Maui Winds Sputter and Fade

Monday, June 30, 2008 at 9:00 am HST

They took a little longer to die out than I thought they would, but Maui's trade winds have faded to virtually nil. Saturday was the last day people could reasonably eke out some planing conditions as the trade winds stubbornly refused to die completely. Winds Saturday afternoon averaged in the upper teens, flirting with 20 occasionally - 5.0 conditions for women and 6.0 conditions for guys from what I heard.

I'd have to classify yesterday an official 'no wind' day with light onshore sea breezes of less than 10 mph prevailing throughout the day. The same conditions look like they're setting up again today. What's worse, the forecast is saying those conditions will prevail over the next couple of days. No trade winds in the end of June and beginning of July on Maui! That's extremely rare. Forecasters are saying that light trade winds will start returning to Maui on Wednesday.

Top 10 Maui Windsurfing Videos

Friday, June 27, 2008 at 5:00 pm HST

Windsurfing videos are without a doubt, the most popular thing on this website. I thought it would be interesting to look at the web server stats to see what videos over the past wave season were the most popular. The following are the top ten most downloaded videos from this website between October 1, 2007 and June 29, 2008. Not sure about anybody else, but I'm surprised at a few of the results:

		Kauli Pryde Posted February 11, 2008
		Hookipa Hootenany Posted March 29, 2008
		Robby Shreds Sugar Cove Posted May 12, 2008
		Slalom Practice Posted March 31, 2008
		Photo Shoot Frenzy Posted April 17, 2008
		Starboard Photo Shoot Posted April 13, 2008
		Hookipa Hard Core Part 1 Posted February 14, 2008
		Hookipa Hard Core Part 2 Posted February 17, 2008
		Heavy Hookipa Part 1 Posted November 15, 2007
		Kona Lanes Preview Posted December 1, 2007

Before I looked at the data, I expected the videos that had been up the longest to have the most downloads. As you can see, that's not the case at all. It seems to be generated more by the subject matter of the video.

Early in the year there was a lot of buzz about Kauli Seadi switching to Neil Pryde. I had actually gotten some video of of Kauli on NP sails earlier, but when he plastered his sail numbers on his sails, I thought that made it official and did a video of just him that day at Hookipa. Turns out that fed into the windsurfing gossip machine, driving that video to the top of the charts.

One of the bigger surprises to me was how well the Robby Shreds Sugar Cove video did. That was only posted in mid-May yet still got enough downloads to make the number three position. I've always noticed that any video with Robby Naish in it gets downloaded a lot. But this video, posted so recently, of small little waves at Sugar Cove, not Hookipa, did so well, that it just goes to show how Robby is still the king of windsurfing celebrities.

The next big surprise to me was the Slalom Practice video. Maui is known around the world as a wave sailing mecca. The popularity of a little video of some pros blasting around bouys at Kanaha on slalom gear goes to show that the windsurfing world is interested in more than just wave sailing.

Along the same lines was the Starboard Photo Shoot video. In terms of quality, this video has to be one of the poorer ones I did this last season. The subjects are pretty far away. I was getting blasted by blowing sand, so the camera wasn't that steady even on the tripod. And there's not really any radical action. There's some freestyle going on, but it's nothing compared to the freestyle you can see elsewhere on the web. I have to wonder if the popularity of this video was due to the tandem board.

I expected the Kona Lanes videos to do better. Kona Lanes events are pretty spectacular to witness. Mabye that doesn't get conveyed well on video.

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting insight into the world windsurfing community to see what they're interested in seeing. It will probably be a few months until you see any new wave sailing videos posted here, but you can expect to see more slalom video action from the Maui Race Series. Any other Maui windsurfing stuff you guys are interested in seeing? Drop me a comment if you've got anything in particular you'd like to see.

