Continues

March 23, 2007

The calendar may say March, but windsurfing conditions here on Maui are more like June or July the last few days - moderately strong winds and flat conditions. I arrived at Kanaha mid-afternoon yesterday to hear reports of strong winds outside the reef - like 4.5 and smaller for guys. So, I rigged the 4.5. By the time I had that rigged and was ready to go out, the winds at the beach were almost calm and the sailors outside the reef were slogging. So, I rigged the 5.0 and put it on my floaty 90 liter wave board . Perfect. While everyone else was slogging in and re-rigging, Uppers was virtually deserted. Mostly just wind swell coming in these last few days, but every once in awhile a waist-high set would come in allowing for a bottom turn and cutback.

Similar conditions today. Things looked a little windier so I rigged my 4.5 and small wave board. I was able to make it work but reality was a 5.0 would have been a mo' betta. More backside riding at Uppers and Camp One on the small wind swell breaking up there.

Conditions this weekend are forecast to bump up a notch or two in wind speed. And, just watching the local news and there's a small north swell expected to hit sometime this weekend, maybe as soon as tomorrow afternoon. After this weekend it looks like the wind may start getting a little dicey. Forecast is a little tricky, but it's looking like winds may go light again early next week.

Hookipa Small-style

March 22, 2007

Summer Sailing

March 21, 2007

Spring may have only just sprung but summer sailing conditions came early to Maui today. After yesterday's gusty and at times "nasty" conditions, winds mellowed considerably today. I got an opportunity to head down fairly early today so I took the lunch session, 12:00 to 1:00 at Kanaha, well-powered 5.0. The only "waves" were the wind swell rolling in at Uppers/Camp One, and that was typical summer conditions - not set up for down the line, but backside wave riding. Beautiful, sunny warm conditions for blasting around though.

The mystery for me today is where did all the people go? Over the last week or so, the vacationing windsurfing tourists have been out in droves at Kanaha. Today there were hardly any. I thought maybe I was just the early bird today but even at 1:30 Kanaha was remarkably uncrowded for this time of year.

Also absent were the local windsurfing kids who are out of school on spring break. I realized that with no north swell at all at Kanaha, Hookipa was probably a manageable size and that all the local kids were probably there. So, I went up to Hookipa to check out the action there. Sure enough, several of the local sailing grommets were out at Hookipa shredding the waist-high waves (head high and above for some of them). I got a few minutes of video of the small summertime-like Hookipa conditions that I'll upload later tonight or tomorrow.

Looking into the future it looks like several more days of trades. Possibly a little lighter conditions tomorrow and Friday then getting pretty breezy again on the weekend. No wave action to speak until late Saturday or Sunday when we may get a small bump in the north swell.

Hookipa Video - March 18

March 19, 2007

Trades Return

March 18, 2007

Trade winds finally returned to Maui yesterday, much to the delight of resident windsurfers and visiting windsurfers alike. Weather was gorgeous and Kanaha was packed with more windsurfers than I've seen there in several months. I guess spring break is on. Lots of vacationing windsurfers arriving daily.

Conditions yesterday were in the 4.7 to 5.0 range for most guys. I pulled a triple session full day of sailing on my 5.0 from about 11:30 on up to 4:30. About right most of the time. The wind was fairly steady. Waves were a bit small and junky IMHO, but beggars can't be choosers so I won't complain.

I was hoping today would be similar but with bigger waves. I got down early, ready to get on the water at the starting gun, but some squalls had other ideas and I ended up waiting for those to pass before heading out again on the 5.0. Once the squalls passed the conditions were nearly identical to yesterday. I guess three session yesterday took their toll on me though. Just didn't have the juice to stay out more than about an hour.

So, I headed up to Hookipa to check things out there hoping to get some photos and video since it's been forever since I've had a chance to get any video for this site. Hookipa was occasionally firing with logo- to mast-high sets rolling through every few minutes. Below are a few of the photos I got. Also got some video that I'll be editing tonight, hoping to get it posted tomorrow.

Wet Weather

March 14, 2007

Couple of days of wet weather here on Maui yesterday and today as bands of showers, at times heavy, were pushed ahead of a cold front making it's way across the islands. South winds were strong enough to sail for a very brief time in Kihei yesterday and today as well, though both days would have been an excercise in constant re-rigging to match the conditions.

