Being Picky

The last two days - Monday and Tuesday - have been windy but cloudy here. Affordability is a frequently discussed topic on Maui, but as a windsurfer living here there is a very positive aspect to the affordability issue - I can easily afford to be picky and skip sailing when the conditions don't match my criteria. I've done way too much sailing in gray, overcast conditions in Seattle and the Gorge, so one of my criteria is that it needs to be at least partly sunny. So, though the wind has averaged in the low-20s the last couple of days (albeit pretty gusty and holey from what I've heard), I feel just fine passing up the sailing.

Mellow 4.5

A mellow day of 4.5 to wrap up the weekend. The early afternoon saw comfortable and consistent winds in the low- to mid-20s. Water was very smooth and flat (aka boring - great conditions for flat-water blasting if that's your thing - but I get a little bored with it after awhile) until some wind-swell started coming in at Uppers.

Race Day Sailing

The forecast for yesterday was for light winds. That along with another Maui Race Series race had me thinking I would just stay home and chill. But, the wind unexpectedly picked up mid-day so I decided I'd brave the race crowds and go sailing.

The upper lot at Kanaha can be a zoo on race day with most sailors rigged 3 or more sails. The buoys are set directly out from the Uppers launch site.

I took out my 4.5 and headed downwind of the race, just after Phil McGain, Matt Pritchard and a few others in the pro fleet came ripping across the finish line. I sailed just outside of the outside marks. Watching the race from the water on the outside offers a different perspective. The 4.5 was barely enough power most of the time and I had a hard time working my way upwind to the start area. After an hour or so the wind seemed to be dropping a bit, so I waited for a break in the heats and sailed back downwind to the launch. Went out again later after the races were over, but by then it was definitely 5.0 so the 4.5 wasn't really working for me. Good fun nonetheless and better than staying home and chilling.

Rambunctious Good Fun

Rambunctious good fun on the water today. 4.5 was the call, very powered up, on the edge sailing. The wind was much more consistent today, no drastic drops from 25 mph to 15 mph like the last few days. Some occasional good sets of big smooth rolling ocean swell on the outside made for some good 3D waterpark terrain action. Carve down a swell, bottom turn, power up to the top and get an off the lip. Well, not really a lip since they weren't breaking, but still, good fun. Also some more good ramps rolling in over the reef for some nice air action. There may not be much in the way of breaking waves in Maui in the summer, but the sailing can still be good fun. Sounds like the winds may drop off the next couple of days for the racers and the weekend crowd.

The Old Reliable

Back to the old reliable - 5.0. Caught an early afternoon session, marginally powered at first then the wind picked up. Felt somewhat gusty, but much better than yesterday. Some fun rolling swell to play in outside of Uppers, some occasionaly waist-high, steep waves making for excellent ramps and the water was exceptionally clear outside today with deep dark blues and vibrant cobalt and turquoise. Beautiful. Got off the water just before the wind spiked up to averaging near 30 for a few readings then plummetted back down to below 20. Gotta watch for those rain squalls here. They tend to make the wind do crazy things.

Even On Maui The Wind Can Suck

It just doesn't pay to adjust your gear to what the wind is doing. After yesterday I figured I would start out with the 4.5. At 2:00 it looked like it would be a good call. It looked like I'd be very powered on the 4.5 so I rigged it with lots of downhaul and outhaul. Of course, after one reach out, the wind dropped. I slogged back in and let out some downhaul and outhaul. Ok, back on the water. You can probably see where this is going. No sooner do I get back out there, than the wind cranks up even higher than it was to begin with. It also shifted from NE to ENE, somewhat offshore - bit of a slog to the windline. After going back in and adding the extra downhaul and outhaul again, the wind then decided to drop, and keep dropping. Stuck with it for a little bit longer, but just not a very fun session.

Windsurfing Axiom

It doesn't matter where you are, even here on Maui, you arrive and the wind is blowing, oh, let's say 5.0. You rig your 5.0. It's been blowing 5.0 most of the day. You get on the water and what happens? Either the wind dies or it cranks up a notch or two. In today's case, it cranked up a notch. The 5.0 was great from about 3:00 to 3:10. Then that fickle wind god thought it might be funny to turn it up. Held on to the 5.0 for a bit, but it became obvious if I was going to have fun, I needed to be on the4.5. The 4.5 was pretty powered up, but much better. The water inside the reef was pretty choppy. The north swell we had last weekend is gone. Though we mere mortals were on mid 4s, Kevin Pritchard and Phil McGain showed up along with some other racer guys to blast around on big sails and slalom gear - no doubt practicing for this Saturday's race. Pretty fun afternoon of sailing. Just wish I could figure out ahead of time what the wind is going to do. Ah, don't we all.

