More Racing Menehunes

Saturday was another great day of racing at the Maui Race Series. According to Maui Windsurfing Blog field reporter Norm Roediger, "The morning heats had nice wind and the afternoon got crazy."

The Menehune division continues to steal the show. Jake Golm took first place in the Menehune division. He later went on to win the wave division as well, despite competing against a much, much older group of sailors. Catch some of the Menehune racing action in this video.

Catch this and more great Maui windsurfing photos and videos at Maui Windsurfing.net

Caught a nice lunchtime session today at Kanaha. Pretty good 5.0 wind and some fun little wind swell at Uppers. Good timing - the wind dropped off after about 2:30 or 3:00 today.

Tons and tons of kids out at Kanaha lately - beginners just learning for the first time as well as young experienced rippers honing their skills. Don't know about the rest of the world but windsurfing is alive and well here on Maui and set to keep growing with all these kids getting into it.

We Now Return You To Your Regularly Scheduled Program

Been off-island for a few days, hence the lack of updates. From what I hear it's been windy though. Sounds like pretty strong wind too, with some occasional periods of gray skies. Maui Race Series was held again on Saturday and conditions were apparently nuclear again. iWindsurf graph shows averages into the 30s.

Good to be back on the island - even after only a few days away. Looks like wind is in the forecast for the next few days.

Inconsistency

Our word for the day in Maui Windsurfing is "inconsistency." An upper level low is lurking around the islands basically making the skies cloudy and showery and the wind up and down and swirly. Got to Kanaha to what looked like strong 4.5 conditions. Hit the water and the wind backed off to meager 5.0 conditions then even more meager 5.8. After coming in, the winds then cranked up to 30 for awhile before backing back off. Skies were cloudy the whole time and the wind was mostly side-offshore, but changed directions frequently. I'm sure this isn't what all the tourists in town were hoping for, but at least it is windy.

Cloudy, Showery Weather Sets In

Woke up this morning and it looked like winter on Maui - clouds and showers. Winds were up and down today - low to mid 20s at times but dropping down into the teens also. Not very consistent and it was cloudy most of the day.

Got another video today of little 8 year old Bernd jibing and learning boomerangs. Seems like every time I see him and his dad, he's learning something new. I think by the end of July he'll be doing duck jibes and willy skippers.

Wind Down, But Not Out

After weeks of nearly endless strong winds, Maui windsurfers are getting a bit of relief this weekend. Yesterday's winds started out looking like they would be another day of blasting conditions. I sailed comfortably powered on 4.5 in the morning. The graphs show wind only around 20 mph around that time, more proof that they are reading low. Shortly after noon, the winds started dropping and clocked around to a more onshore direction, making big sails required - 5.8 and big board for me. Kind of a nice change of pace actually.

Winds today are even lighter - mostly in the mid-teens. I'll leave that for the kiters.

Winds Back Up

We got a day or two of relief from high winds earlier this week. Wednesday's wind felt very strange - it was the first time I've been underpowered in weeks. Wind was pretty onshore and in the upper teens. My 5.0 and big board were barely enough, but it felt good to just cruise around in mellow conditions for a change.

That all changed yesterday when the wind kicked back in. Way OPd on my 4.5 in the afternoon. 4.0 woulda been mo' betta. Direction was swirling all around and gusty as hell.

Today it got even windier- wind in the upper 20s, even spiking into the mid-30s for awhile.

An observation on the National Weather Service and Wind Guru forecasts this month ... they're crap! NWS has been saying 10 - 20 all this week. In reality we've gotten anywhere from 4.0 to 5.8 conditions on a given day. They even predicted only 10 - 15 mph on Tuesday, but it Tuesday we saw solid 4.0 conditions with winds averaging in the upper-20s to 30 mph range. The NWS forecast for Maui is broken down into zones which, theoretically, takes into account central Maui's natural venturi effect. I think their models need some tweaking.

Wind Guru has been even worse, predicting winds in the mid-teens each day. Moral of this? If you're coming to Maui on a windsurfing vacation and you're closely monitoring the NWS and Wind Guru forecasts to get an idea of what your vacation will be like ... don't bother. Best just to figure that in summer you're likely gonna be on small gear and the rest of year could be anything from a 3.0 to a 10.0.... but with waves.

