Kashmir

“Oh, pilot of the storm who leaves no trace, like thoughts inside a dream …

Oh, father of the four winds, fill my sails, across the sea of years
With no provision but an open face, along the straits of fear “

Like a heavy metal juggernaut, big swell and high winds hit the north shore of Maui today. The weather forecast was calling for 20+ knots of wind and included a high surf advisory, meaning 15 foot faces or bigger – mast high.

When I got to Kanaha shortly after 11:00 this morning and walked down to the beach to check it out, all I could think was “Shit! This is serious conditions!” The waves were breaking at Lowers head to logo high. At Uppers, the waves were easily mast high plus. The wind inside the break was light, but the whitecaps outside were thick and heavy, the pager was reading 25+.

The park was eerily quiet, not many people there. I headed back to my van to rig. I pulled out my CultWave and 4.5 and began to rig, thinking to myself, “What I’m I getting myself into.” At that point someone who had just pulled up, cranked their stereo, Led Zepplin’s “Kashmir.” Jimmy Page’s heavy guitar blasted out the signature primal chords at the beginning of the song. Very appropriate for the conditions – heavy. A helicopter at the airport nearby reminds me of the opening scene from “Apocalypse Now.”

With new-found bravado I collected my gear and headed out to do battle with the elements. The first half hour was actually pretty good. I played out in the swell just outside of Weird Wave, gathering up my courage to head into the break. I intended to go check out Uppers, but the wind dropped slightly and I didn’t have the steam to get upwind so I headed to Lowers and caught a nice head-high wave, bottom turned, cutback then it closed out on me and I headed in. I went in to let out some downhaul and outhaul. Big mistake. Once I made it back outside the break the wind had cranked up to a solid 30 mph and I was hella-overpowered. I tried to keep sailing but the water outside was a churning cauldron of huge chop and swell with furious wind blasting the tops of the chop and waves.

After two reaches it was too much so I decided it was just too nuts. Gulp. Now I’m straight out behind the Uppers break, overpowered, waves are breaking mast high between me and shore …. what to do. I stalled the board for a bit, plowing through the water to wait for the set to pass. It looked like I had a window of opportunity to head in. [I now switch to present tense to heighten the dramatic effect! ;) ] I power up and head in. As I do that a swell passes under me and starts breaking 100 yards in front of me – the backside is mast high. No problem I think - I’m still well behind it. I slow down to wait for it to break. A little voice inside my head says to me, “Hey stupid! Look behind you. There might be something big sneaking up on you.” Sure enough. I look back and see a mast high + swell just starting to peak and break about 20 – 30 yards behind me. SHIT! I’m in the impact zone. In an adrenaline-charged frenzy I sheet in to haul ass out of there. Of course now that means I’m catching up on the reform wave of the monster that just broke in front of me and I inadvertantly head downwind enough to be bearing off into the lair of the Weird Wave. I catch up with the breaking wave in front of me and slow down to a near halt as I reach the peak. I pump and work my way and got over the top just as it’s breaking and slide down the head-high face, powered up again and get the hell out of Dodge. No down-the-line on this one – the end of the line is the pit of the Weird Wave.

The conditions throughout the remainder of the day stayed just as gnarly. Wind around 30 and very gusty, big waves, horrific chop. Comments from everyone who went out were along the lines of “crazy,” “nuts,” “not worth it.” An extreme day of windsurfing indeed.

As extreme as it was today, it looks like it may even get windier later this week. The swell is due to drop tomorrow, but forecasters are calling for 25 – 30 knot winds later this week. And, another swell is due to arrive on Thursday. I’m willing to bet the next issues of your favorite windsurfing magazines will feature photos from this weeks heavy sailing conditions.

Thanksgiving Holidays Sailing

Thanksgiving day dawned sunny and warm on Maui, with barely a stitch of wind. Despite lack of wind, I was thankful. - thankful that I live in a sunny warm climate, thankful that I wasn't traveling over this holiday season. Thankful that I would be spending my Thanksgiving, wind or not, at Kanaha Beach Park with fellow windsurfers.

The wind did build slightly later in the day. During a brief gust, I rigged my 5.8, but by the time I got to the water it was way too light to bother with. Others were out sailing on big gear. Those who slogged out past the reef reported stronger winds, 6.0ish for average guys.

