Maui Burning
The big news yesterday and today on Maui is a very large brush fire on the west Maui mountains above Maalaea, threatening the new windmill farm, closing down the road to and from Lahaina and the west side and otherwise wreaking havoc on Maui traffic. The fire started early Friday morning (cause still unknown) and burned throughout the day yesterday, burning on both sides of the road, virtually stranding everyone on the west side where they were and keeping anyone else from getting there.
The fire of course has been fanned by strong winds. Yesterday we saw winds in the 5.0 range for guys at Kanaha and the location of the fire was probably blowing upwards of 40mph - it is after all, the windiest spot on the island - hence the location of the windmills there. It was pretty surreal to watch the line of flames burning from my lanai here in upcountry Maui last night.
This morning it looks like its' still burning, as evidenced by lots of smoke. What's all this have to do with windsurfing? Not much. Unless you're vacationing here on a windsurfing vacation and staying in Kaanapali or Napili. If so, you're either trapped on the west side and unable to get to the north shore (they've closed down the backside route around the west Maui's to local traffic only), or you're trapped on the north shore with your gear and unable to get back to your hotel or condo.
So, consider this a tip if you're considering coming to Maui on a windsurfing vacation and thinking of staying on the west side. Don't. Getting in and out of the west side is usually a slow, pain in the ass anyway with frequent accidents shutting down the road and mainland-style traffic jams clogging access in and out.
Winds this morning are so far looking pretty light. Looks like I might have been wrong about getting sailable wind this weekend, but we'll have to see. It could still come up pretty quickly. I'm actually kind of hoping it remains light to give the firefighters a better chance of containing and controlling the fire.
For more details on the fire, you might want to check out the Maui News website, www.mauinews.com, although they're site is currently down - perhaps being flooded with traffic trying to learn more about the fire.
The fire of course has been fanned by strong winds. Yesterday we saw winds in the 5.0 range for guys at Kanaha and the location of the fire was probably blowing upwards of 40mph - it is after all, the windiest spot on the island - hence the location of the windmills there. It was pretty surreal to watch the line of flames burning from my lanai here in upcountry Maui last night.
This morning it looks like its' still burning, as evidenced by lots of smoke. What's all this have to do with windsurfing? Not much. Unless you're vacationing here on a windsurfing vacation and staying in Kaanapali or Napili. If so, you're either trapped on the west side and unable to get to the north shore (they've closed down the backside route around the west Maui's to local traffic only), or you're trapped on the north shore with your gear and unable to get back to your hotel or condo.
So, consider this a tip if you're considering coming to Maui on a windsurfing vacation and thinking of staying on the west side. Don't. Getting in and out of the west side is usually a slow, pain in the ass anyway with frequent accidents shutting down the road and mainland-style traffic jams clogging access in and out.
Winds this morning are so far looking pretty light. Looks like I might have been wrong about getting sailable wind this weekend, but we'll have to see. It could still come up pretty quickly. I'm actually kind of hoping it remains light to give the firefighters a better chance of containing and controlling the fire.
For more details on the fire, you might want to check out the Maui News website, www.mauinews.com, although they're site is currently down - perhaps being flooded with traffic trying to learn more about the fire.
posted by Jeff at
8:15 AM
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