Race Video

Got some fresh video from Steve Robinson of some racing action on Saturday's Maui Race Series featuring HI-9. Someone is impersonating Tom Cherry - HI-9 is Tom's number.

Winds the last few days have backed off from the insane levels last week. Blowing in the mid-20s the last couple of days, with some occasional higher and lowere periods. Some fun wind-swell coming in at Uppers and rolling swell outside. Other than that, just flat water and bump and jump.

Bernd Roediger in Saturday's Maui Race Series having a great time. Thanks to Mike Eddy for sending in the photo.

Maui Race Series - Week 2

Saturday was the second of this year's Maui Race Series and it shaped up to be a grueling, brutal day for most sailors. By 11:00 in the morning, winds were already blowing over 30mph. Recreational sailors were going out on 4.0 and smaller sails. I rigged a flat 5 year old Northwave 3.7 and sailed well powered at Uppers. Many of the racers didn't have race sails small enough to handle the winds. The look on the racer's faces as they came off the water on their 5.2s after the first heat told the story - they were getting seriously spanked. Lots of sheeting out and tail-walking as they approached the marks and crossed the finish line. Some even opted to rig wave sails so that they could go down to a more appropriate-sized sail.

Once again, the morning heats were divided by age group and the Junior and Menehune stole the show. These guys rock. Kids as young as 8 years old racing around a slalom course in 30knots of wind. It's pretty cool to see all those little sails blasting around the course. The determination award has to go to 8 year old Bernd Roediger as he steadily made his way around the course. Despite the beleaguered look on the adult sailor's faces, Bernd showed no sign of fear in yesterday's conditions.

After the kids, the 19 - 39 year olds blasted around the course, led by former PWA standout Anders Bringdal.

The afternoon heats are run by skill level. The pros, including Anders Bringdal and Alex Aguerra battled it out around the course. But the competition is fierce at every level - pro, semi-pro, expert, advanced, sport and wave.

At the end of the day, there was a palpable sense of relief among the racers that the racing was over and they had survived - mostly. Minor injuries were plentiful as the pummeling winds and choppy water produced many spectacular wipe outs. Gauranteed there will be lots of sore bodies today.

Anybody who thinks that Maui is only about wave sailing needs to come here and watch or participate in these races. This is racing at a very high, very competitive level. There's talk of bringing the U.S. Nationals here next summer. The racing community here is very strong and very alive. Even if you don't want to race, it's good fun to watch, both from the beach and from the water. Pretty cool to sail around at Uppers on my 3.7, hanging around the start line watching these guys try to control their bigger sails, sometimes just dropping into the water to hang out for awhile.

The two photos below are from yesterday's events. More photos of yesterday's Maui Race Series on the Maui Windsurfing website.

Lots of great action at Saturday's Maui Race Series, from Menehune and Juniors ...

... to pro level competitors like Anders Bringdall and Alex Aguera

"4.0 & Outta Control"

The title refers to one of the comments today from a sailor coming off the water. The descriptions ranged from "pretty wacko out there" to "ugly," "out of control," "nuclear," and "a danger to life and limb."

I went down early, thinking that I would get it before it went too nuts. On the water at noon on my 4.0 and was immediatly maxed out. Got to Uppers in one reach to the wave garden where there was actually some occasional fun little waves to play in - generated by the wind swell. After about half an hour though, it built a bit and it was just insanity to stay out. 3.5 would have been more appropriate.

Went out again later thinking that the wind had dropped a bit. Wrong! It was just a little lighter on the inside but it was actually stronger and gustier on the outside. As I sat chilling out I overheard this conversation between a couple of racer guys as one of them came off the water:

Racer 1: "What's it doing out there?"

Racer 2: "Getting gustier and windier."

Racer 1: So what do you do to handle that?"

Racer 2: "Go in! Derig!"

There was a noticable absence of most of the racers today despite this Saturday being the next race. They shoulda been out practicing, it's only supposed to get windier tomorrow and Saturday. National Weather Service is calling for "Northeast winds 25 to 35 mph with gusts to 45 mph" on Saturday.

Congratulations and props go out to local Kanaha sailor Jazz who landed his first forward loop today, sailing out if it clean. Very ballsy in today's conditions.

