The Windsurfing Movie

Monday, April 30, 2007 at 3:30 pm HST

I got an email from Jace Panebianco yesterday about the soon to be released "The Windsurfing Movie." For those who haven't heard about it, this looks to be an awesome, groundbreaking windsurfing movie, featuring Robby Naish, Jason Polakow, Levi Siver, Kai Lenny and Josh Angulo. Here's what Jace had to say:

Makani,

You've probably seen the helicopters buzzing around the North Shore lately. The Poor Boyz Windsurfing crew has been busy putting the finishing touches on The Windsurfing Movie.

Last week we had a film crew from Rush HD TV in town doing a show for National Geographic. The show is called 'Nomads' and will run early this summer. Its a behind the scenes look at the making of The Windsurfing Movie. We did a bunch of cool shots including Levi grabbing the skids of the helicopter and getting lifted back to his gear! James Bond style.

We're getting ready for our World Premier at Le Defi Wind event in France on May 18th. After that we've got a event in Hood River on July 1st. Robby Naish will be there to host the party. Its going to be big! We've sent in our application for the Wailea Film Festival and are working toward finalizing our Maui and Oahu dates-- look to our website for details: www.thewindsurfingmovie.com

Lastly we've got a pre-order special going on our website, the first 500 orders receive a free T-Shirt and Free Signed Poster. Its a great deal and only available at www.thewindsurfingmovie.com. Hope to see you on the water and at the premiers!

Aloha,

The Poor Boyz Windsurfing crew

Thanks Jace. I'm looking forward to the Maui premiere. Need a little windsurfing virtual stoke in your day? Check out the trailer to The Windsurfing Movie. Want to help promote windsurfing? Make sure you take your friends and family to see this when it shows near you.

As for wind the wind report, mellow trade winds continued on the north shore yesterday - 5.3 for me in the early afternoon. Still no waves, but good mellow cruising fun, great day for the slalom racers out practicing around the bouys and really nice conditions for freestyle. Winds are a bit stronger today, though I'm relying on phone and computer reports, since it doesn't look like I'll get a chance to get down to the beach today. More wind the next few days. A new north swell arrives sometime on Tuesday/Wednesday.

More photos from Hookipa last week:

Three Year Anniversary

Sunday, April 29, 2007 at 9:20 am HST

Tomorrow marks the three year anniversary of the Maui Windsurfing Blog. Three years ago I thought it might be kinda cool to share my Maui windsurfing experiences with the world. I knew that as a windsurfer, living and sailing on Maui is the stuff of fantasy. After all, I'd been one of those worker drones, stuck in an office job, dreaming and fantasizing about being on Maui with a boom in my hands and a board under my feet instead of a keyboard at my hands and a chair under my butt.

Thinking back on it, it's kind of amazing how far this has come. Initially, I shared this blog with a couple of friends on the mainland. Maybe 5 people a day visisted the blog those first few months. Now this little site is truly global with thousands of people visiting every day from all over the world. I'm really amazed at how many people visit from Europe. Combined, European countries like France , Italy, Germany and the Netherlands make up more traffic to this site than the US.

So, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone out there for visiting and making Maui Windsurfing a part of your day. It will be interesting to see how things have changed three years from now.

On to sailing reports from the past few days. Turns out I think I was wrong about Friday. Winds were pretty light on the north shore, but I failed to check on Kihei. Turns out Kihei was quite a bit windier. So, there was definitely some sailing going on Friday.

I also was wrong about yesterday. I initially didn't think it would be windy enough for me to sail. But, while down in Kahului running errands I decided to stop by Kanaha to check it out. Lots of racers were out blasting around on fairly big gear. Winds were very onshore. I was dubious that I could make a 5.7 work, but with nothing better to do, I rigged and went out anyway. Much to my surprise I was actually fairly well powered. I usually had to pump the sail a time or two to get on a plane but once planing it was fine. No epic wave riding or anything, just mellow cruising. Seemed like perfect conditions for the racer guys and just ordinary freeriding. So, Maui continues to deliver this April.

With some slack time on Friday and Saturday I had a chance to edit a bit more video from last Monday. Maui Sails' team rider Tati Frans, from Bonaire had been in town for the last few weeks. Tati is probably best known for his freestyle, but Monday he was showing his stuff on Hookipa's waves. Brazil's new Gaastra rider Marcilio Browne was also there along with Venezuela's Ricardo Campello, and Spain's Alex Mussolini of team Neil Pryde. So, today's video features a bit of footage from these international riders (QuickTime 7.1 MB).

