Winds Declining

Nobody I talked to at the beach on Monday had any kind words to say about the wind that day. I arrived in the afternoon to hear everybody telling me how gusty it was - even people who are normally very positive. Sure enough, they were right - gusty and shift 4.5. The most positive remark I heard was from local sailor, Jazz, who remarked, "nothing special out there today, yeah?"

Winds today were only sailable for people with floaty boards and big sails. Formula weather. Winds will drop even more tomorrow as an approaching front shoves our high pressure out of it's trade wind producing position. Time to let the bodies recuperate and do maintenance on the gear for a few days.

Raging Sunday

Winds went ballistic again here on Maui today. 4.0 was plenty of sail in the early afternoon, and the wind-generated rolling ocean swell provided a fun playground in the absence of any real waves. Lots of smooth, big rollers to ride and slash, almost like the Gorge on a big day. Later in the afternoon the winds dropped down to the 4.5 to 5.0 range.

Lots of people on the beach and on the water. Lots of locals out enjoying the weekend and still lots of tourists in town.

Looks like we should get one more day of wind tomorrow, then our 4 week long stretch of 5.8m wind or stronger will probably come to an end as a late season cold front shoves the wind-generating high pressure to our north down over the state. That typically shuts down the trades and turns wind to light southerlies, bringing in volcanic haze from the Big Island and making things hot, muggy and stagnant. Bad news for anybody arriving for their windsurfing vacation, but actually good news for those who live here - we need a chance to let our poor, tired bodies recover from a month straight of sailing.

A little too much sunscreen?

More Wind

Thursday saw lighter winds on Maui, at least at Kanaha. I sailed 5.8, barely powered. I heard though that it was 4.2 at Ho'okipa. Yesterday was looking like it was going to be a no-wind day until mid-day the winds started kicking in, first 5.8 level, then 5.0, the 4.5. 4.5 was great at times, but later in the day the wind got a little bit "punch-gusty" as I call it and a bit shift. Looks like we'll see more wind today and maybe Sunday and Monday, but it looks like our long string of consecutive windy days may come to an end early next week. Forecast is for us to lose the trades and for light sea breezes starting Tuesday or Wednesday.

Wind Keep Crankin'

The last two days we've seen strong winds. Winds yesterday were 4.0 to 4.5 for average sized guys. Today's wind was a bit windier still. I sailed 4.0 very powered up in the late afternoon. Pretty gusty today though and the chop was pretty gnarly. Lots of people sitting on the beach vs. out sailing. Some occasional surf at Uppers finally. When will the trades back off and take a break? Not very soon according to forecasts. Wind speeds look like they may drop a bit but should still be plenty windy for at least the next week.

Summer in April

Seems like it's summer here... temps are nice and toasty, wind has kicked in to 4.0 - 4.5 levels and no waves - just like summer. We were supposed to get a swell today, but it must have been from the west too much. I heard Ho'okipa is getting some, but Kanaha was virtually flat today. A couple of waist-high sets occasionally at Lowers but few and far between. Other than that, strong 4.5, sunny and warm. 24 days in a row of sailable wind (5.8 or stronger for me) and more to come.

Wind Update

Still blowing here on Maui. Winds took a bit of a dip on Friday. 5.5 and 90 liter board were the call. Unfortunately I had a 5.0 and 83 liter board, so I had to work it to make it work. The winds kept dropping through the day and by mid- to late-afternoon averages were only in the upper teens.

Yesterday the wind got fiesty again, starting out in the low-20s and building to average speeds in the low 30s in the afternoon. The windsurf shops were hopping with people coming back in and exchanging gear for smaller gear. Lots of tiny 3.0 - 4.0 sails going out of the shops.

Last week, during the Starboard photo shoot, they had a board sitting on the beach that drew lots of attention. Check out the photos below. It's got a very squared off nose and a pretty weird tail. It's got a dagger board, so I assume the extra tail section is for low wind. Another interesting aspect of living here, you see a lot of new gear here. Some makes it into production, others not.

Forecast for this week is more wind. Supposed to be a little lighter today and tomorrow, but still sailable, then pick up again on Tuesday. We're also expecting a north swell probably tomorrow. Haven't had much in the way of waves for about a month now so that should be good.