Monday's Wind

Didn't sail yesterday, but reports from Kanaha indicate that it was probably 4.7 - 5.0 in the afternoon.

Groundhog's Day

Just like the movie, the sailing days the last three days have been pretty similar. Started out on 5.0 again today. Wind built a bit to 4.5 for awhile then took a nose dive in the late afternoon as a squall came through. Still a few little waves today but definitely on the decline. Very crowded at Kanaha today with a lot of tourists in town plus the local weekend warriors out en masse.

The Ugly Wind award for the day goes to Kihei. If you have access to iWindsurf, check out Kihei today. For those that don't, the graph looks like an electrocardiogram - of a chipmunk, high on caffeine one minute and down on valium the next. Huge gusts for 15 - 30 minutes then lulls from hell for another half hour. Repeat. And to make it worse, the direction was completely wacked. Very nasty indeed.

Another Decent 5.0 Day

5.0 was the call at Kanaha again today. That sail is getting a lot of use. Wind was a little lighter than yesterday with a few more holes. There were still some remnants from yesterday's north swell rolling in. Not as big as yesterday, but there were still some nice steep ramps for jumping and some occasional waves at Uppers for some mellow wave-riding.

Ramp-alicious

A rare late season north swell brought some sweet jumping conditions to Kanaha today. Depending on the time of day, the wind was blowing somewhere between 4.5 and 5.5. I got on the water around 1:00 perfectly powered on my CultWave and 5.0 and sailed up to Uppers where the waist-high waves were jacking up into to nice, steep ramps. Had an absolute ball blasting around, power jibing, heading out at mach speed and hitting the ramps full speed and launching into orbit. Most people on the beach agreed that it was the best day of sailing in quite awhile. As the day progressed, the waves built a bit, but the wind got flukier. The swell is forecast to die down tonight so it’s doubtful there will be any waves tomorrow.

Yesterday was a Kihei day. Wind never made it above the mid-teens at Kanaha, but it picked up enough in Kihei for some marginal flat water cruising on my 5.0 and big board. Earlier this week, the wind has been pretty much just big sail and formula gear sailing. Kevin Pritchard and Phil McGain were out on Wednesday on their big 11 meter sails.

Looks like high pressure is re-establishing itself to the north, so we should see several more days of good wind.

Catching Up

Catching up on the last few days of sailing here on Maui, Sunday saw good conditions on the north shore with guys sailing in the 4.5 to 5.0 range. Yesterday saw light winds at Kanaha, 5.3 - 6.0 for guys. Kihei was probably a better place to be yesterday with solid 4.5 to 5.0 conditions out of the NNW all afternoon. As for me, I'm in shoulder recovery mode so I've taken the last three days off from sailing. Looks like today and the next few days will be pretty light. Time for the forumula guys to break out the big gear.

Psycho Wind

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in Maui. It was windy. It's the weekend. I'm a windsurfer. I chose not to sail. What's wrong with this picture? Nothing! Being a race day at Kanaha, it was sure to be a crowded zoo and I decided I'd give my sore shoulder a rest for a day. Turns out I made a good call.

Reports from friends and the iWindsurf graphs paint a frustrating day of sailing yesterday. If I had been there, it would have been something like this: get to the park around 10:30, rig the 5.0 - it looks pretty light. Rigged and ready to go, now it looks 4.5. Go out on th 5.0 anyway with extra downhaul and outhaul. The wind cranks up another notch, into the upper 20s. Need the 4.0. Go back in and get the 4.0. 12:30 the wind drops back down to 5.0. Ok, take the 5.0 back out. The wind jumps up to averages around 30 - time to get the 3.5. The winds stays there for a bit then drops steadily back down into the 5.0 range. Get the picture? Oh, and it was really offshore, gusty and directionally challenged as well. Just goes to show, even on Maui the wind can be a fickle mistress.

4.5 Kanaha

Solid 4.5 conditions mid-day yesterday. Too bad I went out on my 5.0. Way powered up sailing until about 2:30 went it dropped off to reasonable levels for the 5.0. Lots of racer guys out blasting around some buoys practicing for today's race.

Solid 4.5 - Kanaha

Solid 4.5 conditions mid-day today. Too bad I went out on my 5.0. Way powered up sailing until about 2:30 went it dropped off to reasonable levels for the 5.0. Lots of racer guys out today blasting around some buoys practicing for tomorrow's race.

Broken Record

One of the things I've looked forward to in living on Maui is logging a lot of days on the water. On the mainland, my personal record for days of windsurfing in a calendar year was 62 days. Yesterday I tied that record and today I beat it. And it's only June.