Winds this morning look like they're slowly building, currently in the mid-teens. We'll probably get a pretty mellow day of sailing today as well as tomorrow. Winds are forecast to get a bit stronger around Tuesday for a few days. Then there's a chance the winds might turn more east or even slightly south of east which would probably make it mostly unsailable if that happens. Too early to tell yet. So, time to get some breakfast and get ready to go to the beach.

Comments:

Martin wrote:

Hope you will continue for many years to come. We made our first visit to Maui in October 2006. Before it was a dream and now it is an addiction ! Reading your blog everyday brings us back to our vacations since we are not familiar with the places you are talking about everyday. Mahalo Martin

Winds Falter

Friday, April 27, 2007 at 8:00pm HST

After 2 straight weeks of moderate to strong trade winds, Maui winds finally faltered today, barely blowing in the mid-teens at Kanaha all day. I got a phone reports in the morning and afternoon that it really wasn't worth driving down to the beach for. I heard Jeff the Vet was severely slogging on his 5.7. Not good news for me since that's my biggest sail.

The good news for visiting windsurfers is that winds should return Sunday or Monday. I think tomorrow will probably be another light day like today. Looking on the bright side, it gives the body time to recuperate.

Here's a couple more shots from Hookipa earlier this week. Phil McGain on the left and Levi Siver on the right.

Finally! Mellower Winds

Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 7.00pm HST

Winds on Maui mellowed significantly today - finally! The overwhelming sentiment at Kanaha today was one of relief as people were able to sail moderatly sized gear without being overwhelmingingly overpowered. My 4.7 was pretty much perfect from about 2:00 to 3:30. Nicely powered up. Nice to not be insanely overpowered for a change. The water was also quite a bit less choppy due to the mellower winds. Waves were pretty small at Uppers - waist to shoulder high mostly, with an occasional head high set. Pretty sloppy, but it was so nice to be sailing in mellow winds that it didn't matter.

Looking at the iWindsurf Kanaha sensor, it's got to be reading low. My first session on 4.7 it's showing average readings around 18 or 19 mph. Way lower than I would have expected. I would have expected to see readings of 23 or 24 mph. '

Winds tomorrow might get a little lighter still. No worries. As long as I can sail 5.3 I'll be happy. A new northwest swell is also due in some time tomorrow. Nothing big, but any bump at all is appreciated.

Winds continue to wage war on Maui

Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 4:10 pm HST

Yet another day of howling, raging winds here. After taking a couple of days off from sailing, I was pretty eager to get back on the water again today. Got down to Kanaha around noon and it looked like strong 4.5 already. Kind of funny to see some people's reaction as they arrive at the beach and get the news that it's still raging windy. Their shoulders slump as the groan. Lots of moaning going on about the strong winds. I think everyone I've spoken with has really been eager to get some mellower wind.

I went out on 4.5. Right out of the gate it was too much. 4.2 would have been well powered. Determined to get a short session and get some of the waves still rolling in, I held on. Wasn't long though before the wind cranked it up another notch though. Ok. No fun! By the time I got in, I could have easily been on 3.7 again. Women were rigging 3.0s. Great news if you're training to sail Pozo. But the rest of us, 'Nuf Already!

Today's digital media showcase features a bit of video footage from Hookipa on Monday (QuickTime 7.7 MB). This one opens with a scorching Kevin Pritchard cutback, then a soaring Matt Pritchard backloop, followed by a bunch of team Neil Pryde, including Levi Siver, Ricardo Campello, Jason Polakow and more launching some great aerials and down-the-line action.

Finally, a shout out to Michael S. from the Bay Area today for stopping by at Kanaha and saying hi today. Thanks Michael. Hope you and your wife had a great vacation here.

Comments:

Michael wrote:

Shouting back to you! Thanks for the thoughtful analysis of the conditions. Boy, everything you wrote the week we were here really resonated with our experience. Watch out Pozo, we're ready now! Would love to hear more about your lives/observations on Maui too. After a two year absence, it's amazing how this paradise becomes more and more and more crowded. Again thanks! Michael S.

Makani wrote:

Thanks Michael. One of these days I'll try to write a bit about living here on Maui. Just gotta find the time. Keep reminding me if I forget. I know a lot of windsurfers are curious about living here on Maui. It has definitely changed over the last few years and will no doubt change more.

