Friday Wacky Wind

Friday was wacky wind day. Initially barely powered on big board and 5.0 Then wind came up. Went to smaller board. Well powered on that and 5.0, then overpowered. Went to 4.5. Well powered on that then very overpowered. Angry gusty wind. Later the wind dropped to somewhere in the 10.0 range. Didn't matter what you rigged. It would be right for about 5 minutes and then change to something completely different. Maui may be the windsurfing mecca of the world, but it isn't immune from the wacky wind we put up with elsewhere on the planet.

Evil Angry Wind Returns

Like a nefarious villain in a James Bond flick, the evil, angry wind returned to Maui today. The last week or so has seen pretty good, steady winds, sometimes light, sometimes pretty strong, but consistent. That changed today. I was out on my 4.5, but wind was easily 4.0 in the gusts and 10.0 in the lulls. Don't even bother looking at the iWindsurf graphs. They're either not working for Kanaha right now, or they are flat out wrong. Their sensor is located a mile or two down wind at the harbor and doesn't seem to reflect Kanaha's conditions consistently. Back to the wind - it was evil, out of the east, meaning very light close to shore, but once you hit the wind line, it was like, well, being hit, by a semi. Water conditions were also ugly with unreal psycho chop. Not that I'm comlaining. Just citing the facts.

Oh, the other news of the day. I heard this second hand. Apparently an airplane taking off this morning spotted "several sharks" close to shore. The lifeguards apparently closed the beach for a bit in the morning and went out and searched for them somehow. The sharks, being very adept at hide and seek, couldn't be found, so the beach was reopened. Don't know any other details than that,  but was the buzz at the beach when I arrived.

Gambling on wind

Pretty good 5.o this afternoon at Kanaha.  It was kind of a gamlbe to head over today - the iWindsurf Kanaha sensor hasn't been working for a couple of days, so I had to rely on the Kahului airport readings. The gamlbe paid off. Winds were pretty consistent 5.0 the whole time I was there from 2:00 to 5:00. Absolutely no waves or swell today. I'm actually looking forward to the end of summer when the waves return and some of the crowds leave.

Lighter NNE winds

Sunday brought ligher and more northerly wind to Maui. Winds were light most of the day - until the clouds cleared. Didn't get on the water until about 4:00. Everyone coming off the water was saying, "Rig your big sail and big board." It looked windy, but the wind was pretty onshore. So I followed everyone's advice and was glad I did. Barely powered on my 5.0 and big board. Good opportunity to practice tacks and clew first jibes and sailing on the inside. Nothing epic, but I had a blast trying some new tricks in the late afternoon session.

Today the report is that it was a lot like yesterday. Kihei was going off for awhile today. The atmosphere in the islands is pretty unstable due to a low and the remants of former hurricane Celia.

Maui Race Series

Yesterday was the final day of racing in the 2004 Maui Race Series. The final race of the season was the Hawaiian State Championships sponsored by Starboard. Once again, Phil McGain won the pro and open fleets.  Here you see Jimmy Diaz crossing the finish line in second behind Phil in one of the heats. Check out the sail twisting off.


Winds were blowing in the 5.0 range for most of us non-racers - racers of course were on much bigger gear.  A couple of spectacular mast-breaking episodes added to the excitement of the day. Here you can see a nasty looking splat as a mast breaks. Click on the image to go to a larger version.



For more photos, go to http://www.aikimaui.com/gallery/photo-gallery.cfm

In the pro division, Alex Aguerra took second and Jimmy Diaz third. In the women's division, Karly Aguerra won first, Argentina Jimenez-Hassier second, and Doris MacFarlane third.

Holy 4.5 Batman!

Imagine Batman and Robin as windsurfers on Maui. At 11:00, while basking in their chaise lounges on the Bat-lanai of their opulent estate in Wailea, Robin notices the Bat-signal, a bat-shaped cloud blowing across the sky. The Bat-phone rings. A ridiculously tan Bruce Wayne answers the phone, “Yes Commissioner, what is it? It’s already blowing 20 at Kanaha?! We’re on our way.”

Batman hangs up the phone. He turns to Robin, “Quick Robin, to the Bat-van!” They dash off to the Bat-porte-cochere, hop into their tricked-out Ford econoline Bat-van, hit the thrusters and they’re off to Kanaha (music: na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na BATMAN!).

They arrive at Kanaha, leap out of the Bat-van, resplendent in Bat-boardshorts, Bat-flip-flops and Bat-tank-tops, and dash down to the beach, Batman’s dreads flowing behind him like a cape (music: na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na BATMAN!).

As they dash down the sidewalk, they’re accosted by the evil Question Guy. “Hey Batman and Robin! Wathca gonna rig? Looks windy! Do you think it’s as windy as yesterday? Should I rig my 4.5 or 5.0? Do you think I should use my 25 cm fin or my new 25.5 cm slotted wave fin?” BIFF! POW!!! ZONK!!! Our heroes dispense with Question Guy as easily as an annoying cockroach.

