September Summary

Sunday, September 30, 2007 at 4:00 pm HST

The Maui trade winds today closed September on a positive note with fairly consistent moderate trades blowing most of the day. My early afternoon sesh on 4.7 was pretty sweet as far as wind consistency goes. It was almost like a summer day with predominantly wind swell and backside riding up at Camp One.

Yesterday was quite a bit lighter than today though still sailable. I had too many chores and errands to run, so when I stopped by Kanaha and it looked like I'd need 5.7 to be powered up I bailed on sailing. Looked like a great day for blasting around on slalom gear though.

So we end one of the best Septembers I have had here on Maui. Just about every day was windy and sailable on the north shore. I think the two days that were light on the north shore were actually sailable in Kihei. If you timed your Maui vacation for anytime in September this year, you scored.

And, not only were we fortunate with the wind, but we got our first couple of north swells of the year already and there've been several days where even though there wasn't significant swell running, the predominant background swell has been more out of the north, making for a nice change from our the wind swell we've had for the last several months. All in all, a very good September for Maui.

Looking into October it looks like the trend is set to continue. The forecasters are talking about the north Pacific high pressure dominating our weather for at least the next week or even two. That's a good thing since they're the source of our trade winds. I'm seeing lots of returning visitors at Kanaha the last week or so and I know some of you readers are heading over here soon. Good news for you, so far it looks pretty good for wind.

We've got a small northwest swell lined up to arrive tomorrow or Tuesday followed by another one later in the week, maybe on Thursday. So, stay tuned. I'm hoping to get down to Hookipa at least one day this week and get some more video footage. Looking at the website statistics from the last week it looks like that last Hookipa video was pretty popular so I'll try to follow up with more and keep the virtual stoke going.

Friday's Sailing

Saturday, September 29, 2007 at 10:00 am HST

Got to the beach at Kanaha around 2:00 yesterday. Reports from people who had been out were that it was pretty gusty and, though there were waves, that they were pretty disorganized, confused and bumpy. Wind was pretty east so it was pretty light inside, but apparently pretty strong outside. I went with 5.0/85L.

That was mostly the right call. Wind was indeed pretty up and down. The 5.0 was rarely way too much, and occasionally not enough. Like everyone said, the waves were pretty sloppy, a mix of east wind swell, remaining northwest ground swell and refraction from the shore. Pretty messy, but there were a couple of occasional decent sets at Uppers. After I was done, I heard that Lowers was a bit cleaner than Uppers.

Several of the Hookipa regulars showed up in the afternoon. Due to light winds at Hookipa, the surfers had control of the break. Pretty nice waves apparently though.

Conditions have been pretty light this morning island-wide, but it looks like Kanaha is starting to pick up a little bit. Not quite into the sailable range for me yet, but it's still early.

Gray Day

Thursday, September 27, 2007 at 6:20 pm HST

It was a gray day on Maui today as a stream of high clouds blanketed us and kept the sun at bay. We also got a small north swell. Sadly I wasn't able to hit it due to work, but I have one report from Matthew K. that Hookipa was double overhead but super light with the surfers ruling the break and that at Kanaha, Lowers was breaking. But, I just got a somewhat conflicting report from Speedy that it was mostly small stuff at Kanaha, kinda bumpy, with an occasional logo-high set mixed in. So doesn't sound like it was epic but I'm still kinda bummed that I missed it. I'm hoping there will be some leftovers tomorrow and it sounds like we can expect another northwest swell building Sunday night and lingering into Tuesday. Trade winds should stick around through the next week in varying levels of intensity. September looks to end on a pretty good note, in fact this whole month has got to be the best September for windsurfing I can remember on Maui. Looking at my sailing calendar it looks like there have only been two days this month that I would call too light to sail. Let's hope that we continue the trend into October. We definitely don't want to see a repeat of last October's meager winds.

Here's a final set of photos from Hookipa last Friday. Guess it's time to get some new video and photos.

