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2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Awards - Best Wave360Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 5:50 pm HSTOur penultimate category in the 2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Awards is best wave360 (Flash Player 1.3 MB). Voting is now closed for this category.
Wind today was pretty rebelious against the forecasts. By all accounts, the winds were supposed to get lighter today than yesterday with a high pressure ridge weakening and moving down on top of us. I expected marginal 5.7 winds on the north shore at best. Well, this just goes to show how Maui can come through with the wind despite overall light patterns. Instead of marginal 5.7 I was lit up, well powered on 4.7. Who'da thunk? Wind was pretty nice and steady, there was some occasional small waves at Uppers. Pretty much an awesome day of sailing on the north shore. As for the next few days.... it really is supposed to lighter, especially on Saturday when it looks like we'll get variable winds. But as today proved, you never know for sure on Maui. |
2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Award Best Goiter WinnerWednesday, May 30, 2007 at 6:00 pm HSTThomas Traversa came away with a whopping 68% of the votes for best goiter/goiter attempt . Here's the full results: First place: Clip #1 Thomas Traversa - 68% of the votes Only two more categories to go; best wave 360 and best/worst wipeout. As for wind, as predicted the wind bumped up a notch today both on the north shore and in Kihei. My venue of choice was Kanaha - 5.3 and floaty 90 liter wave board did the trick, which is kind of surprising when I look at the iWindsurf graph for the day. 18 - 19 for averages and NNE direction. For those wanting stronger wind, I'm sure Kihei delivered. Looks like it was probably 4.5 - 5.0ish there. Kanaha even had occasional small waist-high sets way up at Uppers/Camp One. Pretty sloppy, but this time of year we take what we can get wave-wise. Looks like tomorrow will likely be similar to today. Then starting Friday it looks like the trades will back off pretty signifantly for 3 or 4 days and we'll likely see light and variable winds. Just in time for the opening day of the Maui Race Series on Saturday. Viewer Mail/Question Ian asks, "Makani, I have been coming to Maui each July for the past 15 years. I found the start of last July was windier than other years. Reading your blog, Maui has been having some pretty windy days over tha last couple of months. Do you think the trades now are stronger than past years?" Ian Thanks for the question Ian. I know I'm not alone in thinking that this spring the trades have been stronger than past years. I've heard a lot of comments from long-time residents that this has been the windiest spring they've seen, at least in terms of the number of really windy days. Personally, I think this summer is going to be higher wind than we've seen. I've already been using my 4.2 more this year than in years past and I'm contemplating getting a smaller sail and board or at least a smaller board. Hard to say if this is a long-term trend due to climate change or just an anomoly. |
2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Awards - Best GoiterTuesday, May 29, 2007 at 6:25 pm HSTOur next category in the 2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Awards is best goiter (Flash Player 928 KB). Actually, this should probably be called the best goiter attempt, because in all of the clips they're not landing in front of the wave and sailing away. It's a very impressive move - one I'll never purposely try - and from everything I've seen and heard they're pretty difficult to land successfully. I've got a lot of goiter attempts on film, but very few are even close to being successful, so that's why there's only four nominees today. Nominees include Thomas Traversa, Taty Frans, Kauli Seadi and a Neil Pryde guy I can't identify (if you can identify him send me a comment). Voting is now closed for this category. |
2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Award Best Goiter WinnerWednesday, May 30, 2007 at 5:50 pm HSTThomas Traversa came away with a whopping 68% of the votes for best goiter/goiter attempt . Here's the full results: First place: Clip #1 Thomas Traversa - 68% of the votes In wind news, it's another light trade wind day here. Kihei has seen the highest readings, as it often does when there's a lot of north component in the wind. Wind on the north shore has been onshore in the low teens. Over in Kihei it's been slightly windier - probably sailable for those in need of a wind fix. Looks like tomorrow we might see a slight boost in trade winds according to the weather guys, so the north shore may see sailable conditions tomorrow, but my guess is that wind will still be a bit stronger in Kihei, so keep an eye on Kihei if you're vacationing here and trying to maximize your planing time. |