At the beach, Batman pushes a button on his Bat-belt (a belt with boardshorts? Only batman can accessorize like that.) and a dozen small Bat-weather drones launch into the air over the water from Batman’s belt, measuring wind speed, gust-to-lull ratio, wind direction, temperature, humidity, UV index, and barometric pressure. He checks a readout on his Bat-watch and the LED readout tells him to rig a 4.7. “Blast it Robin! My 4.7 is in the shop being retrofitted with the latest gust-dampening technology. I only have my 4.5 and 5.0 with me! What should I rig!!!”

Robin, being the smaller and less technically dorky of our two super-heroes, dashes off to rig his 4.5, leaving a befuddled Batman on the beach debating whether to rig .3 meters too big, or .2 meters too small.

Back at the Bat-van, Robin pushes a button labeled “4.5” on the rear of the van. A side panel on the van opens and a fully rigged 4.5 sail is ejected smoothly into Robins awaiting hands. He ejects is trusty 83 liter save board, attaches the rig to the board and dashes off to the beach (have you ever noticed how much “dashing” Batman and Robin do?).

Robin beach starts and slogs out to the wind line. As he hits the wind line, a gust pops him up onto a plane and he sails over he reef. He points upwind to work his way up to the choice rolling open ocean swell at Uppers, but is daunted by lulls, where he has to bear off and work it to stay on a plane. After several reaches of this he works his way upwind to some nice swell. Despite the smooth rolling swell, Robin continues to fight with the pesky lulls, forcing him to constantly have to point to stay upwind. Where is Batman with his trusty Bat-wind-stabilizer when you need him!

After an hour of this, a particularly menacing lull forces Robin back down wind to the launch. He figures maybe it’s time for a bigger sail or fin. He comes off of the water to find Batman still standing on the beach debating what to rig. “Robin! How was it?” To which Robin replies, “Holy 4.5 Batman!”

Later that day, the wind would pick up and Robin could be heard exclaiming to Batman, “Gusty 4.5 Batman!”

Maui beats forecasters again

The forecasters just can't seem to get it right. 5 to 15 was the call today, but Maui seems to be able to pull out more than the forecasters think. The wind came up mid-day and by 2:00 I was fully powered on my 5.0. Wind even built a bit more into the mid-20s, but I stayed with the 5.0. No waves anywhere around Kanaha today, but some fun rolling wind swell outside. On the way home, I passed by Kihei and noticed a guy ripping up some waist-high waves in the strong wind that came up here. Wind graphs show that Kihei blew in the upper 20s to low 30s today. Might have been better than the north shore since there was little south swell to generate some waves.

Catching up

Kihei was the place to be on Sunday. The wind was light on the north shore - big slalom gear. Wind in Kihei was 4.5 well powered and with some leftovers from the Saturday's south swell rolling in occasionally, it was definitely the choice spot. Good fun.

Yesterday a surprise small north swell rolled into Kanaha and the wind, which was forecast to be light, also kicked in the 4.5 range.  Everyone I've talked to said it was a great day yesterday. Sadly I missed it. Since the winds were forecast to be light I opted to get some work done.

Today was also forecast to be light trade winds, but Maui came through once again and kicked the wind up into sailable range.  I started out lightly powered on my 5.0 and big board. Then the wind kicked in a bit more and by late afternoon I was pretty fully powered on the 5.0 playing in the remnant waves at Uppers from yesterday's small swell.

Overtime Shift at the Endorphin Factory

Another fun, fun day at Kanaha. The endorphin factory crew was called in to work an overtime weekend shift to crank out the extra endorphins needed from Saturday's winds and waves. Wind was a little lighter than Friday, 4.5, but fairly steady and consistent until late in the afternoon. Had a couple of great sessions playing around in the small waist-high waves at Uppers. Lots of great jumps and a few short wave rides on the mushy, sloppy waves rolling in from the wind swell. Lots of nice rolling open ocean swell on the outside to play on too. Great fun.

Fun 4.0

The wind was cranking today at Kanaha, and unlike the gusty days we've seen the last week or so, the wind was pretty consistent. Got to Kanaha in the afternoon and was told that I should go out on 4.0. I was a bit skeptical  but I went on the 4.0 and JP 77 and sailed very powered up to often on the edge of being overpowered. With all that wind, there was some fun rolling swell outside the reef. Nice fun day.
 
Yesterday, by contrast, was light at Kanaha but very windy and gusty in Kihei.  Went over to Maui Sunset in the late afternoon. Looked pretty mellow so I went out on the 5.0, but the winds were easily 4.0 and really gusty and shifty. Didn't take long to realize that this was no fun so made it just a short session.

Squirly Wind

The wind adjective de jour for yesterday was squirly. The evil gusts that have prevailed lately moderated a bit yesterday afternoon, but the wind still seemed to be pretty shifty. I sailed 5.0 moderately powered in the late afternoon.  Not sure what's causing all this gustiness and squirliness lately, but it's been giving the Gorge a run for it's money as leading location in the gusty category.
 