Still Blowing

Didn't make it down to sail again today, but windier than hell here Upcountry. Peering through the binoculars at Kanaha I see solid whitecaps. Graphs show wind in the upper 20s in the afternoon with visits into the 30s at times.

Just uploaded a new video to MauiWindsurfing.net. This video shows UK pro windsurfer Robby Swift practicing spocks and loops a couple of weeks ago, maybe practicing for the super-X at Costa Brava that was scheduled for last week.

Still Pretty Windy

I sailed early today, to avoid the afternoon insane winds - 5.0. This got to be a bit too much by about 1:30 - could have been on 4.5 then. By the time I was derigged and pulling out of Kanaha around 2:00, sand was blowing heavily on the beach. Usually that's an indicator to me that it's 4.0 or stronger. Graphs are reading 29ish in the late afternoon but they look much more consistent than yesterday and a much better direction. Probably pretty good 4.0 this afternoon.

Maui Goes "Nucular"

Flaunting threats from the U.S. government, Maui went full-on "nucular" the last couple of days. Nevermind North Korea, what do you do when Maui goes "nucular?" (Editors note: for all of our international readers, the term "nucular" refers to an inexcusable mispronunciation of the word nuclear - that is sadly all to common in the American vocabulary. Sadly, even an education at the finest academic institutions such as Yale, doesn't seem to be able to correct this... but I digress). Yesterday was a gusty/holey 4.0 in the early afternoon. I'd be maxed out on my 4.0 one minute - wishing for my 3.5 - then 5 seconds later I'd be slogging up to me knees in a "nucular" holocaust hell hole. Might have steadied out later in the afternoon after I left. Hey Speedy, care to comment on the conditions when you went out?

I didn't sail today, but judging from the graphs and the wind here Upcountry, it was even windier. The graph looks like the teeth of a saw - the high points in the low- to mid-30s. Given that I think the iWindsurf graphs are reading low lately, that's got to be way OP'd 3.5 for me. Then it looks like an hour later it would be down to 5.0. Then repeat the cycle over again. The wind direction was also way east, meaning if you rigged a tiny sail and a tiny little Pringle (International translation: a Pringle is a brand of potato chip, very light, very low volume) board, you had the slog from hell to get to the windline. But, this is all speculation on my part. I have not heard yet from anyone who was there. Speedy, help me out here. Forecast for tomorrow is 10 - 15 with gusts to 40.

Robby Swift mid-spock ... or was it a vulcan...

Winds Trending Up

Yesterday was a weird mish-mash of a day for windsurfing. The morning started out dead-calm, then turned light SE. Later in the morning, the winds turned NNW, light, then back to light east. But early afternoon the wind shifted a little to a more favorable trade-wind pattern and kicked into the upper teens. Great. It's Friday. Time to blow out of work and go sail. 5.8 looked good when I got to the beach. After 4 reaches though I was headed in for my 5.0. The 5.0 was pretty nice up at Uppers/Camp One for a while, but the wind kept building until I was pretty maxed out. But there were some fun rolling swells to play on so I hung on. Late in the afternoon the wind really kicked in - into the 30s - easily 4.0 territory. Could have been a four sail day.

Today started out at 5.0 and quickly built to 4.5. I found it pretty gusty today but lots of people were loving it. Once again some really nice clean rolling swell on the outside to play on. No waves breaking but the rolling swell is kind of Gorge-like, except the water is nice and blue, and warm.

Word is that the high pressure to our north is going to strengthen early part of next week and strengthen the trades. Hmmm. It's already blowing 4.0 to 4.5 for most guys. Could be a week of really small gear next week.

Norm Roediger sends in this photo of this year's group of kids racing in the Maui Race Series. There are now two divisions for the kids.

Mellow 20

Trade winds are continuing to blow, albeit a bit up and down, mostly in the mellow 20 mph range, with occasional periods of higher winds. 5.0 has been the call the last few days. Waves have petered out to normal summertime levels. There's some small-kine stuff up near Camp One - mostly just wind swell generated. Kind of fun to play in the little wave park up there, but nothing in the down-the-line category the last few days.

Got some new video from Steve Robinson of Saturday's Maui Race Series. Check out the close up action jibing around an inside mark:

Maui Race Series Video 1

Maui Race Series Video 2