Weird tail

Interesting new board from Starboard seen at Kanaha during their recent photo shoot

More Video

Another Steve R. video, this one from the recent PWA Pro.

Back on the Water Again

After taking a couple of days off to recuperate, I got back on the water again today. Good day! Beautiful sunny skies and toasty warm. Wind was excellent at the mid-day session - strong 5.0 and a little bit more side onshore than the last couple of days. Later in the day it shifted around again though and got a bit gustier. The later afternoon sesh picked back up again for very powered 5.0 sailing again. Very tiny waves today. There's basically no swell, just some wind waves, waist-high at most at Uppers. Good for jumping. Rumor has it we might get a swell this weekend.

Windsurfing Videos

Introducing Maui Windsurfing Blog windsurfing videos! Though Blogger.com (the service that hosts this blog) doesn't currently host videos, I've recently revamped the AikiMaui site to have a section on Windsurfing News where I can put windsurfing videos. I've just posted a couple of videos shot by local Kanaha windsurfer Steve Robinson of Kevin Ozee foilboarding at Kanaha and a really sick video of Kevin Pritchard throwing a one-handed, one-footed backloop at Ho'okipa during the recent PWA contest. Check out the videos here.

As for wind recently, we had some pretty sweet conditions on Sunday with sunny skies, nice waves and strong wind in the mid- to upper-20s. Monday the winds started turning more easterly making for gustier sailing, and I heard that winds yesterday were "evil." I suspected they might be since the wind was so east and offshore. I didn't even bother going down. Today is also looking like it might be pretty wacky.

In windsurfing shop news, some local kooks drove their 4Runner into local windsurfing shop Hi-Tech and stole some surf boards and clothing. Police caught up with them in a cane field where they recovered at least some of the boards and got the vehicle, but not the thieves. I'd suggest going to the Maui News website to find more details, but their site seems to be down currently.

Matt Pritchard Jump Clinic

Back by popular demand, world champion windsurfer Matt Pritchard held another one of his advanced windsurfing clinic in conjunction with Maui windsurfing school, Hawaiian Sailboarding Techniques (HST).

Ten students signed up to learn advanced jumping techniques including forward loops, backloops, table tops and push loops. The clinic started at 9am with extensive "classroom" discussion on the lawn at Kanaha. From there it off to the water, with Matt demonstrating forward loop technique close up out on the water. From there, Matt sailed out one on one with students to coach them through the loop.

Winds were a little bit uncooperative, peaking at about 21 for the first half hour on the watr, then dropping from there, making jumping a challenge. Lots of photos below. If all this intrigues you, Matt is currently planning his next jump clinic on May 14. Call HST to get more details 1-800-YOU-JIBE.

Local sailor, Bobby, starts to initiate a forward under the watchful eye of Matt sailing just behind him

Matt's brother Kevin throwin' down some freestyle just upwind of the clinic.

Matt demonstrates a forward while students watch from the water

Conditions were pretty light for the jump clinic

World Champ and wavesailing, jumping and looping instructor - Matt Pritchard

Matt demonstrating coming down from a backloop

Matt demonstrates backloop technique

Matt chop hops 10 feet from shore

Fear Factor

There are aspects of windsurfing that can bring out fear in even the ballsiest of sailors. I’m sure yesterday’s nuclear conditions pegged many sailor’s fear meter. Though I missed the sailing yesterday, even if I had sailed in those nuclear conditions, today’s fear factor, for me was much worse.

The wind started out pretty light today, not even getting into the upper teens until noontime. I finally headed down the mountain when I saw the graphs reporting low 20s. I arrived to find pretty marginal 5.8 conditions with very easterly, side-offshore conditions.

After socializing for awhile, I finally decided to just go out and get wet. As I was rigging, fellow Kanaha local, Jazz, passed me carrying his rig to the water, looking a little dubious, remarking how someone had just told him they’d seen a couple of sharks out there.

Great! You hang around Kanaha long enough and you will inevitably hear reports of someone seeing a shark. I’ve heard several reports of sightings since I’ve been here. No attacks, mind you, not since I’ve been here anyway. So, I’ve heard enough of these that, despite my natural fear of being food for some dumb carnivorous sea beast, I try to just ignore them.