2007 Aloha Classic Wave Event Cancelled

Wednesday, September 26, 2007 at 5:50 pm HST

Just got a press release from the Maui Windsuring Association with the sad news that the 2007 Aloha Classic Wave Championship scheduled for November has been cancelled or postponed. Here's what their release has to say about it:

"2007 ALOHA CLASSIC WAVE CHAMPIONSHIPS POSTPONED TO 2008 Maui, HI - The 2007 Aloha Classic Wave Championships, scheduled for Nov 5 - 17, has been postponed to 2008. There will be no event this year. We are sad to make this decision at this time but it could not be avoided as the title sponsor pulled out in the past week leaving little time to pursue a similar sponsor of the same caliber.

In combination, there has been a lack of rental housing available on the northshore with the Maui County's crack down on transient vacation rentals, leaving many competitors and sponsors without a place to stay during the event. Hopefully both issues will be resolved for 2008 and we will be back on track. On the bright side, the existing sponsors for 2007 have agreed to come on board again for next year and for that we are very grateful. We thank you for your interest and look forward to bringing you the best windsurfing wave event in 2008!"

Sad to hear. I was looking forward to getting some video coverage of the event and I know a lot of the locals and kids were really looking forward to it. Hard to believe that with Maui as the center of so much windsurfing R&D and some of the finest wave riding conditions on the planet that Maui continually has troubles lining up sponsors wave events. Personally I think the County of Maui and a lot of local businesses are missing out on opportunities in not promoting Maui more as a windsurfing hub.

Anyway, just got back from a short session at Kanaha. Similar to yesterday. I rigged a 5.0 and once I was on the water was wishing I had a 5.3. Just not enough umph. Surprising since the Kanaha graph is showing average readings in the low to upper 20s. There was also a little section of wave breaking at Uppers. Pretty small and very crowded as everyone was trying to maximize what there was.

We'll finish up today's Maui Windsurfing report with a few more photos from last Friday at Hookipa.

More Hookipa Photos

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 at 5:50 pm HST

Here's some more photos from last Friday at Hookipa:

As for the sailing yesterday and today, yesterday at Kanaha was pretty light and flukey. I slogged around a lot on 5.3 in the early afternoon, then around 2:50 the wind kicked in a bit and I was plenty powered for about 15 minutes and headed up to Uppers where I found one nice shoulder high set that rolled through. Unfortunately I was way on the inside when it did and the wind died about a minute later.

Today was a different story. Nicely powered 5.0 from 2:00 to 3:00. Not much as far as waves - some small sloppy stuff at Uppers, but the wind was pretty solid and consistent, making it for nice day to just put things on autopilot, tune out the rest of the world and blast around.

Hookipa Video Action

Sunday, September 23, 2007 at 5:00 pm HST

On Friday we had the first unofficial true north swell of the 2007/2008 Maui north shore wave season. Although almost all the PWA pros are in Sylt competing right now, there was a lot of world-class windsurfing going down at Hookipa. Included in the line-up were greats such as Robby Naish, Keith Taboul, Jason Stone, Mark Angulo and Michi Schweiger along with future stars Kai Lenny, Bernd Roediger and many others.

The afternoon started out gray and cloudy with waist- to shoulder-high waves, but quickly built to head- to logo-high and even an occasional mast-high set. And, in a demonstration of great timing, Robby Naish came out to play just when the waves started getting bigger and the sun started breaking through the clouds. Check out the video coverage of the action. A warning to all of you surfing at work, there is a soundtrack included, so turn down your volume if you don't want everyone to know you're not working.

Turns out that I picked a good day to take off and edit video yesterday. Wind at Kanaha started out in the upper teens but quickly dropped into the mid and even lower teens and stayed there through most of the day. Reports from Hookipa are that the wind was so light that the surfers had control of the break. Wind came up late to marginal levels late in the day for those who had the patience to wait around for it.