Yesterday was very similar. Light wind. The pager was reporting north, but it was actually pretty east. I slogged down to Lowers on my 5.8 and big board to play in the head high waves. Amazingly Lowers was pretty uncrowded. I sailed pretty underpowered for a bit, until the swell built to logo high and I got a bit uncomfortable being so underpowered in the surf. Went out again later in the day. Wind was stronger on the outside, waves seemed to drop in size a bit at Lowers though there were still plenyty of mast-high + waves at Uppers.

No Wind

We're in a serious lack of wind here. Saturday was the best wind in days and it only peaked at around 15. It peaked just as I was paddling my surfboard out at Lowers.

We saw our first advisory level north swell over the weekend. Big smooth glassy conditions for surfing. Alas, too big for me and my 10'2" longboard.

Supposed to get heavy showers the next few days. Wind might return on T-Day - maybe.

What's Happening?

What the hell is going on in Maui? Has it been windy? Are there waves?

Well, after last Sunday's drencher, the weather cleared up a bit. The national weather service was forecasting winds in the 20 - 35 range. Didn't happen. On Monday I sailed a barely powered 5.8 and big board under gray skies. Granted, there was surf - the surf started on Sunday in the mast-high range and continued into Monday and even into Tuesday. But the winds have been very light on the north shore. Tuesday saw marginally stronger winds, but I still needed 5.8. I guess some people had a great time - they rigged big and had a great time riding the mast-high sets rolling in. But I didn't even have enough power with my 5.8 to get into the waves at Uppers or be powered up enough to get out through the break at Lowers.

Probably should have gone over to Kihei earlier in the week where the winds were much stronger.

Lots of windsurfing celebrities at Kanaha lately. Lots of Neil Pryde guys out testing huge gear including Antoine Albeau. Also, lots of Team Gaastra, Matt Pritchard getting in his first post-wrist injury sailing and Dorota Staszewska and Phil McGain.

Weather is forecast to be beautifully sunny the next couple of days with an advisory level north swell coming sometime tomorrow, but light wind. Monday we're supposed to start getting wet, really, really wet - through T-Day. We'll see.

Cold Front

Maui today looks more like Seattle than a tropical paradise. We awoke to gray skies and steady rain and it has stayed that way all day so far. Looking at the web cams on the north shore remind me of web cams from seattle, shades of gray, rain on the camera lens, dark horizon, white waves, a couple of intrepid windsurfers desparately trying to sail, the wind after all is blowing anywhere between 20 and 30 today. Just like a good old cold front moving through Seattle - only about 30 degrees warmer. No thanks. Not interested. Been there and done that way too much.

Beautiful Fall Day

It was an absolutely beautiful fall day today here on Maui. The trades were forecast to blow in the 15 - 20 range so I bailed on work and headed to Kanaha early. Kanaha was gorgeous - sunny, clear blue sky, a few puffy clouds hitting the West Maui Mountains, hardly any clouds out on the northern horizon, a moderate breeze out of the east northeast. 5.8 and big board were the call today and once I got out to the wind line it was perfect. Hard to believe 5.8 could feel so good, but after a week of non-sailing I guess we're all getting desparate here.

The wind stayed a steady 20 or so most of the day until late in the afternoon when it got gustier and then the 5.8 was too much on the outside. Not much in the wave department today until late, but it was still good fun just blasting around.

News on the Aloha Classic - according to the Maui News reporting about yesterday's events,

"Conservation and resource enforcement officers from the Department of Land and Natural Resources informed officials at 12:15 p.m. that they did not have the correct insurance.

The competition was halted for the rest of the day. "

’’We did not have insurance that covered the state,’’ event organizer Pietro Porcella said. ’’We just had to extend our coverage to cover the state. We did not know we had to do that. We had all the permits from the county. But, everything has been resolved and we are on for tomorrow.’’

Go to www.mauinews.com sports section for more details.

So apparently the competition resumed today. No idea about the outcomes - I'd rather sail than watch other people sail. Will report what I hear tomorrow.

Aloha Classic

The buzz on the beach here on Maui today is the Aloha Classic. I'm piecing this together from various reports, but apparently the organizers failed to secure the proper permits from the State of Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources. Word has it that DLNR pulled the plug on the competition. I believe they got off some heats yesterday and today, but the wind was light today and died throughout the day and it was even lighter yesterday. I think only the kids division was able to compete yesterday.

