Kihei Day

Following Norm's advice from yesterday, I decided I better monitor Kihei's winds today. Sure enough, Kihei was reporting low 20 readings to start the day. Normally I wouldn't get too excited about this since Kihei reads a bit high on the wind sensor. But when I saw it hit the mid-20s, I decided I was desparate enough and headed over.

I got there around 11:30 and the place was already a zoo. Almost parked out, rigs all over the lawn and lots and lots of sailors and kiters on the water. South Kihei road was gridlock as wind junkies jockeyed for position along the shoulder of the road. Knowing how Kihei can be lighter than it seems, I rigged my biggest gear, 5.7/90L. Wind was side-onshore from the south, no waves despite a very slight south wind swell. The 5.7 turned out to be barely enough and at times I found myself slogging along with lots of others. The only people who really seemed be powered up all the time were those who rigged 6.0+ or the rubber-boned freestyle gumbies putting on a show 10 yards from the beach (there was some very impressive freestyle action goin' on). Looking at the graph afterwards, the readings were still saying 24, 25-ish for averages. Definitely reading at least 5 mph too high.

By about 1:30 the wind had dropped so much, there was a mass exodus from the water. So, props to Norm for reminding me to keep my eye on Kihei. It was pretty marginal sailing at best, but still good to get on the water after 2 weeks of being dry.