11 Days in Row

Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at 3:05pm HST

We're on our 11th consecutive day of solid trade winds on Maui. It's nice to finally have it consistently windy enough that I don't feel like I have to sail every day. Yesterday we saw trade winds get windier again, accompanied by a pretty large north swell. I opted to take the day off from sailing yesterday and go to Hookipa to shoot some pixels. Initially the north swell was pretty meaty, beefy, big and bouncy with only 3 or 4 sailors out early. Levi Siver was making the most of the conditions while a handful of onlookers watched.

By 1:00 though, it was cleaning up and getting more consistent. Lots of Team Pryde out, joined by Matt and Kevin Pritchard. Got a few good photos, the first set are below. All but one of this set is Levi Siver. He was killing it yesterday.

After watching all the action at Hookipa I was a little tempted to sail so I headed to Kanaha to check out the situation there. Apparently the problem they had with the flooding was fixed and the park was opened in the early afternoon.

Winds were pretty strong, but somehow it just wasn't calling my name (it was however crying Mary's name whoever she is).

Winds are strong again today, but I'm opting to stay home and work all day. The forecast is still looking good for wind to continue for the next several days. It should drop some after tomorrow to more mellow conditions. Additionally, there's more north swell coming over the next few days as well. It's a great time to be a windsurfer on Maui right now.

Coming up in tomorrow's show I'll have some new video from Hookipa yesterday, featuring Kevin Pritchard, Matt Pritchard and a bunch of team Neil Pryde including Levi Siver, Ricardo Campello, Jason Polakow and more.

Sunday Sailing

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Another day of solid trade winds on Maui today. Moderate winds prevailed today like yesterday. 5.0 for me midday. Kanaha was again very crowded. Local weekend windsurfing warriors out en force plus lots of vacationing windsurfers here right now. Still some large swells today - mast high at times at Uppers. Wind was a little funky and holey in my opinion.

Looking ahead to the coming week, we've got a very BIG north west swell due to arrive some time tomorrow and trade winds are forecast to ramp up again. Big swell and big winds. Could be a lot of cargage over the next day or two.

Loking back to last week, here's a final set of pics from Hookipa last Tuesday featuring Kevin Pritchard, and that's 10 year old Bernd Roediger in the last photo with a cool one-handed aerial off the lip. Check out more of Bernd at his website at www.berndroediger.com.

Tomorrow I'll post the last bit of video from Tuesday.

Winds Down, Swell Up

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Winds today subsided to sane levels - low- to mid-20s, while the swell picked up substantially in the afternoon at Kanaha. Aside from a huge dip in the winds around 2:00 pm when they went super light for awhile, the wind was fairly good today - a welcome relief from the super strong winds we've had for the past week.

There was some decent swell in the morning - head-high or so, but in the afternoon it hit the mast-high range. The downside is that every wave junky on the north shore was eager to get some so, the crowds were a bit of an issue. The sets were a bit inconsistent as well and the remaining east wind swell from the previous days of strong wind made some of them a bit jumbled. Not complaining though. Got some big, meaty rides to get the adrenaline and endorphines pumping.

Winds tomorrow should be similar, then start picking up again on Monday. Another, larger north swell is due in on Monday. This one will have more of a west component in it though so we might not get it as much at Kanaha. We'll see.

More pics from Hookipa:

Yet another windy, windy day

Friday, April 20, 2007

Winds were supposed to subside a bit today. Did they? No. After giving yesterday a miss, I was determined to take the afternoon off and sail today. Things looked like they might be a little mellower when I headed down to the beach around 1:00 today. Still pretty windy. I rigged the 4.2 and got ready to head out. At about 1:30, someone cranked the wind dial up to extra-high though. The froth factor on the water doubled. Guys came in off the water with 4.2s commenting about being overpowered. Hmmm. Well, I could rig my wife's 3.7 and take that out. Why not! So, I rigged the 3.7, which I rarely, rarely need and took my wife's board and headed out. The first half hour I was actually very powered, sheeting out quite a bit. After that, the wind mellowed somewhat, and the 3.7 was about right (I'm ~185 lbs). Felt really weird being on such small gear and a different brand of sail and board than I'm used to, but it was nice to not be overpowered. By the end of my session the wind had dropped a bit to the point where a 4.2 was probably the better call.