Wind today was looking pretty promising up until the opening bell when the wind took a dive down to the mid-teens for a couple of hours. By the time the wind came back I had decided to get chores done and finish up editing the video, so I missed out on the sailing today. Looks like it got decent again around 1:15. Not worry though, I think we'll have sailable conditions through the upcoming week at least.

First Swell

Saturday, September 22, 2007 at 11:00 am HST

Here in Maui and throughout Hawaii, the north shore surf season is more eagerly anticipated than Christmas. While we've had a couple of minor little bumps in surf and some good easterly wind swell at times, yesterday's surf forecast was promising the first moderate size surf of the season, with forecast surf heights of 6 - 8 feet.

My plan for the day was to get on the water at 11:00am at Kanaha, score a bunch of uncrowded waves for an hour or two then head up to Hookipa to shoot some photos and video. But as often happens, nature didn't quite cooperate with my plans.

I showed up around 10:30 to find very light wind and the surf really didn't look like it was happening. By 11:30 there looked like there was enough wind so I rigged 5.0/85L and headed out. The swell was a little better than we've seen the last few days but I was pretty disappointed. I was hoping for some nice long, clean rides in head-high waves. Instead it was pretty sloppy and sectiony. And, as it turned out, the wind was stronger than I thought - a 4.5 would have been much better.

So, I figured that maybe there was just too much west in the swell and we weren't getting it at Kanaha and decided to cut the session short and go to Hookipa. Arriving at Hookipa, I found gray skies, but cleaner surf, mostly in the waist- to shoulder-high size and only about 15 - 20 people on the water. Looked pretty tempting but I thought I'd eat some lunch first and take some video and photos. I set up on the rocks with the video camera. Got a call from Jazz and I gave him the report - clean waist- to shoulder-high, not many people out.

Within the next 15 minutes or so, conditions changed. Jazz arrived as some nice logo-high sets started rolling in, no doubt wondering what trip I was on with my surf report to him. By 2:00 the sets were regularly head high with occasional logo and mast high sets and lots more people had shown up, including none other than Robby Naish. I'm wondering if that's when the waves hit Kanaha too. Might have just been bad timing on my part. Should have checked the buoy readings, but I'm out of the habit of doing that. Anyway, even though the lighting wasn't that great, I opted to sit up on the bluff and shoot video and photos. Gotta keep all my readers satisfied with fresh photos and video after all. Here's the first set of shots - more coming in the next few days.

Twin fin off the lip

Jazz aerial

Jason Stone slashing

Robby Naish slides on the lip

Jason Stone tweaked

I got a bit of video too which I'll be editing this weekend, posting it up here in a couple of days.

Conditions for this weekend still look like we'll have wind. I had planned to get down early to Kanaha today in hopes of getting any leftover swell there might be, but judging from the wind cams it doesn't look that epic and my body has put in a request for a day off from sailing after sailing 10 days in a row (so it should turn out to be an absolutely epic day of sailing - that seems to be what happens when I decide to take a day off from sailing...). So, I'll be hanging at home taking a break and editing windsurfing photos and videos for today, maybe tomorrow too, depending how conditions look.

Goin' Nuclear Again

Thursday, September 20, 2007 at 6:40 pm HST

Well forecasters were calling for wind to drop off a bit today so naturally, it nuked. I was planning to get the afternoon session, but looking at conditions at 9:30 this morning I found that it was already blowing 27 at Kanaha. Ok. Change of plans - sail early before it really gets insane.

Turned out to be a pretty good session. I sailed 4.2 at Uppers and had the place almost to myself from about 11:00 to 12:00. Some pretty nice ramps at the lower section of Uppers and that was where the best rides were too, as opposed to Camp One were it's often better this time of year. Good thing I got it early as the wind went nuclear around 2:00 with averages around 35 gusting into the mid-40s.