So, I continued to rig and headed to the water. As I was 10 feet from the water, I saw Jazz coming back out of the water, his face a little bit more pale than when I saw him 10 minutes ago. “Back already?” I asked him. To which he replied with some expletive or another, followed by, “I just saw three big sharks! Straight out. Just outside the reef. I’m outta here. I want to live to sail another day.”

Jazz is a die-hard windsurfer, stays out for hours shredding the waves at Uppers. If Jazz gets spooked off the water, it’s time for pause.

And pause I did. I debated for a long while, watching the windsurfers sailing in that area, fully expecting to see a feeding frenzy erupt amidst shrieks of terror and pain. But, none of that happened.

The wind was starting to build and fill in a bit better. What a conundrum for a windsurfer. The conditions were looking really good. But there’s sharks out there. “Fuck the sharks! I’m going sailing.” So, I went sailing. Sure I stayed inside the reef and played it very conservative, making sure I didn’t blow any jibes. But I faced that annoying imp called fear and went out. Is that courage? Addiction? Or just stupidity? I’d probably attribute it mostly to addiction.

While I was sailing, I was on a close look out for any aquatic creatures. Didn’t see a damn thing. I saw the lifeguard jet ski head out from the tower and cruise around the area where Jazz had reported the sharks. He cruised around for awhile then headed back in. The wind was picking up and I was soon overpowered on my 5.8 so I decided to come in to see if they would post a shark sign on the beach and if not, downhaul more and switch to a smaller board.

While I was in, I saw Jazz coming back off the water. “What the …?” Upon seeing me, Jazz remarked, “Manta rays. They were manta rays.” Apparently a group of manta rays had been spotted earlier in the day. Jazz reported the shark sighting to the lifeguards who went out to check it out, and confirmed 10 manta rays cruising around, plus a few turtles out having sex. Wow. What a relief. Whew! I can go out now and just relax. After all, turtles aren’t going to be out humping around if there’s sharks around are they? You know how slow turtles are after all. They’re going to want to make good and damn sure that they’ve got all the time they need for a little bit of turtle nooky.

So, I went back out for another session. The wind built even more and the 5.8 was soon way, way too much. At the end of the day, talking with my better half, I relayed the shark/manta ray incident. She remarked that she had also talked with Jazz and mentioned the manta ray sightings to Dolf, who originally had seen the sharks in the first place. Dolf’s response was, “There may be manta rays out there too, but I can tell the difference between a shark and manta ray. What I saw were torpedo-shaped – sharks. Not manta rays.” So, it turns out there may have been sharks out there after all. But, in reality, you gotta figure they’re always out there. We just rarely see them.

I’ve only heard of one actual shark attack on a windsurfer here. A couple of years ago a French windsurfer was bobbing around in the water, way out, adjusting something – basically offering himself as bait. If I remember correctly he was bit on the foot or leg. He flagged someone down and was able to get back to the beach in one piece. I’m not sure if ended up losing his foot or leg, but he did survive. Pretty remarkable that there’s only been that one attack over the last few years despite all the thousands of sailors venturing out into the aquatic buffet table. If you want to windsurf in Maui, or anywhere in the ocean for that matter, you gotta come to terms with being part of the food chain. Face the fear. Are we not windsurfers after all!

Hard Winds a-Blowin'

The title refers to a classic windsurfing video chronicling nuclear sailing in the Gorge. It also refers to winds on the northshore of Maui today. Average wind speeds according to iWindsurf were in the low 30s. I used the wimpy excuse of having to get caught up on work to not go sailing today. Saw a local sailor in Foodland this evening who said he could have been on a 3.0.! Despite being a Gorge veteran of many years, I just don't enjoy that kind of nuclear sailing. 4.0 is reasonable. 3.0 is just insane!