As for us non-competitors, wind at Kanaha was a barely do-able 5.8 for me for about a half hour mid-day then it started dropping. But, despite a short-lived session it felt good to get on the water after more than a week without sailing. Tomorrow we're supposed to get trades for one day then back to light and variable conditions.

Today's Forecast

This from the NWS Maui Zone Forecast today

"Mostly sunny. Isolated showers in the afternoon.
Highs around 87. East winds around 5 mph shifting to the northeast 5 to 10 mph late in the morning, then shifting to the southwest around 5 mph early in the afternoon shifting to the northeast 5 to 10 mph late in the afternoon. Chance of rain 20 percent."

Nope. Still No Wind.

No wind unless you call 8 - 10 mph windy. I heard today that they were still going forward with the Aloha Classic today despite these meager winds. I don't know how. I just picture huge formula boards with 11 meter sails on a wave face. I can't image anything else being able to even slog out to the wind line at Ho'okipa.

Anyway, probably more of the same tomorrow and the weather dudes are saying a brief return of trades on Thursday then saying the go away again on Friday. November is turning into a very meager windsurfing month this year.

No Wind Report

Still no wind here on Maui. We're mired in a cloudy, muggy pattern and it doesn't look promising for wind this week either. The Aloha Classic is supposed to start tomorrow, but it looks like there will only be sketchy sea and land breezes through Thursday.

So, it's time to get back into surfing. I surfed a small day at Ho'okipa on Friday. It was small enough that it didn't interest most of the locals - only 2' - 4' faces. I had planned to surf Kanaha at Lowers, but it was flat. Ho'okipa was the only place with anything over 1 foot. Fun little session. I stayed away from the point where the biggest break is and most locals hang and didn't have any issues with agro locals. A friend reported later in the day that he had a run-in with an agro local though - proving that you kinda need to be careful surfing at Hookipa.

From the National Weather Service

"HAWAII WILL HAVE TO ENDURE LIGHT WINDS AND HUMID CONDITIONS FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS... THE TRADES WILL TRY TO RETURN TOWARD THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK."

Packets and Pockets of Wind

In other words, digital wind today. On. Off. Off. On. On. On. Off. Off. On. Off. In windsurfing layman's terms, it was very gusty/holey today and very, very easterly (side-offshore). We were initially suckered down to Kanaha by readings of 22 NE. When we got there however, the direction had shifted to more offshore.

I took out my 5.0 and a 90 liter Fanatic Skate that I wanted to demo. Slog. Slog. Slog. Hit the wind line. WHAM! POW! Full on 4.5 wind. That turned out to be the story of the day. Really light inside with people bobbing in the water unable to get waterstarts and hell-windy outside the break.

Fair amount of pro action at Kanaha today. Anders Bringdall and Peter Voltwater apparently testing Neil Pryde race sails on various slalom boards (seeing lots of pros testing slalom boards lately - what's up with that? Is slalom racing returning to the PWA next year?). Also seen, Ezzy/Quatro rider Nori Hubbs doing a photo shoot for UK's Boards magazine and also perhaps an energy drink sponsor as she sailed with Santa Claus cap holding a can of "Go Fast" energy drink, sailing in. That's something you don't see everyday.

Autumn in Maui

Ah, Autumn in Maui. The palm fronds changing colors, brisk temperatures, smoke rising out of the chimney. NOT! While Fall in Maui doesn't bring the typical change in seasons, there is a definite change nonetheless. The reliable trade winds that we've grown accustomed to all Summer long become less dependable, less frequent. And so, it seems Fall has taken hold on Maui. Winds on the weekend were very light, non-sailable in my book. Skies were cloudy and gray yesteray. Today the winds are even lighter. The trades have been shut off by a low somewhere, resulting in meager land and sea breezes. That means hot, muggy conditions here.

Not sure how long this will last. The forecast discussion seem pretty uncertain to me. Maybe some wind Wednesday for a day or two then some other annoying low might move in. Lots of uncertainty. That sums up the windsurfing in the Fall here. So, type to clean up the old surfboard, apply a new coat of wax and start getting in paddling shape. Learning to surf here definitely helps to stay sane when you need to get in the water.