We've had at least 6 or 7 days in a row of very strong winds. Think I'm exaggerating about how windy it is? Even Kevin Pritchard has been commenting on his blog about how crazy it's been. Check it out. The winds really are supposed to back down a notch or two this weekend before picking up again on Monday. A north swell is due to arrive some time tomorrow, followed by another larger, but more westerly swell on Monday. Monday may be another Hookipa video/photo shoot day if it's big swell and windy.

Here's some more photos from Tuesday's action at Hookipa.

Brutal Conditions

April 18, 2007

Brutal, nasty conditions at Kanaha this afternoon. There's been no lack of wind here on Maui for the last several days. Quantity we got. Quality... not! Seems like when the wind here is in the 30 knot range it just gets super gusty and turns the water into a churning psychotic mess. Not at all like the big glassy swells the Gorge produces when it hits 30 knots +. There were some long-time Kanaha regulars who called today the worst conditions they'd seen at Kanaha in a long time. The gusty, shifty wind combined with remnants of a small north shore and a messy east wind swell created big walls of nasty cross chop. The break was a jumbled mess. Of course, there were a couple of dissenting opinions who thought it was great, but they were definitely the minority.

When are these insane conditions supposed to subside? I thought it was supposed to mellow out a bit today, but the wind didn't get the memo I guess. Weather on the news tonight is saying the winds will back down a bit tonight and tomorrow. I think just about everyone here would welcome a drop of 5knots or so which would probably steady things out a bit or at least not make the cross chop so bad.

As for the surf forecast, taking a look at the Pat Caldwell surf forecast, it looks like we've got a pretty large swell due in sometime on Saturday and another, bigger swell on Monday. Wave season isn't over yet!

Here's the lastest set of photos from Hookipa yesterday, featuring Jason Polakow, Scott McKercher, Ian Lemos and a couple of other guys I couldn't identify.

Team Neil Pryde Hookipa 2008 Gear Photo shoot

April 17, 2007

Kanaha this morning just wasn't very tempting - really gusty, light on the inside, waves looked pretty junky. So I opted to head upwind to Hookipa to see if there were still any photo shoots going on. A moderate north swell had been forecast so I figured Hookipa ought to be firing pretty good.

Coming around the bend at Mama's Fish House and looking out at Hookipa you catch your first glimpse of what Hookipa is offering. The first set I saw was a meaty and mast-high. When I got up on the bluff there had to have been about a dozen of team Neil Pryde out and just about no one else. Representing Team Pryde were Phil Horrocks, Ricardo Campello, Baptiste Gossein, Antoine Albeau ( I think) and others.

The sets kept rolling in, mostly in the logo- to mast-high range - a few even bigger and some runts in the pack as well. Everyone was putting out for the cameras and there were a lot of spectacular aerials and wipe outs, lots of swimming for gear and the requisite rock session by a few unfortunate sailors.

As the afternoon progressed, more and more people showed up, including several team riders from teams Starboard, Simmer and Quatro plus Graham Ezzy and Kevin Pritchard.

The overcast skies weren't the greatest lighting for the shoot, but I got lots of photos as well as some video that will be up in a few days. Here's the first batch of photos from when the Pryde guys had the place to themselves.

Merci

April 17, 2007

Thanks to several French speaking readers I have some translations from the French website U-ride.net's article about this site:

Thomas at U-Ride.net translated it this way:

MauiWindsurfing.net is at the right place to look photoshooting 2008. Photos and videos illustrate new boards and sails Naish, Fanatic, Starboard, Mistral, Hot, Pryde and more...Great pics for waveriders who like scoop"

Vincent wrote:

"here is a translation Maui.....net is at the perfect location in order to attend the 2008 photoshoot here is an exemple with this video and thoses pictures in which u will be able to see North,......, new products. Thoses that enjoy both wavesailing and press scoops will really apreciate. I hope i helped take care, and thank u for u r blog realy love it Aloha"

And Olivier wrote:

The translation: "MauiWindsurfing stands at the best place to follow up the 2008 photoshootings. Thanks to its Videos and pictures, everyone enjoy discovering the new gear from North.... What a pleasure for all waveriders looking for scoops." Great website. I'm coming to Maui next winter for sure... Olivier

Thanks everyone for your help. It's pretty cool have a global windsurfing community like this.

I just ran across an article on the PWA site about the Butterfly Effect downwinder that I wrote about last night. Check out Tatiana's write-up about it.