Photo Shoot Frenzy

Kanaha today was characterized by raging winds and dozens of team sailors blasting around inside the Uppers section of Kanaha as both Starboard and Fanatic were running photo shoots. The Starboard team was on the water first and the freestyle gumbies were throwing themselves around in an amazing show of twisted contortions, spins and loops. Maui wunder-kid Nick Warmuth was joined by the likes of freestyle phenom Tati Frans, throwing flat water goiters and multiple, linked 360s tricks of some sort ( I can't distinguish between most of the freestyle moves).And then there were the little 8 and 10 year old kids ripping it up as well. All this was happening in 4.0 to 4.5 winds. Amazing show.

Team Fanatic opted to rent a helicopter and shoot in the waves at Uppers. The wind swell at Uppers was respectable size today with logo- to mast-high waves. Not the greatest lighting conditions for a photo shoot as we saw numerous clouds and light showers pass through.

For self-sponsored me, it was a well-powered 4.5 on my JP. Blasted around Lowers for a bit, caught some head-high waves there. Then blasted to Uppers, where the wind either dropped a bit or it was a little bit lighter and less gusty.

This makes something like 11 or 12 days in a row of moderate to strong wind. What's more, it looks like we'll get a couple of more at least. Trades may back off a little on the weekend, but looks like they will continue to hang on for the foreseeable future.

Trades Keep Blowing

The trades are continuing to blow this week. Monday we saw the wind drop off to mellow 5.8 sailing with small waves. It was actually a nice mellow change from the previous day. Just some nice relaxed moderately powered sailing on a beautiful sunny afternoon.

Yesterday started out similarly, but later in the afternoon the winds kicked in another notch or two, averaging into the mid-20s.

Today, more of the same. Only 9:30 and it's already blowing 20 at Kanaha.

Winds today here on Maui pretty much went nuclear. Skies were sunny, temps were up into the low 80s where they belong. Got to Kanaha around 1:00 and it looked like a toss-up between 4.5 and 5.0. I went 5.0 and sailed way powered at Uppers in some head-high and occasionally logo-high waves. Lots of fun, but then the wind really kicked in. I went back to the beach and went straight to 4.0 and sailed powered up on that for another hour or so.

Lots and lots of people today. Haven't seen Kanaha this crowded since last summer. Walking around the beach and the park, half of the people are speaking German, Dutch, French or Swedish. Lots of Europeans and Japanese visitors on island right now. (Hey, the weak dollar is great for the Maui economy!) Lowers looked completely packed and even Uppers was pretty crowded, mostly with locals out for their weekend session, plus a couple of kiter kooks, even though it's posted that kiting isn't allowed there. For anyone out there who is a kiter or knows kiters, pass along that it's against the law, yes, the law to kite between Kanaha and Sprecks. The FAA has banned it because there's a runway that ends there and planes are taking off and hey, kites interfere with radar. Not to mention that the area is fairly heavily traffic from low-flying planes and helicopters. So, kiters, stay down at kite beach where you belong. (Ok, end of my anti-kiter rant ... for now).

Wind yesterday was apparently pretty ugly. I needed a day to recuperate and get some work done and opted to stay home. Turns out that was a good call. Fellow Pukalani resident Mike said it was one of the ugliest days he's had here. Very up and down and very shift. Sometimes the iWindsurf graphs don't paint the most accurate picture of actual conditions.

Trades are in the forecast throughout the forecast period. They may drop off a touch the next couple of days, but should be a decent time to be on Maui if you've got a trip planned.

Getting Better

Beautiful day of sailing in the early afternoon today. 5.0 and sunshine. What a refreshing change from the gray skies and showers we've been having all week, or even all month for that matter. Around 3:00 however, those showers made their presence known again and shut down the wind for about an hour. Those who waited around hoping for a return of wind and sun were rewarded however, when the squall passed, the sun came out again, and the wind picked back up to 5.0 again. Somewhat punchy and shift, but a far cry better than most of the wind we've seen lately.

I had hoped to get down to watch the PWA competition today, but work got in the way. Sounds like Josh Angulo won men's and Daida Moreno won women's. Wind was pretty strong at Ho'okipa from what I heard. It was interesting to note how much less crowded Kanaha was this week while the contest was going on. Lots of people were apparently spending the day watching the event, leaving Lowers, uncharacteristically uncrowded. Should be a zoo again tomorrow.