2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Awards - Best Bottom TurnMonday, May 28, 2007 at 9:20 am HSTOur next category in the 2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Awards is best bottom turn (Flash Player 716 KB). I think a strong, aggressive bottom turn is still one of the coolest moves in windsurfing - laying the sail down inches off of the water right in front of a big wall of water is a thing of beauty. Nominees include Jason Polakow, Kevin Pritchard, Matt Pritchard and two others I can't quite identify. I edited the clips to just show the bottom turn so they go by pretty fast so you have to pay attention. Voting is now closed for this category.Winds so far this morning are pretty light and out of the north. Granted it's still early, but this doesn't bode well for north shore sailing today. Kihei might actually be the venue of choice today. |
Sunday Squally SundaySunday, May 27, 2007 at 7:10 pm HSTYesterday we saw another day of strong trade winds. I got to the beach early yesterday and hit the water at 11:00 on a 4.2. Initially it was a tad bit too small, but by 11:30 or so it was just right. The wind held pretty steady at this level until the early afternoon when the Maui wind afterburners kicked in. My mid-afternoon session on the 4.2 was pretty lit up - probably could have sailed my wife's 3.7 at that point. The interesting anecdote of the day yesterday goes to Jacques Pauvert, owner of Jacque's restaurant in Paia, friend of Robby Naish and perpetual tester of Naish sails. He and Robby did a downwinder from Hookipa on 5.5 and 6.0 sails when it was blowing 30 knots. Somewhere around Sprecks, Jacques somehow snagged a fish hook in his calf. They kept sailing down to Kanaha. At Kanaha, he asked me if I had a "clean pliers." My wife dug out a rusty pair of pliers, not knowing what he wanted it for. Then he puts his leg on the guard rail and says (in his thick French accent), "Can you pull this fish hook out for me?" Uhhhhhh. Hmm. Well, there happened to be a couple of ER docs at the beach so we tracked one down along with a cleaner set of pliers. The doc pushed the fish hook through a bit, snipped off the end (of the fish hook, not the leg) with another pair, and pulled out the rest. His comment was, "We usually apply a local anesthetic, before doing that." Jacques didn't even wince during the "surgery." Must have been all the adrenalin from blasting down wind on a sail a meter and half too big. Surgery accomplished, Robby borrowed some duct tape to wrap his feet that were wearing out from the footstraps and they set out to head back upwind (5 miles + ) to Hookipa where they launched. Today was a far cry different than yesterday. We expected the winds to drop a tad, but not the amount they did. Turns out that a band of clouds and moisture in the trade wind flow passed through Maui today, not really bringing much rain, but it wreaked havoc with the wind. Really up and down and squally and a bit onshore. Kind of unusual for that kind of weather this time of year. We opted to sail up at Sugar Cove today to avoid the crowds at Kanaha that holiday weekends bring. I think we actually got a bit better wind than Kanaha. Wind was anywhere between 4.5 and 5.7 between noon and 4:00 and changed a sail size every 15 minutes. As for the future, it looks like winds will lighten up even more the next few days. Somehow I suspect that as long as we don't get another band of showers like today that Maui will work its magic and we'll get sailable wind. It may be light 5.5 - 6.0 and short-lived but I suspect it will still remain sailable for those who committed enough to get on the water. |
Memorial Day WeekendSaturday, May 26, 2007 at 9:15 am HSTIt's a beautiful Saturday morning here on Maui. Sun is shining, birds are chirping, skies and water are blue, wind is already blowing in the mid-20s. Looks like it will be a repeat of yesterday, which was almost a repeat of the day before. The lunch session yesterday was very powered up 4.2 - 4.5 for most guys, 3.7 for the ladies. Around 3:00 it jumped up another 5mph and it was the guys' turn to get on the 3.7s and 4.0s. It's a holiday weekend in the U.S. and no doubt Kanaha will be very crowded the next several days with windsurfers and picnicers. Looks like we'll have plenty of sunshine and wind for everyone. |
Summer sailing is here earlyFriday, May 25, 2007 at 11:15 am HSTModerate to strong trade winds kicked in on the north shore yesterday. Caught the afternoon session well powered on 4.2. Flat water, no waves. It's looking like today will be a do-over of yesterday. There's a potential for a late season north swell to arrive some time this weekend. |