On to the wind report. While we've had lots of days of trade winds in June, the wind strength has been less than normal. Usually in June , 4.2, 4.5 and 4.7 are about all I need. This June my 5.0 and 5.3 have been getting a lot of use. Wednesday was another one of those days. I sailed 5.0, marginally powered or underpowered for a couple of hours. A 5.3 would have been better, but I was too lazy to go in and rerig. Yesterday was even a bit lighter - light enough for me to not even bother heading down to the beach. 5.3 might have worked at times, but it looked like 5.7 or bigger was the call most of the time yesterday. Today was a cloudy, gray day on most, if not all, of Maui. Wind was looking like it was going to be pretty light on the north shore with averages in the upper teens. With the cloudy light wind combo, I committed myself to working, only to find that the wind came up to sailable 5.3 levels around 1:30 or 2:00 at Kanaha. Looks like it was windier in Kihei the whole day.

Continuing the light trend, the winds are forecast to get even lighter over the weekend and light sea breeze regime is set to dominate. What that usually means is light onshore wind at Kanaha - usually too light to sail anything but a longboard - and stronger, possibly sailable winds on the south shore in Kihei. It's a pretty unusual set up for late June and early July on Maui.

Comments:

Most people probably don't know what 'kona lanes' means. they don't understand that the kona winds only occur a few times a year and they don't understand it means epic conditions at lanes if there are waves. If it was called "The most massive josh stone aerials ever and mega late lip smacks" maybe it would get more hits!
Sizzler

Good point. I'll keep that in mind for the next one. Makani

Still Windy

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 9:30 pm HST

Trade winds are still blowing on Maui. I took Sunday and Monday off from sailing but not from lack of wind. Looks like both days blew in the the 5.0 range or less for guys. Got back on the water today with 4.7 at Kanaha. The wind had been pretty steady in the low 20s before I hit the water, but at times the 4.7 was feeling a bit big. But the wind mellowed out a bit towards the end of my session - back to 5.0 levels.

Not much happening in the waves and swell department. Even the wind swell today at Camp One was pretty small for June. Pretty much just blasting around, back and forth sailing.

Somebody on the one of the iWindsurf forums asked recently how the crowds have been on Maui recently. Overall, my impression is that we've got quite a bit less visiting windsurfers here this summer. Weekends are still pretty busy at Kanaha, but not weekdays. The proportion of European windsurfers to US and Canadian windsurfers seems to be higher this year. It also seems like we're seeing less of our Japanese sailor friends here this year. Whether all this is due to the Maui political BS against windsurfers or the crappy economy, high air fares or what, I don't know. But, my highly subjective, un-scientific survey says we're seeing lighter windsurfing visitors to Maui this year.

Maui Race Series Video

Sunday, June 22, 2008 at 1:10 pm HST

Here's a quick video I slapped together of the racing action in yesterday's Dakine Classic Maui Race Series.

Maui Race Series Video

Pro sailor Micah Buzianis dominated the pro class as well as his age group class, but Peter Biejl, Peter Slate, Alex Aguerra and Phil McGain gave him a run for his money.

Race Day

Saturday, June 21, 2008 at 6:30 pm HST

Race day number 2 today in the 2008 Maui Race Series. Maui dealt up a whole range of conditions for racers today, starting out with pretty moderate wind around 11:00am. Maui always seems to like to throw challenging conditions at the racers and today was no exception. Around noon a squall upwind produced some extremely gusty, gnarly conditions for about a half an hour with winds averaging in the upper 20s and gusting into the 30s. This of course was followed by another period of moderate winds with a few punctations of nasty gusts for good measure. It's race day after all, and it's alway fun to watch slalom racers on big race sails hang on to big sails in 30 knot gusts. Here's a few photos of the action today. Got some video too, that I'll slap together in the next day or two and get posted up here.

Moderate to Strong Trades Return

Thursday, June 19, 2008 at 7:00 pm HST

After several days of light wind last weekend through early this week, somebody turned on the wind switch yesterday. The trade winds were forecast to increase, but the expectation was a gradual increase yesterday and stronger winds today. Turns out they got it a bit backwards. Wind kicked in to high gear yesterday. We arrived at Kanaha around noon to find a solid sea of frothing whitecaps and sand blowing on the beach. No need to debate what to rig for me. Just rig the smallest sail I have - 4.2.