On the north shore we had a high surf event today and with Kona winds there was some speculation about another Kona Lanes event. Not sure if that panned out. I got a call from Jazz around 2:30 saying that he had heard from Matt Pritchard that it looked 5.0 at Lanes and that he and Kevin were going to go check it out. Doesn't look like it was windy for very long though.

Looking on the brighter side of things our long-lost trade winds are forecast to make a come back, possibly as soon as Friday and it's looking fairly positive that they'll stick around for a few days. The north shore beaches should be packed this weekend with wind-starved windsurfers eager to get their fill.

One Day of Light Trades

March 12, 2007

Just as predicted, we saw a brief, one day return of light trades yesterday. I guess I'm getting pretty desperate. With readings hanging around 15 and 16 at Kanaha I was tempted, but wasn't willing to commit Then they hit 18 and I was out the door and driving to the beach.

Sadly though the wind dropped back into the low- to mid-teens by the time we got to the beach. It was a warm sunny day though, so I opted to rig my biggest sail, 5.7 and slog around. Slog was the operative word. I was out for maybe 45 minutes and planed for about 20 seconds total time during that - and that was by bearing way the hell off wind and pumping like mad. I tried slogging up to Uppers to do the slog and surf, but by the time I made it upwind near the break the wind dropped to almost nothing. Barely managed to get a waterstart and make it back to shore without swimming.

Today we're back into a south wind pattern. Kihei has been showing average readings at o just below 20. But, my experience with Kihei last week was that the sensor is reading about 5 - 7 mph too high on these south winds. Not enough for my 5.7. I'm sure there's some people out sailing there today on big slalom and formula gear.

South winds might increase a notch tomorrow and/or Wednesdsay enough to make it sailable for us guys with small gear. There's also a BIG swell due on Tuesday night and Wednesday which could make for another Kona Lanes day if it gets windy enough. The really good news is that the long range fantasy forecast is calling for a return of normal trade wind weather early next week.

Light Konas

March 10, 2007

We finally got a break in our light onshore sea breezes on Thursday with the onset of light southerly (Kona) winds. By lunchtime on Thursday the Kihei sensor was reporting winds of 21. Since the wind has been so marginal lately, we took a chance and headed over to Kihei. Turns out it was a classic case of "You should have been here an hour ago.." By late afternoon the winds had dropped considerably. Not even enough to tempt me to rig my 5.7. My wife was tempted enough to rig her 5.0 but it turned out to be a slogfest at Maui Sunset. There were a few guys out on big race gear on Pavilions - like 9.0s and bigger.

Getting up and logging on the computer yesterday morning I found it was already blowing 21. So, I got a few quick work tasks done and boogied over to Kihei. At 10:00 am, Capt. Greg was already there scoping it out. Wind was south and it was overcast, making it a bit tough to tell what to rig. As we debated we watched a pair of humpback whales splashing around about 200 meters off shore. Looked like a mother and her calf. How cool!

I finally decided on a 5.3 and played wind dummy for Capt. Greg and a few other eager sailors. Slogged out and back, came in let out down/out haul and tried again. Nope. Time for a bigger sail. 5.7 and my 90 liter wave board were mostly pretty good, but still a tad light at times. Consider that the Kihei wind sensor was reading between 21 and 24 for averages and you can get an idea of how that sensor reads high.

I sailed for no more than an hour, and got my fill of back and forth sailing. By then the parking lot was filling up fast with arriving windsurfers. My plan was to head over to Hookipa and see if the Konas were strong enough for Lanes to be going off. Here's a shot of the Kihei sailing just before I left at around 12:30.

The wind stayed pretty consistent in the low 20s throughout the rest of the day at Kihei and it got sunnier. Good day for freeride, slalom or freestyle sailing.

Over on the north shore it became obvious that the wind was too wimpy to make Lanes go off. I kept driving to Hookipa anyway just to get a visual of the conditions. Sure enough. Wind was super light and surfers ruled the head high waves. Here's a sample shot of what Hookipa was doing yesterday.

Wind Guru was predicting stronger south winds today, but so far this morning we've got cloudy skies and the radar shows bands of rain and showers headed our way in front of the approaching cold front that is making it's way down the Hawaiian Island chain this weekend. Winds are currently pretty light. Once the front passes later today or tonight, we supposed to have one day of light trade winds tomorrow, followed by a return of light south east winds.