Kevin Pritchard also has a brief little write-up on this on his blog.

Also want to give a Mahalo to the Windsurf News blog for linking to this site. Looks like a great source to get your daily dose of windsurfing news. Thanks guys!

And now, time to get back to work so I can go sail later today.

Trade winds still raging

April 16, 2007

Strong trade winds prevailed again today here on Maui. I didn't get a chance to get away from work to get down and sail today, but I hear it was about as windy as yesterday.

Anyone out there able to translate some French to English for me? I know we have quite a few regular readers from France and this site has been getting some good referrals from the French windsurfing website U-Ride.net the last few days. On their home page they have a little mini-article linking here with the following text:

"MauiwWindsurfing.net est aux premières loges pour assiter aux photoshootings 2008. En témoignent cette vidéo et ses photos qui mettent en scène quelques nouveautés North, Naish, Fanatic, Starboard, Mistral, Hot, Pryde etc... Que du bonheur pour les vagueux avides de scoops ;)"

I tried translating through Google and Babel Fish but there were a few words neither of them could translate. The last sentence in particular seems to stump both of the translation algorithms. Obviously it's about the photoshoot photos and video I've posted, which, in case it wasn't obvious, are shots of 2008 boards and sails. So, these photos and video are probably your first look at the new 2008 gear. Each of the manufacturers is doing these photo shoots to get shots of the new 2008 gear for the magazines and their catalogs. So, to quote a cliche, you saw it here first. Here's a couple more.

The Downwinder

So, as I alluded to yesterday, I participated in a downwinder from Hookipa. This event, called "The Butterfly Effect" was organized by local pro windsurfers Tatiana Howard, Juliana Gomes de Farias and Anne Marie Reichman to lead a group of female windsurfers in a downwinder from Hookipa to Kanaha. My wife has really wanted to do a downwinder from Hookipa to Kanaha for several years and so have I. So, when she decided to do it, I couldn't let her do it before me, so I decided that I was going to tag along, even though it was organized as a "girls-only" event.

So, despite a forecast for very strong winds, a group of girls assembled at Hookipa beach park around 10:00 am. In addition to the organizers, local windsurfing school owner and instructor Linda Stott showed up with several of her "Windsurfing Diva" teenage girls. Additionally, pro windsurfers Nori Hubbs and Tiffany Ward and others showed up to lends support. A few other local windsurfer women showed up to participate in the event as well.

The plan was for Linda to lead the way and have one of the pro girls at the end of the pack keeping an eye on everyone. Additionally, everyone buddied up and there was a jet ski tagging along as a safety precaution and to get photos.

Initially the conditions at Hookipa were pretty dismal with light wind and rain squalls. Most of the girls opted to rig 4.0s. It was looking pretty light so I rigged 4.7 and even opted for my floaty 90 liter wave board, since it was looking like it was going to be a squally day, I wanted the extra flotation in case the wind died, and my 90 liter board is amazingly forgiving in strong winds. Big mistake!

So we started launching around 11:30. Those who launched first just sailed Hookipa for a bit, waiting for the whole group to assemble. By about 12:15 everyone was out and it was time to head downwind. That was about when the wind decided to kick in.

Getting down to Lanes, the first beach down from Hookipa, things were still kind of fun. There was some wind swell to play on and the wind was still manageable. Next stop, Kuau, just past Mama's fish house. It was about here that one of the women had a minor equipment problem, her boom head had come undone. My wife and Nori Hubbs stopped to help her out and I hovered around, staying close to my wife. Things finally got back together, but by this time the rest of the pack was already pretty far downwind, and somehow my wife and I found ourselves alone at the end of the pack, pretty far back, so we got going to try to catch up. About this time, the wind got even nastier, probably blowing 40 in some of the big gusts and we ended up putting in at Paia beach to flatten out our sails and take a short break. When the wind looked like it had subsided slightly we headed back out.

The next beach down is Baldwin beach, where windsurfing isn't allowed. I've heard tales of the lifeguards forbidding windsurfers to land there. So, we knew that wasn't an option. Around this area the wind seemed to shift and it got to be incredibly difficult to bear off and get down wind. On our starboard tacks heading out, we were heading way back up the coast. The port tacks coming in were the only way we could make progress down the coast as we would luff our sails and ride the swell as best we could. It seemed to take forever but we finally made it down to the end of Baldwin Beach. Next stop Baby Beach.