Also decided I'd head up to Hookipa and check out conditions there. Got there a bit before 2:00 to found lots and lots of people on the water in waist to occasionally head-high conditions, gray skies with impending rain. I set up my camcorder on the rocks hoping to get a bit of action before the rain hit. I was only able to get about 2 minutes of tape before rain started falling. Nothing spectacular, but here's the brief footage of the action from Hookipa this afternoon.

Comments:

Tormod wrote:

Hi, again thanks for nice blog and really nice to hear that there are some 4,2 sailing...I have my combat 4,2 prepered now :-) I and one friend of mine, both from Norway are ariving Maui 6th october and stay for 3 weeks. Me mostly sailing on canaha. Pleeeeace leave som 4,2 conditions for us as well :-), and mabie some nice swell :-) br T

Thanks Tormod. Can't guaranted the 4.2 winds will stay around for your vacation, but it looks like we'll be getting moderate to strong trades for at least the next week. Aloha!

Those Crazy Forecasters

Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 9:00 pm HST

I should know better than to believe the forecasters. They said trade winds were supposed to get even stronger than they were Monday. So, naturally they didn't. At least they didn't die. Yesterday I expected to sail my 4.2 again, but instead it was my 5.0 that got the call. Pretty gusty conditions at Kanaha.

Started out today on 5.3, but that was just a bad call on my part I think. Looked pretty light, but once I got near the reef it was obvious I was half a meter too big. Traded down a board size. Still not enough. Downsized to 4.7. Much better. Not quite as gusty as yesterday. Not much for waves still, but still holding out hope for a north swell to arrive late tomorrow or early Friday and last into Saturday maybe. So, the forecasters have been wrong about the strong winds. Hope they wave forecasters can do a better job on predicting waves.

Small Gear Time

Monday, September 17, 2007 at 6:00 pm HST

Time to break out the small gear. The big gear has been getting a good workout so far this month, but yesterday and today small gear was the call. For me that means 4.2/79L well powered during the late morning session. Wind was in the upper 20s gusting into the low- to mid-30s most of the day. Not much to get excited about in the wave department, at least not at Kanaha when I was out. Looks like there is a northwest swell (320 - 330 degrees) on it's way though, moderate in size and forecast to arrive late Thursday at the earliest, probably on Friday though here on Maui. Winds are forecast to get even stronger through Wednesday then back off to moderate levels starting Thursday.

Maui windsurfing photo of the day shot after my session today at Kanaha.

Gray Weekend

Sunday, September 16, 2007 at 9:20 pm HST

It was a gray weekend on Maui thanks to big batch of high clouds streaming over the middle of the Hawaiian island chain from the south. The gray skies combined with the offshore direction of the wind, made conditions look pretty poor from the beach. But out on the water things were a lot better than they looked.

Went to Kanaha yesterday and rigged 5.0 but the wind dropped a bit and I ended up sitting around on land for over an hour waiting for the wind to come up. Finally it looked 5.0ish outside the reef, but the slog to the wind wasn't very enticing. Sat around more and finally decided I was rigged and ready, I better at least try it. Slogged out and once out in the break and outside of it, the wind was plenty strong. Actually had a pretty good time.

Skies weren't quite as bad today and it looked a bit windier. Rigged 4.7 and slogged to the wind line and then was fully wound. Water was really choppy and bumpy and the waves were mostly sloppy wind swell. Got pretty windy for a little bit. There was a time when I could have been on 4.2, but it didn't last too long and staying on the 4.7 was the right call. I was done by 2:00 which was a good thing since the wind took a plunge about that time. But it did climb back into the mid-20s after a brief rest.

Looks like we should see an increase in trade wind speeds over the next few days as the high pressure to our north strengthens. Sounds like there also might be a small north swell coming in mid-week.

Sour Sugar

Friday, September 14, 2007 at 7:50 pm HST

Got some funky wind the last few days in my opinion. Sailed Sugar Cove yesterday afternoon but it was anything but sweet. Wind was super offshore, super gusty and shifty. Kind of a sour Sugar Cove session in my opinion. I heard from folks at Kanaha today that it was pretty decent there yesterday though. Looks like the direction was better and it was a little stronger.