2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Award Best Aerial WinnerWednesday, May 23, 2007 at 6:35 pm HSTAnother winner in the viewers choice awards. Not quite as much of a lopsided victory this time, as the others, but pretty clear cut nonetheless. Here's the results: First place: Clip #2 - 50% of the votes In wind news, the trade winds returned to Maui today in full force. I caught the lunch session, 5.0 was the call. Wind was a bit holey and shifty as it often is the first day back from a long stretch, but it was a gorgeous day to be out on the water and it felt great to be on the water after a week off. Looks like lots of vacationing windsurfers arriving - taking advantage of the upcoming holiday weekend. Team Naish were down at Kanaha today testing race gear, including the Man himself, Robby Naish, testing head to head against Jacques from Jacques restaurant in Paia who is one helluva fast sailor. Looks like a good, long stretch of trade winds and we even have a late season north swell due to arrive some time this weekend. |
2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Awards - Best Aerial Off the LipTuesday, May 22, 2007 at 3:00 pm HSTOur next category in the 2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Awards is best aerial off the lip, or best aerial for short (Flash Player 1.5 MB). Unfortunately, I'm not sure who the first three nominees are other than they're all team Neil Pryde. Nominee #4 is Kevin Pritchard and nominee #5 is Levi Siver. You'll have to ingore the lameness of the cameraman on both those clips. I somehow bumped the camera on KP's aerial, but if you look closely, it's a one-footed aerial - he pulls his front foot out in midair. On Levi's somehow the color got all screwed up. Don't hold my poor camera skills against them. Rules are the same as before. View the video. Out of the five clips, pick your favorite, select the corresponding number in the form below and click submit. I'll tally everyone's results and count up the winners and runners-up. As for wind, it's been a bit of a teaser today, hinting at coming up to sailable levels, but as of this writing it hasn't made it above 16mph yet. My threshold for planing on my 5.7 is about 18mph. Close, but not quite enough to get me to the beach yet. Bodes well for tomorrow though. Voting is now closed for this category. |
2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Award Best Cutback WinnerMonday, May 21, 2007 at 4:35 pm HSTIt's another landslide victory in the Best Cutback (aka best off the lip, or best snap per Big Wave Dave). Kauli Seadi's slashing, sliding top turn in clip #5 took top honors garnering a whopping 68% of the votes. Running a distance second and third were Levi Siver's snappy turn in clip #2 with 17% and Scott McKercher sprayfest in clip #3 with 6% respectively. Baptiste Gossein and Keith Teboul split the remainder of the votes evenly. Thanks again to everyone who voted. Look for the next category some time tomorrow. Still in very light wind mode here. There's hope on the horizon though with trades forecast to return by Wednesday. Some indicators are pointing to trades beginning to return tomorrow afternoon, other not until Wednesday evening. I'll go out on a limb and predict Wednesday afternoon we should see sailable winds. |
2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Awards - Best CutbackSunday, May 20, 2007 at 11:45 am HST
Best Cutback High-speed Internet (QuickTime, 1 MB) Best Cutback Sloooow Internet (QuickTime 196 KB) Rules are simple. View the video. Out of the five clips, pick your favorite, select the corresponding number in the form below and click submit. I'll tally everyone's results and count up the winners and runners-up. Judging criteria is totally subjective. In choosing the nominees, I looked for big sprayage and/or a really vertical, snappy smack of the lip. But it's up to you. Voting is now closed for this category.Comments: Wave wrote: It should be called best off the lip, or best snap.Cut back is more of a long carve that takes you from the shoulder back into the bowl. Love the blog and all the pics and vids! Keep it going! Makani wrote: Thanks Wave. |