Pascal wrote:

Hi Makani, winds were too light at Lanes but it was quite sailable a bit upwind (won't name the spot) from Lanes, 5.0 and 83 liters. schlogging a lot, for 1 hour planning, some ok waves. Aloha, Pascal

Makani wrote:

I think I saw you. I met up with Jazz after leaving Hookipa to check out K----. We saw two guys out and he said he thought one was you. I didn't have my gear with me at that point and it wasn't windy enough to interest Jazz. Thanks for the report.

Another Light Day

March 7, 2007

As predicted, another light day of winds here on Maui today. The north shore stayed below the 10 mph threshold all day. Kihei was the only place with even marginally sailable conditions. I got a report today that there were some guys out on really big gear there.

So, what to do while the winds are light here? Well, Naish TV has some pretty cool new videos on there site, including their coverage of the epic Kona conditions a month ago, plus some cool tips from product manager Michi Schweiger on tuning your wave board, plus a spotlight on Robby's Angels, a quartet of beautiful young ladies who not only look good in bikinis, but are strong, athletic and rip. If you haven't checked out the Naish TV site, it's definitely worth bookmarking for some cool virtual Maui windsurfing stokage. Check it out.

March Madness ... again

March 6, 2007

Before I moved to Maui, I used to think that March was a pretty good bet for a windsurfing vacation. However, the past 4 years, March has pretty much delivered frustrating weather, prominently featuring prolonged durations of light or no winds. To me, March in Maui is becoming synonomous with severe skunkage, hence the March Madness moniker (not to be confused with the NCAA basketball reference that most people in the US associate with it).

After a fine first day to start off the month, winds turned pretty light, too light for me to sail with my 5.7, but still sailable for the intrepid windsurfers with bigger gear than I have. But, since Sunday, winds have slackened still further and the forecast for the remainder of this week is bleak.

I was down in Kahului today at a meeting and got out around 2.30 so I thought I'd stop by Kanaha just to see what was going on there. It was a beautiful sunny day and the light winds (lack of white caps) allowed the cobalt, aquamarine and deep blues of the water to show off. Perfect day for lying on the beach. I was actually surprised to see a couple of sails out on the water. They were slogging of course, but it was surprising to see anyone out. Several stand up paddlers were out, as well as one kite. I later learned that one of the sailors out was Giampaolo on his big super-tanker board. He's got the right idea. Get a big 12 foot surf board with mast track, stick a sail on it and slog out to catch some waves (although the waves were about as meager as the wind). Looked like a group of three guys, freshly arrived from the mainland, had just arrived here on vacation - unloading a mini-van full of big boards and (hopefully) big sails. I'd guess the winds were blowing about 8 - 10 mph about that time, so I doubt they were going to get what they had come for. Might have been good weather for formula gear, but most Maui shops don't rent really big gear (I've heard that Neil Pryde does, but I don't think anyone else has gear bigger than ~6.5s).

Anyway, the forecast is for more light winds through Thursday, then winds should shift to SW ahead of an approaching cold front. So far the SW winds aren't forecast to be very strong, but we'll be keeping an eye on the possibility nonetheless. Starting on Friday the weather should start adding a serious wet component to through Saturday. Sunday and Monday it looks like we have our best shot of trades, followed by a return of meager sea breezes. So, if you're really into sailing big-ass formula gear with sails in the 10 and 12 meter size, get on down here to Maui. You'll be loving life for the next few days. As for the rest of us, we'll just be going mad.

Allan Wrote:

We usually come in October with mixed results - last Oct. being pretty poor. I saw your comment on March usually being pretty crappy. Its difficult to get realistic information from web sites that inevitably make things sound better than they are. What is your honest opinion of when the earliest in the spring it is that it is worthwhile travelling to Maui for - April? How are the waves? Thanks, and p.s. enjoying your blog here in the -30 degree weather - especially the video clips Allan

Makani wrote:

Hi Allan, thanks for the comment. You're right about last October. It sucked. A lot of sources make Maui out to be epic all year round. The simple fact is it's not. It can be good at any time of the year, but wind consistency is always spotty, November through at least January, and often starting in October and lasting through March.

My honest opinion about spring sailing in Maui is that April is the first you can really expect to start seeing more consistent wind. For the past several years, April is the first month of the year where I consistently sail at least half of the days in the month. May is generally even a little more consistently windy, but the waves start getting less frequent.