Conditions were looking pretty bleak today all morning and through lunch. Then the Kanaha sensor jumped up to 20 and we boogied down to the beach. It looked pretty good so I rigged 5.0/85. But, the wind was again pretty holey and shifty and it dropped quite a bit. Worked it for awhile, but came in and demod a bigger board, 93 liters, that a friend is demoing. Nope. Still not enough. Some people were able to make it work, but too light and funky for me.

The best thing about the last couple of days has been the sunsets from up here in Kula. Sitting on the lanai and looking out at Maalaea Bay and the west Maui mountains and seeing this, you can't complain too much. Check it out....

2008 Maui Windsurfing Calendar

Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 3:00 pm HST

Just in time to plan your 2008 Maui windsurfing vacation, the new 2008 Maui Windsurfing Wall Calendar featuring 12 pages of Maui windsurfing action from Hookipa and Kanaha with pro riders like Kauli Seadi, Bjorn Dunkerbeck, Ross Williams, Matt Pritchard, Kevin Pritchard, Phil McGain and more. Check out the calendar store page to see each page and buy.

Light winds again today, about the same as yesterday. Stronger in Kihei than on the north shore again due to the northerly component of the wind. I think it's definitely sailable in Kihei for those here on vacation trying maximize their days on the water. Forecasters continue to call for the trade winds to build some time in the next day or two and to possibly get pretty breezy this weekend.

Sweet Wind

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 4:20 pm HST

Yesterday was some of the steadiest, most consistent wind I've sailed here on Maui in a long time - at least for the short session I caught early in the day. I got the before lunch session with 5.0/85L. Perfect combo. Not gusty, not holey, not shifty. Just a nice steady, mellow breeze. A report from a friend who sailed Sugar Cove echos my report. Later in the afternoon the wind did drop, so those of us who got it early were rewarded.

Today's wind didn't really materialize. Winds on the north shore were pretty light and onshore. Great for formula gear maybe. Kihei had some stronger readings, but for me this goes down as a "too light to sail" day. Maui was blanketed by high clouds most of the day. My theory is that these clouds prevented some of the day time heating that helps warm the valley and boost our wind speeds.

Forecast is favorable for continued trades as far out as we can see. Even supposed to get bump up in strength after Thursday.

Weekend Windsurfing Report

Sunday, September 9, 2007 at 4:30 pm HST

Hit and miss weekend in my opinion. Yesterday was pretty lame for me. The day started out looking really promising with wind in the low 20s. Got to Sugar Cove and rigged 5.0 only to have clouds and squalls move in and shut the wind down and turn it offshore. Waited around for a few hours and the wind came up but it was still pretty offshore and I wasn't in the mood for a 100 meter swim to get to the wind line. There were some occasional smallish waves st Sprecks. Got a couple of rides when I was out before the winds dropped.

Today turned out to be a really fun day. Got to Kanaha a little after noon, on the water with 5.0/85L shortly thereafter. Rocked up to Uppers to find an occasional wave that was really sectiony and kind of junky, but there were a lot of guys out vying for that little break. Decided to head upwind further to Camp One to play. Much better conditions there with no one else around.

Got lucky enough to catch the wave of the day way on the outside of Camp One. Saw a big rolly north swell rolling in while I was way outside. I jibed ahead of it and positioned myself to ride it all the way in. I was really just expecting it to kind of peter out, but it just kept growing. I started salivating as it formed into a really nice long rolling quarter pipe upwind of me. I sheeted in to get some speed and rode it in backside, waiting, waiting, working it, waiting for it to start peaking to turn down the line and positioning myself further up the wave so I could get a longer ride once it was ready. Finally, in started showing signs of breaking. By then it was a beautiful logo high smooth curvy wall of watery fun - and I had it ALL to myself. Awesome! Got at least 4 long smooth bottom turn/top turn combos on that baby. SWEEEEET!!!! So today it was all about quality not quantity of waves for me. Waves like that one will be pretty common at Uppers in another few weeks, but I was super stoked to get that one all to myself so early in September.

