Horrifying Weekend

It has been a harrowing, haunting and horrific weekend of windsurfing here on Maui's northshore. No windsurfer was safe on the water yesterday as two psychopathic gouls took to the water in a brazen assault of our beloved past time. This amazing video captures just some of the horror of what's coming to be known as the "Kanaha Carnage".

As you can see in the video, the demonic duo terrorized other sailors with their horrifying masks and repeated slogging and falling in the water. By sundown, they had scared everyone off of the water in screaming fits of terror. The memories of yesterday's horror was too much for many as the park was mostly deserted today. The psychos had even managed to scare away the tradewinds. Only the waves were brave enough to face them today. Only time will tell if anyone dares to set foot on the sands and water of Kanaha tomorrow - Halloween.

Pretty light wind day of sailing today on Maui - 5.0 and 90 liters for me at Uppers, moderately powered midday. It really backed off around 2pm and didn't come back until about 4 and even then I would have needed a 5.5.

Waves are on the decline. There were a couple of head-high sets today at Uppers but they were few and far between. Mostly waist to should high. Still fun while it lasted though.

Wednesday was a Windsurfing Magazine photo shoot day. Matt Pritchard was out on his super x gear doing flat water chop hops and duck jibes for the cameras. Looked like they were also doing a gear test of 80 - 90 liter wave boards.

Video Smorgasboard

Got a bunch of new videos from a new Maui Windsurfing video correspondent, Jonathan Magasin. These videos are a little old, but very cool. Unfortunately when I edited them for the web, I lost the cool audio track he had. Sorry Jonathan.

This first set of videos is a set that Jonathan filmed at Hookipa last December. Nice shots of the pros showing their stuff. Keep an eye out in the third one, near the end where Robby Naish spins his board around on a wave and waves sails fin first! Unbelievable!!!!

Hookipa 1 Quicktime Video 2.29 MB

Hookipa 2 Quicktime Video 2.57 MB

Hookipa 3 Quicktime Video 3.77 MB

In this next video, Jonathan takes us out on the water with him at Kanaha, using his helmet cam to get some cool shots of a later afternoon session at Lowers on a small wave day. If it's been awhile since you've been on the water, put on your harness and click on this sweet clip and pretend you're there. It's a large file, but it's worth the download even if you have dial-up.

Kahana Helmet Cam Quicktime Video 8.52 MB

Last, but not least, Jonathan got some killer footage from last Decembers epic day at Jaws. Big day, tons of guys on the water, several helicopters in the air, tons of people on the cliffs watching.

Jaws Quicktime Video 4.3 MB

Thanks Jonathan! Enjoy the video feast everyone! Aloha

Hookipa

Maui windsurfing videographer Steve R. sent me some video he shot at Hookipa from our recent big swell. Steve said there were only about a half dozen guys out, including the Pritchards and Phil McGain. Both videos are in Real format

Hookipa Big Day 1 1.79 MB

Hookipa Big Day 2 1.7 MB

Surf has dropped down to small stuff, although late in the day today a new small swell started arriving. Got some rides at Uppers in the afternoon. Wind kicked in to the nuclear levels late in the afternoon, with averages in the low 30s.

Tales of Survival

Talk on the beach yesterday afternoon at Kanaha was full of tales of survival. The surf was VERY large, still in the mast and half + range at Uppers, mast-high at Lowers. Often there was no gap between Uppers and Lowers to even get out. A complete close-out wall of white water 8 - 10 feet high or more. A lot of people tried to get out and failed. Some people got out and came back wide-eyed, with scary tales to tell of huge waves and light or no wind. Me? It was too light and too big for me. Decided it just wasn't worth it.

Today was another story. Surf was still big - head high to logo high at Lowers and mast + high at Uppers. Wind filled in better to the 5.5ish range most of the day. Caught a few sweet waves at Lowers until the crowds got too scary. Second session went to Uppers and had fun getting my adrenaline going with a few big, meaty monsters. Started getting crowded up there too, with both windsurfers and a pack of kiters. I think a lot of Hookipa regulars are still sailing Kanaha today since Hookipa was probably mast and half high.