I heard a fair amount of whining and complaining on the beach about how strong and gusty it was, but personally, I had a great time. There was some pretty smooth and sweet wind swell at Uppers and Camp One making for some pretty fun backside wave riding - some of the best backside riding I've had in quite awhile. So, others may not have liked it yesterday but I was all smiles coming off of the water.

Decided to do something different today and headed to Hookipa. The wind also decided to keep things interesting and backed off a couple of notches instead of getting stronger like it was forecast to do. I sailed 5.3 with about a dozen visiting Japanese windsurfers in pretty tiny - waist high swell. Interesting to branch out and sail somewhere differently occasionally, but honestly, Camp One and Uppers was far superior yesterday than Hookipa today. I did hear from Jazz that Hookipa yesterday was head high in the afternoon. So, it was probably just a factor of the wind strength driving bigger wind swell yesterday.

Trade winds are supposed to stick around for the next several days but I'll refrain from guessing just how strong it will get. This Saturday is the next Maui Race Series slalom race at Kanaha. I missed the last one, but I'll probably hit it up this week to shoot some photos and video of the action and get it posted up here.

New Gear

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 4:30 pm HST

It's time for the 2009 gear from Naish and Naish team rider Bernd Roediger wastes no time making the best of it.

Light, teasing wind again today. Got lured to the beach by readings of 21 G 24, only to find it had dropped to about 15, then to around 12ish. Guys with 6.2s and 100 liter boards might be able to make that work, but right now my biggest gear is 5.3 and 95. Not enough. Wind should get stronger tomorrow.

Light June Winds

Monday, June 16, 2008 at 6:30 pm HST

Trade winds are still a bit on the light side here. Saturday turned out to be a Kihei day again for the strongest winds. All indications were that yesterday should have been a carbon copy of Saturday with the same basic meteoroligcal ingredients in place. It was doubtful enough that I almost got complacent enough to stop checking the wind sensors. Almost.

But knowing that just when you give up on conditions, Maui can sneak some extra wind in, I decided to keep checking. Sure enough, around lunchtime Kanaha was reading near 20. We loaded up the van and hit Sugar Cove, knowing that Kanaha would probably be a zoo of Fathers' Day picnicers.

It was a spectacular day and once at Sugar Cove I debated between 5.0 and 5.3. Since the wind was still a bit onshore, I went with the 5.3. Good call. The 5.3 was barely enough most of the time. There were some occasional small sets of waves rolling in at Sprecks, but not frequent enough to lure me downwind. Speaking of waves, I hear that Hookipa had some pretty decent shoulder- to head-high waves the last few days. I'm guessing that it was mostly wind swell generated since the predominant wind direction has been north for the last few days.

According to the forecasters, the trade winds today were supposed to turn southeast and go super light. Once again, Maui didn't get the memo. Sure it was a bit on the light side, but the prevailing winds on the north shore were northeast in the upper teens. Enough for guys to be sailing on 5.8s and 6.2s.

The forecast for tomorrow is the same as today, but I think it might actually get a little stronger. The light winds are a result of an upper leve low west of Kauai. That low pressure has put a dent in the pressure gradient. However, indications are that it's going to start moving to the west, away from the islands, tonight. If it does that, I assume that the dent it's put into the pressure gradient should go away and we should see a bit stronger pressure gradient and thereby stronger winds. But, if I'm wrong, blame it on my lack of a meteorology degree.

Kihei Day

Saturday, June 14, 2008 at 9:30 am HST

My prediction in my last post about the wind yesterday was wrong. I thought it would be like the day before. Wrong! Turned out the wind got a bit lighter on the north shore and clocked around to a more northerly, onshore direction - all the ingredients to make Kihei the best spot for wind.

I was actually in Kihei at a meeting, without gear, and stopped by both Maui Sunset and Pavillions. Plenty windy. Looked 4.5 to me. There's a small, sloppy, mushy wave at Pavillions from the south swell, but not really rideable in my opinion - only good for jumping.