Yesterday I got invited back up to Honeybuns (near Camp One) to launch and sail. It was a late afternoon session. I got on the water with my 4.5 at around 3:00 and sailed well powered for half an hour or so in the big rolling swell outside the reef. It's amazing how different the water is just a half mile upwind from Kanaha. Much bigger swell making for great fun carving and riding down them and launching huge air off of them.

The wind backed off a bit and I rigged my 5.0 and went out again and the wind decided to pick back up. Oh well, flattened it out and hung on.

Today was mostly good 4.5 conditions at Kanaha. The wind dropped just as I launched at around 2:00, but kicked back in after some rain showers inland cleared out.

If you were looking for nuclear flat-water sailing today, Kihei was the place to be. Wind was averaging in the mid-30s most of the day with gusts in the mid-40s. The lull from hell hit Kihei at about 3:30 though. One minute it was 35 gusting to 45, the next it was averging 15 gusting to 20. I pity anyone out on their 3.0 when that happened.

Winds are forecast to drop off a notch for the next couple of days, but still be sailable, in the 10 - 20 range. Just in time for the next Maui Race Series race on Saturday.

Lunchtime at Camp One

Got on the water right at 11:00 this morning, perfectly powered on the 5.0 and CultWave. Sailed to Uppers and near Camp One and had a ball playing in the smooth, rolling swells. Even though there's no waves to speak of at Kanaha, there's still some 3-4' face waves rolling in around Camp One. And, just outside the reef the swells are setting up into Gorge-like rolling swells with smooth, glassy faces. Lots of fun riding those puppies. Reminds me of the Gorge, but with nice clear blue water instead of brownish-gray soupy Gorge water.

Had to make it a short session today, had to get back to work and errands. When I got off the water around 12:30 the wind was starting to kick in another notch and by 1:00 as I was leaving, the wind was cranking, easily 4.0 for me by then. Looks like the old reliable Maui summer winds are here to stay.

Gusty Weekend

Tradewinds have set up camp over the Hawaiian islands with sailable winds every day for the last two weeks or more. The winds this weekend on the north shore were strong and gusty. I started out on my 5.0 on Saturday afternoon. Guess I've gotten too into the habit of rigging that sail - the wind was easily enough for my 4.5, maybe even 4.0 in the gusts. 4.2 would have been perfect.

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to sail out of private beach house near Camp One. The wind started out as light 5.0 but kicked in strongly in the early afternoon into the 4.0 to 4.5 range. Once again though it was pretty gusty. A nice bonus for the weekend was some small waves rolling in at Uppers and Camp One. They weren't good for down the line riding but made for some nice ramps. Lots of people up at Camp One and Sprecks throwing huge airs, including back loops and forwards.

As of mid-day today (Monday) the wind is blowing on the north shore. I'll be taking a day off of sailing today to give my shoulder a much needed rest. That's the downside of living somewhere consistently windy - wearing out your body, getting tendinitis, etc.

More Wind

Thursday's winds were very very light. If you're a Formula racer you would have loved it. Winds were in the mid-teens and very onshore at Kanaha.

On Friday, the winds kicked back in. My 5.0 was perfect for the first part of the day, then the winds cranked up a notch and I sailed very OPd on the 5.0. Could have been on a 4.2 most likely.

The crowds were pretty light on Wednesday and Thursday but yesterday got pretty busy at Kanaha. Still no waves - that season seems to be over - but there was some nice rolling wind swell up at Uppers and Camp One to add a third dimension to the watery playground.

Mellow 5.0

The wind was supposed to be pretty light yesterday, but early in the afternoon, the palm trees and wind chimes started blowing here in Kihei. The Kanaha graph started showing readings over 20 so I went to Kanaha.

5.0 and big RRD was the call for the first hour. Sailed pretty powered up and sailed up to Camp One. No waves anywhere. Came back down wind and got the CultWave and sailed powered up on that for another hour.

Pretty light crowds at Kahana, both in the park and on the water. Driving back past Kihei there were a few people de-rigging at Ohukai, and some people still sailing at Maui Sunset.

Light But Sailable Wind

The Memorial Day weekend here in Maui saw mostly light, but sailable wind. A cold kept me off the water, but my girlfriend had a great time yesterday at Kanaha on her 4.5. Guys were on 5.0 - 5.8. The day before, Sunday, was a bit lighter, cloudier, and flukier.

Today is forecast to be about the same as yesterday, maybe a little bit lighter. Winds are forecast to drop to light and variable on Wednesday, then pick back up again starting on Thursday.