Sometimes it's good to be wrong

Saturday, September 8, 2007 at 8:30 am HST

Boy was I wrong about the wind yesterday. Forecasters were saying it was going to be light and I bought into that. Didn't look like we'd have enough pressure gradient to get wind above the mid-teens. But this is Maui of course which means there's always a chance the wind is going to be stronger than predicted. By midday yesterday, Kanaha was reading 20. I couldn't leave until 2:00 due to work obligations, but got on the water at 2:45 with 5.3/85L and headed to Uppers and Camp One. The waves we had the other day were gone, but so were most of the people. My wife and I had Camp One to ourselves for most of the session. Pretty fun blasting around in the later afternoon.

Today? Well, wind was forecast to be a little stronger today than yesterday, but who knows. Currently it's looking favorable and there's supposed to be a bit of a bump on our north shores today too.

North Shore Down the Line

Friday, September 7, 2007 at 8:30 am HST

Wednesday we got what I would consider our first true down the line conditions of the season on the north shore. Wind was on the light side, I needed my 5.3 and 90 L board, but it was a really fun session. Uppers/Camp One was relatively crowded for this time of year due to the waist to occasionally head-high waves coming in from the north. While we've had lots of backside riding wind swell coming from the east this summer, this was the best true north swell we've seen here since last spring. Lots of waist high rides and even got a few rides with 3 + bottom turns on head high waves. For early September, that's pretty good. I heard from Phil M. that Hookipa was pretty good head high conditions too.

Wind dropped another notch yesterday and I didn't make it down to the beach. Looked like it was 6.0 m conditions at best - sailable, but I had other things to do. Today looks like it will probably be another light wind day similar to yesterday. But, late today or tonight the pressure gradient should start to tighten again and we should see a little stronger conditions this weekend, along with another small north swell!

Video from Hookipa on Sunday

Tuesday, September 4, 2007 at 8:50 pm HST

Here's a short little video clip I shot at Hookipa on Sunday. Waves were really tiny. After watching The Windsurfing Movie a few times over the last few days, it's kind of a joke to watch my own little movies. I thought I'd zoom in pretty tight on some of the action since the waves were so small, but it's so hard to follow the rider when you're zoomed in really tight. The forecast for today was looking pretty promising - continued trades and a slight bump up in waves on the north shore. I headed to Sugar Cove again shortly after noon and there were some better waves at Sprecks and also occasionally upwind at Spartans. But the wind had apparently just tanked and gone super east. Looked like a swim of about 200 meters to the wind line and even then it looked like 5.3 would be marginal. Waited around for a few hours but conditions never improved. I heard from Pascal that waves at Hookipa were up but the wind there was flukey too. Forecast for the next few days is looking a bit spotty. Wind is forecast to drop a bit. If it drops any more than today, there's little chance I'll be able to get out.

Hookipa Labor Day Weekend

The Latest Maui Windsurfing Schwag

Monday, September 3, 2007 at 7:00 pm HST

In an attempt to corner the global windsurfing T-shirt market, I'm introducing the second in the line of Maui Windsurfing T-shirts. Introducing the Maui Windsurfing Work Less! Play More! T-shirt. I've long felt that too many people, especially Americans, spend far too much time working and far too little time playing. Screw that Puritan work ethic in my opinion! Get out and enjoy life! Play! For those of us that know that work is the disease and windsurfing is the cure, what better way to show off that philosophy (when not on the water that is) than with your very own Work Less! Play More T-shirt. Click on the button below to order one from the Maui Windsurfing Cafe Press store. Then wear this to work on the next casual Friday to piss off your boss!