This swell is on the decline, but we'll still have some waves. Reinforcements, though not as large, are on their way. Looks like the wind might stick around through the week if we're lucky.

WWW

Windy, Wet and Waves. That's Maui this morning. The forecasters have been predicting that we'd be getting our first shear line (the trailing tail of a cold front) of the season this weekend, accompanied by strong winds and a big north swell. Yesterday the winds stayed light on the north shore throughout most of the day, once again making the forecasters look like a bunch of amateurs. The waves did arrive though. I got a report from Maui Windsurfing correspondent, Speedy, who went down to sail in the afternoon. According to him, the wind was pretty marginal, 5.8 but the waves were epic. He was still stoked about riding the biggest wave of his life, mast and half plus. Sounds like Lowers was a crowded zoo. Uppers only had a handful of people. Hookipa had only 2people out and word was that they would likely make it into the magazines, but they would also likely be trashed on the rocks. That about sum it up Speedy?

After dark last night the wind and rain finally kicked in to levels the forecasters had been predicting. This morning, is a rainy sloppy mess, with winds blowing in the mid-20s and the wind cams are showing waves still on the north shore. The shearline is sitting right on top of us right now. Forecasters are saying it will dissipate and things will clear up a bit. I'm a little dubiuous as it seems the forecasters always seem to underestimate how long these shear lines stick around.

Light Winds

Light winds prevailed the last several days here on Maui, making for light wind and Formula windsurfing at best. I didn't bother even going to the beach the last few days, but felt like blowing off work Friday afternoon. Wind was too light for my 5.8 except for a brief period late in the afternoon.

If you believe the forecasters, things could get interesting this weekend. High surf warning goes into effect tomorrow for a large northwest swell. Combine that with the forecast below from NWS and it has all the makings for some major insanity on the water:

"Saturday...Partly cloudy. Isolated showers in the morning...Then scattered showers in the afternoon. Windy. Highs 82 to 88. Northeast winds 15 to 30 mph with gusts to 45 mph. Chance of rain 40 percent.

Sunday...Partly cloudy with isolated showers. Windy. Highs 83 to 89. Northeast winds 20 to 35 mph with gusts to 50 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent. "

The forecasters have been doing a crappy job predicting wind lately in my opinion, but they're long overdue to get a forecast right.

Monday Rocks! Tuesday? ... Not!

Maui windsurfing yesterday was pretty damn good! 4.5 and some head to mast high waves at Uppers were the recipe for a tasty afternoon picnic on the water at Kanaha. Absolutely beautiful glassy waves at Uppers. Lowers was pretty much trashy close out stuff. No comparison at all. Uppers was the place to be.

Today was pretty lame. Cloudy and up and down conditions, mostly down in the upper teens with some gusts above 20.

Sunday Afternoon

You just can't ever rule out the wind blowing on Maui. Midday today I checked the iwindsurf page, more out of habit than expectation and found the wind averaging around 20. What the hell? Got on the water with 5.0 and a new board I'm demoing. 5.3 would have been perfect most of the time, but the 5.0 was ok for about an hour before the wind backed off. Again, just goes to show that when it comes to predicting Maui wind, the forecasters don't know jack. Following that logic, it ought to rock the next few days!

Sunday Morning

It's a beautiful Sunday morning here on Maui and time to catch up on the blog. After sailing on Thursday, I was sitting around at Kanaha BSing with a few other windsurfers. Of course the topic of conversation moved to the forecast for the next day. The forecasters were calling for the wind to lighten up on Friday and into the weekend. Local sailor, Jazz, however, predicted that the winds on Friday would be better than on Thursday. I asked him what information he had to come up with that prediction. "Simple," he said. "The forecasters are calling for it to get lighter and they're always wrong!"