No north swell to speak of but the wind swell is still bringing in small 2 - 4 foot waves at Uppers through Sprecklesville. Not rideable, but good for jumping.
 
The windsurfing celebrity spotting of this week is of Josh Stone.  Spotted Josh on Sunday  afternoon at Kanaha throwing himself around in the high, gusty winds.

Evil Wind

Lots of evil wind that last few days. Friday was pretty decent 4.5 - 5.0 sailing in the afternoon. Saturday was another Maui Cup race day. Wind started out in the 4.5 range and was pretty nice in the morning. Watched some races, Phil McGain again blasting past all his competition. (Maui Race Series Photos)Sailed nicely powered 4.5 while the racers took a break. Then the wind turned evil and started gusting into the 30s - very punchy gusty. The water turned super choppy. Not much fun. Lots of racers blowing up jibing around the buoys. Saturday also saw a flotilla portugues man-o-war invading Kanaha. They seemed to be mostly upwind in the shore break.

Sunday - the morning again was the best time to be on the water. 5.0 was great until about 1:00. Then the wind picked up to gusty 4.5, on it's way to blowing 3.5 to 4.0 for many guys. As if that wasn't bad enough, there were reports of a fisherman spotting a 12' tiger shark around the reef at Uppers. Didn't seem to phase anyone though. Good motivation to not miss any jibes though.

From my virtual window on the north shore, the wind looks like it's probably gusty again today. Work has kept me at the computer all day, so I'll have to wait for some reports to corroborate my guess.

Maui Low Wind Haikus

The wind she teases
Not enough for 5 0 though
No sailing again


Summer in Maui
Should blow 4 5 every day
Formula gear sucks


Oh I got the blues
The wind, she only teases
6 0 just ain't right

Holiday Weekend Wind Update

The July 4th weekend here has been characterized by big crowds at Kanaha and, depending who you ask, either good wind or really gusty wind. I’ve never seen Kanaha so crowded as it’s been this weekend. Being a holiday, all the locals are out. It’s all high-season for American windsurfing tourists here, so the parking lot is full of ubiquitous white rental windsurfing vans. In addition to the mainland America invasion, the Japanese windsurfing community has also invaded Kanaha. Parking spaces are tough to find if you show up past noon, and the launch all up and down the beach is packed with people trying to waterstart, people sailing in to get out of the water, people blowing jibes 10 feet from shore – basically pretty congested. Sailing upwind is usually the ticket to avoid the crowds, but even up there it’s getting congested.

The wind – well, my thought on the wind the last three days is that it has been extremely “punchy.” The general consensus on Friday’s wind was that it was pretty ugly. It was extremely gusty and there was lots of carnage as people exploded in the gusts and chop. One minute the wind would be blowing 4.0 for me, the next a 5.0 wouldn’t even get me out of the water. But I went out on the 5.0 just in time for the wind to spike up and average around 30. Did about 4 reaches out and back then said, screw this, this is supposed to be fun. Saturday was a little better, but not much, same conditions just scaled back a notch in intensity. Sailed 4.5 off and on. Yesterday the winds slacked off quite a bit. 5.0 was barely enough for me most of the time. Interesting to look at the iWindsurf graphs for the last few days. They really make it look much better than it actually was. Winds are supposed to back off even more today and the next couple of days.

Naish Photo Shoot

Arrived at Kanaha yesterday to find Team Naish rigging and prepping for a photo shoot, including the Man himself, Robby Naish. Skies were pretty overcast and winds pretty light, but Robby was out blasting around on a prototype sail and one of his Hybrids. The water was extremely flat and he was hauling a**.

Later in the day the skies cleared, the wind built and Team Naish headed upwind for the photo shoot, complete with helicopter. Part of the shoot focused on 10 or 11 year old Kai Lenny, already a sponsored “pro.” At one point Robby was sailing around with Kai on his shoulders and also took out Kai’s rig and sailed on it a bit. Look for these photos some day in a Naish ad.

Winds were similar to yesterday, mostly 5.0 but pretty punchy at Kanaha. Wind was a little steadier upwind near Camp One. Very crowded again, so the place to be to get better wind and avoid the crowds was to head up to Camp One.

Wind is supposed to pick up a notch for the weekend, then drop back down to current levels early next week.

For photos of Robby and Kai Go to: http://www.aikimaui.com/gallery/Photo.cfm?image=176

Good Wind is in the Eye of the Beholder

Interesting day of sailing. Sailed 5.0 in the mid- to late-afternoon, but I found the wind to be extremely punchy/gusty, as did my girlfriend. However, a friend of ours claimed it was one of his best days so far this year - thought it was fantastic sailing. We both have modern equipment, last year's stuff so that shouldn't have made a difference. Anyway, just goes to show that quality windsurfing is pretty subjective.

Lots of tourists at Kanaha yesterday. I've heard that summer is high season for windsurfing tourism here. Seems odd since there are no waves. Guess most windsurfing tourists aren't really looking to get into wave sailing.