Here's a bigger version of the photo on the back:

Now I can already here some of you out there groaning about how commercial this site is becoming, first Google Ads, then this! But hey! If I want to get out and play more, and get more video footage for you guys, I gotta do something to help offset the costs.

What! You say you don't like this particular slogan? Well fear not. In the upcoming weeks I'll be putting up an online survery so that you the readers can vote on what slogan you'd like to see on the next Maui Windsurfing T-shirt. Got your own ideas already and you'd like to send them to me? Just drop me a comment by clicking on the comment link at the end of this post. Also, coming soon, the 2008 Maui Windsurfing Wall Calendar. Stay Tuned!

Okay, enough shameless promotion. On to today's sailing report. Being Labor Day, we avoided the inevitable crowds at Kanaha and headed to Sugar Cove again today. Beautiful conditions once again, with sunny skies and that brilliant turquoise and cobalt water at Sugar Cove. First session sailed 5.0/85L very powered up. Sailed up to Secrets off of Baby Beach where there were some occasional sloppy waist high waves and only one or two of us to ride them. It wasn't long before I was surprised to find that I was getting pretty overpowered, so I cruised down wind thinking I'd rig down, but thought I'd check out Sprecks first. Surprisingly not many people out at Sprecks but the wave at Secrets was better so I gave up and headed in to rehydrate and rerig.

Second session on the 4.5 was just as sweet and just as powered. Only a half dozen sailors on the water at any given time between Sprecks and Baby Beach. Gotta love that. Finally around 4:00 I was just too exhausted to keep sailing anymore so I caught some fun swell rides on the big rolling ocean swell and headed back to shore. Capped off the day with a glass of nice Morgan Chardonnay on a friends lanai overlooking the water. Awesome Day!

Labor Day Weekend

Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 6:10 pm HST

Labor Day weekend here in the U.S. Kind of symbolically signifies the end of summer and folks are out en force at the local beach parks for the last holiday of the summer. Wind and weather in general are cooperating so far. Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day. Sailed Sugar Cove nicely powered 5.3 with hardly any crowds. Sailed down to Sprecks to work the tiny little waves. Sailed up to Baby Beach to see if there was anything breaking up there. Nope. Still a fantastic day of sailing though. The water off of Sugar Cove and upwind is such a beautiful blue. Great mellow session.

Today we hit up Kanaha early to avoid the weekend crowds. On the water a little after 11:00, again on 5.3 and headed up to Camp One where there was some small wind swell. Nice little sesssion again with just about half dozen of us up there for about an hour.

Got off the water and Kanaha park was filling up fast. Decided to go check out Hookipa. I was amazed how few people were out at Hookipa when I first go there - maybe 6 sailors on the water. Set my camera and video camera on the bluff to get some action shots. Pretty small kine waves, but everyone out was maximizing the fun factor. Wasn't long before a couple dozen other sailors joined in the fun. Here's some shots from today's action at Hookipa. May have some video in the next day or two.

The Windsurfing Movie

Saturday, September 1, 2007 at 11:10 am HST

After a frustrating day of non-sailing yesterday I was a little bummed until a neighbor stopped by to loan me his copy of the recent windsurfing movie, The Windsurfing Movie. Watched it last night and I gotta say, Awesome Movie! In my opinion the best windsurfing movie I've seen. Johnny Decesare, Jace Panebianco and their crew did an awesome job of putting this one together. All you windsurfers out there looking for a way to get through the upcoming winter months, my advice is to go to your nearest windsurfing store or online and buy yourself a copy of this movie. Awesome action footage from here on Maui, Cape Verde and Morocco, gorgeous photography, fantastic soundtrack, insightful interviews... Features Robby Naish, Levi Siver, Josh Angulo, Jason Polakow, Baptiste Gossein, Kai Lenny and many more. I know I'll be getting myself a copy of this and watching it over and over again. And, full disclosure here, I have no association with the movie or it's makers at all. It's just a really well done movie. All I could ask of the film makers is hurry up and make more. Great job guys!