2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Award Best Backloop WinnerSaturday, May 19, 2007 at 11:35 am HSTThe votes are in and tallied. The winner of the 2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Award in the Best Backloop category is (drum roll please) .... Josh Stone, as seen in backloop clip #1 (QuickTime 60 KB). Congratulations Josh and thanks to all who voted. The results were pretty conclusive with 77% of voters favoring video #1, 21% favoring Matt Pritchard's backloop, and the remaining 2% favoring Josh's #3 backloop. Winds here on Maui have virtually disappeared today. Yesterday saw mostly light winds, puncuated by a couple of brief periods of teasing, tempting upper teens, even reaching 20 for a very short stretch. This morning the air is stagnant (thanks to light winds and a sugar cane fire that has polluted the whole central valley) and still. The high pressure ridge that generates our trade winds is sitting right on top of us, essentially squashing the trade winds. This pattern is forecast to persist for 2 or 3 days with trade winds beginning to transition back some time on Tuesday. So, probably no sailing reports until Wednesday. But, I will have the next viewers choice category to view and vote on probably tomorrow, Monday at the latest. Stay tuned. |
2007 MauiWindsurfing Video Viewers Choice Awards - Best BackloopThursday, May 17, 2007 at 11:15 am HST
The process is simple. View the video for the current category (QuickTime, 1 MB). Our opening category is Best Backloop. Out of the three clips, pick your favorite, select the corresponding number in the form below and click submit. I'll tally everyone's results and count up the winners and runners-up. Judging criteria is totally subjective, but I'll give you my criteria for why I chose the nominees. For this category, I looked at two main things in backloops - amplitude (how high up he went) and style. So, there you have the rules. View the video. Submit your vote. Voting is now closed for this category. |
2007 Maui Windsurfing Viewer's Choice AwardsMonday, May 14, 2007 at 5:15 pm HST
As a wrap-up to the season, I thought I'd try something new here and put together some videos and let you the viewers vote on your favorites. Categories will include:
So, over the next week or two I'll be posting these short videos, category-by-category along with a very simple little form to let you vote your top choice out of about 3 - 5 clips in each of the categories above. What's the point? Why bother? Just for the hell of it. I thought it might be interesting to see what response this site's viewers would have to being able to collaborate a bit. Here's a short little teaser video of some of the contenders . (QuickTime 4.9 MB). As for windsurfing today, I don't know. I never made it down to the beach, but I see that winds came up in the late afternoon. I heard that the Neil Pryde shop was sending out 5.4s and 5.8s mostly, so it sounds like it was sailable. Whatever it was today is likely what we'll see for the next several days. The overall weather pattern is light trades, but Maui's central valley helps amplify that a bit, so we may see sailable winds here despite very light winds elsewhere in the islands. Finally today, thanks to Steve R. for sending in this video of a classic old school freestyle move, the Essex jibe (Windows Media Player, 2.9 MB), performed down at Kanaha on Saturday by Karl. With summer's consistent wind and lack of waves it's a great time to learn some new moves on Maui. Personally, I think this one may be on my list of things to learn this summer. If you're intersted in learning this, or any other move for that matter, check out Royn Bartholdi's site. Great step by step explanations. Comments: Windfanatic wrote: "...Whatever it was today is likely what we'll see for the next several days..." .. and that, my friend, doesn't sound bad at all.. bunch of us sailed Kanaha, 4.7, 5.0 & 5.5, .. ranging from comfortably powered to really lit up from 1pm to 6:30pm.. yes... just freeriding, but good fun, good friends, what else can you ask for?!. Sailing like mad cause the long range forecast is certainly ominous :-( Makani wrote: Wow. Sounds like I missed it! Looking at the winds this morning they're reading calm. Hopefully we'll get a repeat of yesterday later today. Thanks for the report. Maui once again delivered the goods. |
Shredding Simmer StyleThursday, May 10, 2007 at 7:15 pm HST
Winds today were pretty sweet in the early afternoon - mellow for a change. I went with 4.5 which was a hair too light for the first 45 minutes but I was able to milk it enough to get some nice, fun little waves at Uppers. Nothing epic, just mellow shoulder-high stuff. But there were very few people up there so that was a nice bonus. After a bit the wind dropped to 5.0 levels and the got pretty funky around 3:00pm changes directions erratically. Fun day nonetheless though. Nice to not have things somewhat mellow for a change. |
More of the sameWednesday, May 9, 2007 at 4:20pm HSTYesterday, was pretty much a do-over of Monday. I opted for the lunch session to avoid the gnarliest conditions of the day. 4.5 at noon was about right for 40 minutes then the wind came up to 4.2. Didn't make it to the beach today, but it's still windy, maybe slightly mellower than yesterday. Winds should get a little mellower tomorrow through Saturday, then possibly get light. More photos from Hookipa last week ...