Baby Beach doesn't really have much options for getting out, especially in strong winds. So we continued our slow progress down, dropping in the water frequently to ride out the stronger gusts, waiting for a "lull" of 30 knots to water start and try to bear off and ride some swell.

After Baby Beach is Sugar Cove. The group had decided ahead of time to take a break at Sugar Cove. It's roughly a little over half way between Hookipa and Kanaha. After rounding the red clay parking area at Baby Beach we knew we only had a couple more reaches and we'd be at Sugar Cove. We thought we might find the rest of the group there when we landed, but there were only two other girls from the original group there. It turns out that one of the girls actually got out way back at Tavares beach and called her family to pick her up, then drove her car to Sugar Cove. My wife and I had already decided that we'd get out at Sugar Cove rather than try to make it all the way down to Kanaha. So, my wife caught a ride down to Kanaha to get our car.

It was a little bit disappointing not completing the full downwinder. We initially thought that most of the group finished the trip down to Kanaha, but we later found out that a lot, if not most of the girls derigged at Sugar Cove and were picked up by friends and family. It's about 4 miles from Hookipa to Sugar Cove, driving along the freeway, but when we got off the water at Sugar Cove it had been 2 hours since we started to head downwind.

So, quite an adventure. Looking back on it, it obviously wasn't a good day to do a downwinder, but sitting here on dry land now I think it's actually a good experience to put yourself out there a little bit and get your ass kicked by the elements a little bit. I think it's fair to say that everyone, whether they finished at Kanaha or somewhere earlier, learned something and grew a little from having to dig down into their reserves to make the journey.

As the token, tag-along male, I take my hat off to the ladies. There were various skill levels and ages, but I'm sure everyone was out of their comfort zone to some degree. All these ladies performed awesomely and truly showed that Girls Rock!

Comments:

Barb wrote:

Hey, that was a great account of your Downwinder. I was there with you every bump of the way. Thanks for letting us in on the adventure, and for being a good shepherd for the gal who broke down.

Nuking Winds

April 15, 2007

Winds this weekend cranked up into the nuclear range. Sailed yesterday at Kanaha pretty powered on 4.2. Today I took part in a downwinder from Hookipa - on a 4.7 in 30 knots of wind with about a dozen girls on 4.0s. Kinda nuts and not a lot of fun, but I'll write more about that later. Meanwhile, here's a few more photos for everyone's Monday morning work diversion. Winds are supposed to pick up even more tomorrow and Tuesday!

Kanaha photoshoot

April 14, 2007

Good solid day of trade winds on the north shore yesterday. I got an early start, getting on the water around 11:30 with my 5.3, comfortably powered up. Sailed for about an hour at Uppers, mostly backside riding wind swell, but there were actually a couple of down-the-line sets, about shoulder high, that came through.

Team Starboard was out in force again yesterday at Kanaha running another photoshoot with half a dozen of the Bonaire freestyle kids, Kevin Pritchard and Brian Talma lighting up the beach with his charismatic irie action attitude. I snapped a couple of photos of the action. It's interesting to see how Starboard runs their photoshoots - very organized and orchestrated in how they direct the helicopter - sending sailors out one-by-one with the helicopter following behind the sailor maybe 100 feet above the water.

Some close-up freestyle for the cameraman in the water

Not sure what this was supposed to be - maybe a failed Boomerang?

The chopper follows behind a couple of Starboard guys

Later in the afternoon, somebody cranked the wind machine up to high. Averages wind speeds hit 30 with gusts in the upper 30s. It also got gustier which made everything a bit choppier. Morning session was definitely better in my opinion.

Saturday morning now and winds are already averaging 20 at Kanaha. My forecast for the day is that it will be pretty mellow sailing until midday then the winds will crank up again. Not much in the wave department aside from windswell. Should be a great day for blasting around for all the vacationing windsurfers on island now. And, forecast still looks good for wind for at least the next week.

More Hookipa photos

April 12, 2007

Winds today and yesterday have been a bit funky. The weather forecasters were calling for wind to continue yesterday, but it was so south of east that it made winds super, super light on the inside at Kanaha. I was misled to go to the beach by higher than reality readings on the iWindsurf Kanaha sensor. It was reading 20 or so, but reality was about 12 inside the reef. I could have rigged big and slogged outside the reef, but the waves were tiny and I was lazy and opted for a Costco session instead.