Well, it turns out Jazz was correct. Friday was supposed to be pretty light. I demo'd a 90 liter wave board and put on a 5.8 and sure enough, the winds kicked into the mid 20s. I had to go in and rig a 4.5. Though a bit gusty and shifty, it stayed in that range the rest of the day. The waves were a bit smaller than Thursday but still plenty big. Lowers got a little less crowded, but there were still lots of Hookipa refugees sailing Kanaha due to the Red Bull King of the Air Kite event being held at Hookipa. Speaking of that, I was talking with a friend at the beach about it. He says the event is being referred to as "Carnage on a String." Hookipa has had 20 - 25 foot faces the last few days. Even kiters are having a tough time clearing the waves. Lots of lost boards, tangled lines, shredded kites. I've heard that windsurfing legend Robby Naish is kicking ass in the competition and even one unconfirmed report that he won.

Moving into the weekend, yesterday we saw pretty light wind on Maui - low to mid teens with diminishing waves. Probably not sailable unless you had Formula gear. Speaking of that, lots of the pro racers have been out at Kanaha testing their big stuff, Micah Buzianis, Jimmy Diaz, Nick Baker. I can't imaging testing big sails with the surf up as big as it was but they were.

Today's wind looks like it's going to be even lighter than yesterday. The high pressure ridge has crumbled so it looks like light sea breezes or southeasterly winds today. Into the week, even the forecasters are afraid to commit to any prediction. Might return to light trades. Then again, it might not.

Nice Waves, Crappy Wind

We got our first big swell of the season today on the Maui's northshore. It was a beautiful site driving down the hill and looking out at the northshore and seeing the waves rolling in. When I got to Kanaha midday, the waves on the outside break at Uppers were pumping pretty good. I could see one or two guys way the hell out on the outside break and the waves were easily over mast high. Lowers was already packed. Probably 50 - 100 people out contesting for the head to logo high waves at Lowers. No doubt about it, the waves looked sweet. The wind on the other hand, was pretty pathetic. Very, very light and very onshore. I rigged 5.8, my biggest sail and put it on my 83 liter wave board, not really expecting to be able to make it to Uppers. Sure enough, I ended up slogging around Lowers. Caught one or two waves, but it was such a crowded zoo and the wind was so light it just wasn't much fun.

The wind didn't improve at all through the day. A steady stream of squalls seemed to keep the wind from kicking in. I took out my big freeride board just to be able to get around, but it's such a beast in the waves that I could only fool around on the little waist high shoulders at Lowers.

The thing to do today was probably to do a downwinder. I chatted with Matt Pritchard on the beach a bit. He and a few other launched from Sugar Cove near Sprecks and did a downwinder. He said there were some mast and half high sets on the way down, but the swell was a bit out of the northwest and with the northerly component in the wind, he said there were a lot of sketchy areas where there was just no wind at all. Proof of that was lots of broken gear today and lots of lifeguard rescues in progress throughout the day.

Maui Windsurfing Lesson of the Day - windsurfing on Maui isn't alway epic, even when the swell is pumping. Wind and waves don't always cooperate.

It's Official ... Wave Season is Here

It looks like the waves are officially here. We've got a small north swell that's been generating some smallish waves on the north shore the last few days. Yesterday was a very fun day on 4.5 with some small shoulder to head high waves at Uppers. Today was very similar. Waves were a little bigger, wind was a little more up and down. But overall, we're starting to get some genuine down the line wave riding. Lowers is still pretty small - about knee to waist high with a couple of slightly smaller sets. There were some very nice clean sets at Uppers in the late afternoon today. Looks like we might be getting our first advisory level swell later this week. That probably means mast-high+ at Uppers, bigger at Hookipa and a bit smaller probably at Lowers. Hookipa is infested this week with the Red Bull Kite Event, so don't plan on getting your sailing in there.

BTW, on an adminstrative level, I've been getting an annoying amount of comment spam lately from losers trying to get links to their totally unrelated sites by posting automated comments. So, I've instituted an increased bit of hassle to leave comments. You have to log in and you have to do the little word verification thing. Pain in the ass I know, but I'm tired of deleting comments from people trolling for links to their French fashion websites. Hopefully this will work. If I still get unrelated comments I'll probably just end up disabling comments altogether.