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Thomas TraversaMonday, May 7, 2007 at 7:00 pm HST
Here's what Gaastra/Tabou's Matt Pritchard has to say about Thomas: "Thomas is one of those guys that RIPS! He doesn't do so well in the contests because he goes so hard and doesn't think about falling off. I have been trying to get him to settle down during contests so keep your eye out for him- until then, expect him to be doing some of the sickest moves known to man!" - Matt Pritchard Winds today started out pretty mellow and gradually worked up to the brutal stage again by the end of the day. Getting on the water before 1:00pm would have been a pretty nice. I got on the water at 3:00 and by then the wind was a strong 4.2 and the water was once again a choppy, sloppy mess. So, as Starman commented below in yesterday's post, it was again too gusty for fun wave riding. I don't know what it is about this spring, but it's definitely windier and gustier than past years. Should be the same tomorrow and Wednesday before backing off a bit on Thursday. |
Trade Winds Are BackSunday, May 6, 2007 at 4:30pm HSTTrade winds returned today, a day earlier than I anticipated. Gotta love it when the forecast is wrong but in a good way. 85L/5.0 was pretty much the perfect combo for the midday session at Uppers. Beautiful, sunny, warm day again. Not much in the wave department - just some sloppy small stuff at Uppers. Not really worth fighting for in my opinion so I opted to play in the rolling swell outside the break. Looks like several more days of trade winds lining up. One helluva windy spring we're having here on Maui! :)
Comments: Starman wrote: i just got home from 14 days in maui and I must say maui is a lot windy-er then I like for wave sailing 4 of the good wave days had 4.0 wind and spray gusts anyone who says trades are steady is crazy its so gusty in maui lately and overall too windy for good wave sailing... just my opinion but its getting too windy in maui for my taste... Makani wrote: I don't think you'll get any arguments as far as it being too windy the last few weeks. Certainly not from me. It has been too windy. But we usually don't get that many sub-4.5 days. An update to yesterday's conditions. I heard one report that the swell picked up and cleaned up later in the afternoon yesterday. Sadly, half of Maui was also competing for them. |
Whole Lotta Sloggin' Goin' OnSaturday, May 5, 2007 at 8:45am HSTWinds really lightened up yesterday. I only stopped by Kanaha to check it out because I was already down there for a meeting. Arrived around noon and there was no one on the water. Beautiful sunny day with a few whitecaps. Perfect day for guys who like cruising around on 8m + sails and wide boards. It was such a beautiful day I decided to just hang around the beach anyway. Watching the water, the wind built probably into the mid-teens, with occasional 1 or 2 minute periods of upper teens. The water was so invitingly blue and clear I decided to rig my biggest gear -5.7 and 90 Liters - and just go out and slog around, practice some light air old school freestyle. Turns out every ten minutes or so, we'd get a blast that was enough to pump up onto a plane for a reach out and back. Then it was back to slogging and goofing around for another 10 minutes. Only a few other people out - a few Kanaha regulars a few vacationing windsurfers. Winds are really light so far today and will probably end up being lighter than yesterday, but returning either tomorrow or Monday.
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CrazyThursday, May 3, 2007 at 6:30pm HSTCrazy day today. Work was way crazy so I didn't even get a chance to check out the conditions until 2:00. Looked at the iWindsurf graph and the Kanaha cams and looked like the wind was insanely crazy. The Kanaha wind graph looks like they were made by a hyperactive chihuahua on a triple esppresso caffeine buzz jumping around trying to catch an imaginary flying squirrel. Gusts near 40 and lulls < 5! Talked to one source who said he got his butt kicked at Hookipa on a 4.2, and he's not a small guy. Doesn't sound like I missed anything, but if anyone has any firsthand experience from today shoot me a comment. Meanwhile, here's some more pics from Hookipa yesterday.
Forecast is looking pretty sketchy for tomorrow and Saturday. Winds should lighten up and the direction is going to switch to more easterly or even ESE. Could be the first significant non-sailing we've seen here in several weeks. But, if you're here now or coming soon, fear not. Winds should strengthen and shift back to normal on Sunday or Monday. |
Wild RidesWednesday, May 2, 2007 at7:30pm HSTPretty wild day of sailing by most accounts. I started the day at Hookipa, hoping for some really nice waves and strong winds. Reality was the sets were pretty inconsistent, some mast high, some much smaller. Wind was really up and down. Still managed to get some photos and video. First 4 shots from today below. Upper left is Simmer Sails rider Fransisco Porcello (I think). Lower left is Maui Gaastra/Tabou rider Jazz Glickenhaus. Reports from Jazz were that Hookipa was anywhere between 4.5 and 5.5 today. Pretty inconsistent and not the greatest of conditions. That would explain why it really wasn't very crowded there today.
Left Hookipa in the early afternoon to run a bunch of errands. Stopped off at Kanaha first to check on conditions. Reports from folks coming off the water was that it was pretty wild outside at Uppers - big wind, some big mast + high sets, but bumpy and sloppy. Most guys seemed to be on 4.0s and 4.2s. After running errands, I stopped by again late in the afternoon. Most reports were that it was still pretty gnarly, really bumpy, sloppy rides at Uppers. So, I gave up and opted to sail another day. On the way out, I got a report from Norm that Lowers was really glassy and sweet. Hmm. Sounds like Lowers was about the best place to be today. |
