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.