For waves, you usually can't beat December and January. We usually have some kind of north swells coming through often into May, but this year the north swells have already gotten less frequent. There's been some days over the past two weeks where the north shore looked like summer conditions it was so flat.

Keep in mind that the weather on Maui, like everywhere, has a mind of it's own. Just because it's often good in April or May doesn't mean the weather won't throw us a curve ball. Seems like we had a May a few years ago where we had a couple of consecutive weeks of no wind. Bottom line though, I'd recommend mid-April. I know I'm looking forward to April.

Windsurfing Relativity

March 4, 2007

Windsurfing is a great example of relativity. The last two days we've been beset by light winds - winds too light to raise much interest in most resident Maui windsurfers.

But bring in some fresh, eager windsurfers from the US mainland and it's a completely different story. While I've sat at home the last few days, snubbing my nose at meager wind reports of 13 mph, 15 mph (with occasional brief intervals in the 18 - 19 mph range), a few eager windsurfing students have been etching memorable windsurfing experiences into their mental windsurfing archives.

Enter a young mother of a one-year old, here on Maui for a week of vacation. Desperately eager to learn, she signed up for a return lesson yesterday, despite a rather bleak outlook for wind (by local standards). On a day that most of us on Maui would discount as a non-sailing day, this eager student experienced the thrill of a milestone that most of us take for granted -- getting into the back footstrap for the first time. She was stoked! How cool is that!

Living on Maui, some of us windsurfers might get a little jaded. I'll freely admit that I am. I sometimes find it humorous to witness the unmitigated exuberance of visiting windsurfers, so keen and intent on maximizing their time on the water here - desperate and intent on sailing even in conditions that some of us deem too light. But I think it's a testament to both Maui and the undaunting spirit of windsurfers that, on what many of us here consider conditions too light to bother with, Maui provided the stoke and cherished memories for those with an eager attitude to climb the windsurfing ladder of progress.

Does it instill in me a new desire to go out and purchase a 6.5 sail and 120 liter board so I can plane in 14 mph winds? No. But it does bring back memories of those early days in my windsurfing career - learning to waterstart, learning to get into the harness and footstraps, learning to jibe. Maybe too many of us who have progressed beyond these levels take them for granted too much. Think back to when you were learning to waterstart or get into the footstraps, (if you're not still in that phase). Remember how stoked you were to get planing for the first time in the harness and footstraps? Hearing the story yesterday of the young mother stoked about getting into the footstraps for the first time, brought back those memories for me.

Maybe it's because I'm at the bottom of the learning curve of a new journey (learning to play the guitar), but I think all of us who have progressed beyond the point where waterstarting, harness and footstraps are second nature, take a moment and applaud the spirit and dedication and stoked attitude of the beginning and intermediate windsurfer. Let's face it, windsurfing isn't an easy thing to master and getting past the intermediate stage can be especially trying. So, let's take the time and recognize and appreciate the efforts of our fellow windsurfers just starting out on this journey that has brought so much to us. Maybe give them a helping hand learning to waterstart, or a jibing tip, or just a smile and words of encouragement. They deserve it and we owe it to them. Cheers!

And now, for those who consider themselves hard-core windsurfers, eager to sail regardless of conditions, here's a little test. Check out this video on YouTube. It's pretty much the antithesis of Maui windsurfing, but if you think you're hard-core, ask yourself if you're as dedicated as the guy in this video. It puts a whole new light on the term 'extreme windsurfing.'

If you're wondering about conditions on Maui today, winds are much lighter than yesterday. The highest reading so far today has been 9mph onshore at Kanaha. Sadly, the forecast is looking like this is what we'll see for the next several days, possibly the whole week.

Kanaha Today

March 1, 2007

Trade winds mellowed out a bit today. I think my midday session was probably the best time of the day, 5.0 nicely powered, a few head high waves every now and then at Uppers. Beautiful, sunny day, great for the slalom racers as shown in the photo(Kanaha racer Capt. Greg) looking down towards Lowers, as well as for just the average freeride. Winds dropped off for a bit later in the day. I think we'll still get sailable conditions tomorrow, but after that things are looking a bit more sketchy for several days. Wouldn't you know it. We're due to get a new north swell early next week and looks like the winds will be light south east. Maybe Maui will work some of it's magic and defy the prediction.