Winds today have also been very light. As of 2:00pm when I'm writing this, winds are about 14 at Kanaha. So, I think I'll stay here and bask in the glow of my computer screen some more. But, winds are supposed to return tomorrow for another long stretch, so if you're here visisting on Maui or coming soon, don't worry.

Yet more photos from Hookipa the other day. Also close to getting done editing video from this session. Probably have that up later tonight or tomorrow.

More photos from Hookipa yesterday

April 11, 2007

Here's some more photos from Hookipa yesterday ...

Photoshoot photoshoot

April 10, 2007

Winds today at Kanaha took awhile to build to sailable levels but it was blowing at Hookipa so I thought I'd stop by and shoot some photos and videos of the photo shoot action going on there. Hookipa was blowing 4.7 - 5.0ish for guys with some fairly decent size sets rolling in at irregular intervals. Competition for the waves was fierce - not much wave etiquette happening from my point of view. Here's a couple of photos from today. Couple more new ones in the photo gallery and I'll upload more over the next few days.

Also in the process of downloading video from my camera. It'll probably be a day or two before I get the time to edit any of that - not until we get a no-wind day - probably Thursday.

Around 2:00 I got a message from my wife who was teaching a lesson at Kanaha that the wind had come up so I boogied down the coast to Kanaha.

Initially, Kanaha looked about 5.0 for me, so that's what I rigged. About the time I launched though, the wind cranked up an extra 5 knots or more. One reach out and back was too much on the 5.0. Came in and rigged 4.5. Better, but even that was a handful at times. Some decent waves still but the wind was wicked, nasty and gnarly, making for choppy conditions. I got a few waves and decided I didn't need to punish my already tired body any more.

Should have another day of wind tomorrow then it's supposed to drop to calm and variable winds on Thursday, but returning on Friday.

Comments:

Anders wrote:

Hallo Makani, this is Anders from Denmark..Keep up the good work, i read your blog every morning at work as the first thing...Im coming back to Maui next month for 2 weeks, so your daily input is awesome, especially during the winther, where we surf in 2-5 degrees water + air..hehe, whatever keeps you going..haha.... thanx for the daily dose of windsurf.. Anders

Makani wrote:

Thanks Anders. Glad to provide the virtual stoke to folks. I ran into another reader at Kanaha today (sorry I forgot to get your name). Always cool to hear how this little project gets folks through the winter. Stay tuned the next few days. More photos and video coming soon.

Lars wrote:

Aloha Makani Funny how people from all over the place take a morning peek at your blog. I had a super semester at the UH in Honolulu last fall with lots of sailing at Diamond Head. I also made it to Maui once in a while and I use your blog to dream myself back into paradise. Enjoy and keep posting a bit of that perfect place - mahalo Lars, Denmark

Makani wrote:

Thanks Lars. Looks like it's especially a hit in Denmark. I also get a kick out of the fact that most people visit the site while they're at work. No doubt fantasizing about getting out of their office and going sailing. :)

More wind & waves

April 9, 2007

Day 2 of trade winds and big waves on the north shore today. But first, an update on yesterday. I left Kanaha around 2:00 and the waves were already logo-high at Lowers and bigger at Uppers. The talk on the beach today was how insanely big it got yesterday. Waves got bigger after I left, closing out the channel between Lowers and Uppers. Lots of gear breakage and some bodily injuries as well.

The Easter picnicers were absent today but Kanaha was beehive of activity as both Starboard and Fanatic were running photo shoots of their new gear. Thousands of dollars of brand new gear strewn about all over the place, Starboard- and Fanatic-sponsored pro sailors from all over the world rigging and sailing. Also lots of vacationing windsurfers from all over as well.

Despite all the people though, I was able to score some epic waves at Uppers in the early afternoon. On arrival, the wind looked pretty sketchy, with some occasional gusts. Looked like gusts of 5.0 and lulls of 6.0 so I rigged my 5.3 and worked my way up to Uppers. Uppers was still going off with big, meaty, mast-high + monsters rolling in consistently when I got there. Amazingly, hardly anyone else was up there. A kiter and maybe two other windsurfers. I was lucky enough to score a handful of big, smooth waves that I had all to myself for the first half hour or so. By 2:00 the secret was out though as a dozen or so other windsurfers arrived. Still plenty of room most of the time, but there's nothing quite as sweet as being able to score several waves with no one else contending for them.

By 2:30 the waves were starting to get less consistent and the wind got a bit funky a bit later as well. Damn good session though!