Friday 5.0

Finally got a good day of sailing yesterday after several days of pretty marginal wind, clouds and showers. Skies cleared up and the wind filled into to a nice 4.5 - 5.0 range. Got some small-kine waves coming in on the north shore now.

Got some fresh new windsurfing video over on the Maui Windsurfing website. One features some of the local Kanaha kids out playing on a tandem board on a light wind day, the other a small wave day at Hookipa. Both videos taken by Steve R. Thanks Steve!

Yesterday's wind was characterized by all but a few as "wicked." I caught a brief session midday on my 4.5, pretty overpowered. The waves were sloppy, the water inside the reef at Uppers was as churned up as I've ever seen it. Most people I talked to concurred. There are always a few Maui local windsurfers though who seem to have a good time in any conditions. Jazz had a good time catching monster airs on his 4.7 when most guys were maxed on their 4.2s.

Didn't sail today. Looked pretty up and down most of the day until the mid to late afternoon. I hear that Speedy had a good time on his 5.0 but wished he had his 5.4. Supposed to be getting a north swell but I don't think we've gotten it yet. Looks like the forecasted south swell missed us. Kihei was nuking today, but the web cams showed no sign of wave action.

Cloudy Monday

It was a cloudy Monday here on Maui today. The clouds were enough to keep me at home/work despite readings around 20 -22 (averages) at Kanaha. I kept looking at the windcams and it just didn't look that inviting to me.

Yesterday winds were mostly in the upper teens hovering near 20. For me, nothing to get excited about.

Trade winds are supposed to be coming back on line according to the weather geeks. Also, looking at the wave forecasts it looks like we might get a small bump in waves on the north shore starting Wednesday or Thursday. The south side is supposed to get another pretty big swell starting tomorrow night. Depending on wind direction, Kihei might be the better place to sail on Wednesday if you're looking for waves.

It's been kind of a weird week for windsurfing here in Maui in my opinion. Forecasters were calling for strong winds all week. Most days hovered around 20. Not what I consider strong winds. Then we were supposed to get pouring, drenching rains from former hurricane Kenneth. It rained a bit yesterday morning, then cleared up. Didn't rain at all here today. I guess Oahu and the Big Island got drenched and we stayed dry mostly. From what I hear, yesterday was a pretty good day at Kanaha. Local sailor Jazz (the guy in the photo at the top of the page with the sick, tweaked table top) even went as far as to say it was a great day. Me? I missed it. I was doing other things, convinced that it was going to be a rainy, squally day. I've been here long enough I should know not to believe the weather forecasters.

I did get out today for a bit, though I think I missed the best part. Looked like 11:00 to noon was the best wind of the day. I got to the park at about noon and it looked like marginal 5.0 so that's what I rigged. Bad call. Wind dropped big time. Went out anyway and was able to plane on the outside. Wind was way out of the east. There were some fun little waves that made it worth the while, but the wind pretty much sucked. You know what they say... if it doesn't blow, it sucks. The wind just kept sucking more and more. Finally gave up and decided to go check out the 83rd Maui County Fair. Looks like the wind came back a bit, but there's now way that could have compared with BBQ kailua pulled pork, mac salad and rice accompanied by this year's purple ribbon winners of best Maui flower arrangements, award-winning Tahiti limes, Jack fruit, lilikoi and more varieties of other fruits that you could possible imagine, set in a backdrop of cheesy mainland carnival rides complete with screaming teenagers. Probably the first and last time I'll visit the Maui County Fair. If you want a flavor of local-style on Maui and you're here this time next year, check it out. Locals seem to love it. I guess I'm way too haole to get it.

If you're visiting Maui this coming week, it looks like you should get some wind. Forecasters are still saying that it should be wet tomorrow, but personally I think they're all wet as far as Maui is concerned. I think winds will start building back tomorrow and be back to normal trades by Monday. Also, south swell coming again so if you're staying on the south side, you might want to check that out.