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.