I heard that the Hookipa both yesterday and today has had too much west in the waves, making the riding less than ideal. That would explain why most Hookipa regulars were at Kanaha yesterday and today, although apparently Mistral ran their photo shoot at Hookipa today.

Forecast for tomorrow is for stronger wind but the waves should be declining a bit. A new north swell is scheduled to arrive in Wednesday or Thursday and we should still have wind then. Wind should stick around for the foreseeable future, although wind strength may fluctuate a bit, maybe getting a bit light on Thursday and Saturday for a day.

Trade winds return

April 8, 2007

Easter brought a return of our long lost trade winds to Maui today, ending a two week (for me at least) wind drought. Checking the wind sensors this morning, things were looking a little doubtful, but by 10:00 am trade winds were blowing 17 mph, enough to get me salivating at this point. Got down to Kanaha about 11:30 to find that half the island had decided to have Easter picnics there today. Parking was still available then, but by 2:00 all parking had been taking and people were resorting to very creative parking. The park was probably the most crowded I've ever seen it, mostly with local non-windsurfers.

As for the sailing, when I arrived it was pretty light, 5.7 looked to be the call. There were some nice looking logo-high sets rolling in at Lowers, so I didn't waste much time in rigging and getting on the water .

The 5.7 was a little underpowered initially as I bore off wind to head down to Lowers. I caught a couple of nice, fun waves, before hitting the lip a little late on one and getting my clew caught in the whitewater, and going down for a cycle in the washing machine. Perhaps I was a bit too complacent since there weren't any big sets coming and I took my time getting up. Got my sail cleared and ready to waterstart and head back out when I saw a waist-high set about to break on top of me. "Ah @#$@!" I thought, "the mast is in perfect position, (facing the beach), to get munched." I dove under the wave, hoping for the best and came up to find, I was in the market for a new 430 mast, that I was going to miss a lot of nice waves and that I'd get to get a nice workout swimming in. The mast ws broken about 8 inches above the boom. Derigging looked like a dicey proposition in the surf so I just started swimming my gear in. 45 minutes later I made it to shore - right in front of the lifeguard station.

Lessons learned?

• Don't get complacent when you're down in the rinse cycle, especially when your mast is pointing the wrong way.
• Don't expect the lifeguards to come out and rescue you. I'm sure they probably spotted me and were keeping an eye on me and might have headed out in the jet ski had I shown I was in more trouble (hopefully), but don't expect to get a free tow in.
• Even a small waist-high wave can break a mast.
• Even skinny masts break. I already knew this, but several people on the beach were astonished that a skinny mast would break.
• It takes me 45 minutes to swim in with my gear from Lowers.

A couple of sailors sailed by to check if I was ok. One offered to tow in my sail, but by that time I was only 100 meters from the beach so it really wasn't worth it. He asked, "Was it worth it?" I replied, "No." It was a pretty small and mushy wave that caught me. Now if it had been one of the nice clean, logo-high sets, maybe I would have replied differently.

Anyway, while I was in the water, the wind picked up nicely. I had a pretty good view of lots of people catching some nice sets at Lowers. I never made it up to Uppers but I heard it was pretty lumpy and bumpy .

I'm guessing Hookipa was either closed out today or just really trashy. Lots of pros and Hookipa regulars were at Kanaha today, adding to the already congested conditions.

So, not exactly an epic day for me personally, but the wind is back for at least several days, we've got waves and tomorrow will be a better day.

Waves are back

April 6, 2007

We've had some nice north swell this week, probably the best swell we've had in over a month. That's great news if you're a surfer - frustrating news if you want to windsurf. Still no wind. It's pretty agonizing seeing decent waves breaking on the north shore but no wind. The good news is that the forecast is still predicting the return of trade winds, possibly sailable as early as Sunday or Monday and building each day. A new swell is forecast to reach us Sunday evening too. Things are definitely looking up for next week. If you're arriving on Maui for your windsurfing vacation next week, you timed it well. :)

Doldrums Continue

April 5, 2007

Still no trade winds. We were supposed to get trades on Tuesday but it ended up being even lighter than Monday and yesterday and today were lighter still. Just meager sea breezes. It's been 11 days since there was enough for me to sail and it looks like 2 or 3 more to go. Light trades are supposed to return sometime on Sunday, but they may be too light to sail. But, they're forecast to increase in strength starting early next week.