Kihei ... um ... hmmm ... well ....
It had been awhile since I've made the trek over to the south side to sail Kihei. Winds didn't look like they were going to happen on the north shore today and it looked windy in Kihei. "What the hell?" I thought. "I'll give it a try." Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a fan of sailing Kihei. Today's session reaffirmed that feeling.
I arrived mid-afternoon to find all parking within a quarter mile of the launch already taken. The lawn was littered with gear. Checking things out, it looked pretty light inside and blasting outside. There was a small, waist-high wave breaking on the reef, and every one of the 4,456 windsurfers there today was fighting for their piece to shred. Since I wanted to fight with the rest of them for my piece of that action and it was so light on the inside, I rigged my 5.0.
Just as I suspected I needed every square centimeter of the 5.0 on the inside, but a few hundred yards out, the wind was way stronger, like 4.2ish. It didn't take long before I realized why I don't like sailing Kihei. Kihei, in my humble opinion, is perhaps the gustiest place I've ever sailed, and today it lived up to that reputation. Even on the outside, there were strong 4.0 gusts and anemic 6.0 holes. On top of that, add 90 degree wind direction shifts and short-period wind chop making for some of the harshest knee-pounding sailing around. The saving grace were those occasional waves. Nothing epic mind you. But, the waist-high waves were the biggest waves I've seen here on Maui in 2 months. Caught a few decent rides, but since I try to respect right-of-way rules, I had to let many of the waves go to other sailors.
Anyway, a lot of whining, I know. I should just be glad I got to sail today. And I it was good to get out. But, I try to call it here as I see it. And for me, Kihei sailing just isn't worth it most of the time. Now if I were smart, I should have gone out to La Perouse to check that out ...
By the way folks, if you're looking for more coverage of Maui's surf and windsurfing scene, check out Giampaolo's blog. Good stuff:
http://mauisurfreport.blogspot.com/
I arrived mid-afternoon to find all parking within a quarter mile of the launch already taken. The lawn was littered with gear. Checking things out, it looked pretty light inside and blasting outside. There was a small, waist-high wave breaking on the reef, and every one of the 4,456 windsurfers there today was fighting for their piece to shred. Since I wanted to fight with the rest of them for my piece of that action and it was so light on the inside, I rigged my 5.0.
Just as I suspected I needed every square centimeter of the 5.0 on the inside, but a few hundred yards out, the wind was way stronger, like 4.2ish. It didn't take long before I realized why I don't like sailing Kihei. Kihei, in my humble opinion, is perhaps the gustiest place I've ever sailed, and today it lived up to that reputation. Even on the outside, there were strong 4.0 gusts and anemic 6.0 holes. On top of that, add 90 degree wind direction shifts and short-period wind chop making for some of the harshest knee-pounding sailing around. The saving grace were those occasional waves. Nothing epic mind you. But, the waist-high waves were the biggest waves I've seen here on Maui in 2 months. Caught a few decent rides, but since I try to respect right-of-way rules, I had to let many of the waves go to other sailors.
Anyway, a lot of whining, I know. I should just be glad I got to sail today. And I it was good to get out. But, I try to call it here as I see it. And for me, Kihei sailing just isn't worth it most of the time. Now if I were smart, I should have gone out to La Perouse to check that out ...
By the way folks, if you're looking for more coverage of Maui's surf and windsurfing scene, check out Giampaolo's blog. Good stuff:
http://mauisurfreport.blogspot.com/
posted by Jeff at
8:51 PM
3 Comments:
Dont' worry, you didn't miss much. Here's what I did. I first drove to Kihei to check the sailing at he Sunset. It looked crappy, so I decided to go durf Dumps, instead. Dumps looked small and too high tide at 3pm, so I drove back to the Sunset, but it still looked crappy. I don't like sailing in Kihai either. So I drove to Thousand Peaks where I had a bad session with waves mostly closing out.
Thanks for the appreciation for my blog. Likewise.
By
cammar, at 10:59 PM
Aloha,
I don't know if you've done this previously, but, since you've mentioned it, how about a posting explaining right-of-way rules in the waves?
To so many people, the rules are a mystery. But they are so simple that they can be summed up in just one word, "aloha." A few details of explanation in an online reference like yours might help.
Keep on bloggin', dude.
Francisco Franco, RIP
Supreme Commander,
World-Wide Waves (WWW) Society
Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caidos
By
Anonymous, at 8:49 AM
Good idea ff.
First of all, the sailor headed out from the beach has right of way over someone coming in. I see this one violated a lot. It is considered courtesy at least here in Maui to let the guy on the wave have the wave if you're going out and you can work around it, but technically, the guy going out has the right of way.
Second, the first sailor on the wave has right of way and third, if two (or 3 or 12) sailors catch a wave at the same time, the one closest to the critical section has right of way. These two get violated a lot too. Granted there's enough people some times that it's hard to tell who caught the wave first. That's why you need to know the third part, about the one closest to the peak having right of way.
In my opinion, as long as someone isn't blatatly and flagrantly breaking these rules, if they at least seem aware of the rules and seem to be trying to follow right of way, I'll cut them some slack. Otherwise they get a dose of serious stink-eye from me. ;-) And I think most people I know are willing to share a wave with someone if that person demonstrates an awareness of your presence and is making sure not to put you in danger or ruin your ride.
By
Jeff, at 8:15 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home