The setup this morning is looking similar to yesterday. Winds at Kanaha are light and onshore.

Small North Shore Waves

Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 8:00 pm HST

Yesterday was a gray and showery day. Got lured down by misleading readings on the graph to find wind too light for me and my 5.3.

Today was sunny, steady mellow wind around 20 most of the day and surprise surprise - some small surf at Uppers. Waves were about chest high at their biggest and pretty weak - not much ooomph to them, but fun to have any kind of down the line north swell this time of year. 5.3 was perfect for the hour and half session in the mid afternoon. Good times!

So, the wind is in fact beating the forecaster's predictions, especially WindGuru. WindGuru has been showing wind speeds in the single digits for the past couple of days. Actual readings on iWindsurf today were 3-4 times higher than what WindGuru was predicting. And there was nothing on WindGuru about a north swell. It was predicting ENE wind swell.

Predictions on WindGuru are for slightly more wind tomorrow than today. Currently numbers are around 9 or 10 knots. My guess is that we should get a repeat of the wind conditions we had today. As for the waves, not sure where they came from. I don't see any mention of them in the Hawaii surf forecast so I'll assume that was a fluke not set up any expectations for anything more than wind swell tomorrow.

Summertime Winds

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 at 8:20 pm HST

It's not officially summer yet, but we've definitely got summer sailing conditions prevailing here. Winds were still pretty strong yesterday - powered up 4.2 for me, with some fun backside riding at Uppers and some nice ramps.

Winds mellowed a bit today to the 5.0 range. I thought it looked a bit lighter than that so I took out the 5.3. Barely enough initially then quite a handful for awhile then barely enough at the end of the session. I guess that averaged out ok. Still some fun backside stuff at Uppers too.

Looks like winds may start backing off tomorrow and might possibly even get pretty light the latter part of this week. At least that's what the forecasters are saying. But, Maui has a way of making the forecasters look foolish when it comes to predicting wind strength, especially this time of year, so I won't be surprised if it still stays sailable.

2007-2008 Hookipa Wave Wrap-up Video

Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 5:10 pm HST

A video recap of the recent 2007-2008 Hookipa wave season. Big waves, big winds, radical aerials, cutbacks, wave 360s, bone-jarring wipeouts and more. Featuring the usual suspects.

2007-2008 Hookipa Wave Wrap-up Video

Winds have been a little inconsistent the last few days in my opinion. Started out on 5.0 on Thursday, pretty decent, a tad gusty but fairly fun and mellow. Didn't take long for the raging winds to return though and by mid-afternoon I was well-powered on 4.2.

Friday was light and goofey, at least after about 1:00. Best and strongest winds were the early session and the wind just steadily got lighter and lighter. First 5.0 wasn't enough, then 5.3 wasn't enough either. Beautiful day though.

Yesterday was the first race of the 2008 Maui Race series. Knowing it would be very crowded and calculating that each trip to the beach to go sailing costs at least $6.60 in gas money (gas was $4.42/gallon when I filled up on Friday), we opted to get picky and sit it out yesterday. The big news from the races yesterday was a collision between Phil McGain and Mike Yasik that resulted in a broken leg for Yasik. The Maui News has an article about that along with the race results from yesterday. Best wishes to Mike for a speedy recovery. If he recovers as fast as he sails, he oughta be good as new in about a week.

Wind today started out erratic again - huge spikes and lulls. By 1:00 the graph showed that the wind had settled into the ballistic zone with averages at, or just below 30. Got a beach report phone call that it was nuking and gusty and "big guys were going out on 4.2s and 4.5s." No thank you. Not interested. I'll save my gas money for better conditions.

2008 Maui Race Series Announcement

Wednesday, June 4, 2008 at 9:15 am HST

The 24th annual Maui Race Series kicks off with the Neil Pryde Slalom, Saturday, June 7, at Kanaha Beach Park.

It is the first event of five events for the US Windsurfing-sanctioned series. The other events include the: Da Kine Classic (June 21), Quiksilver Cup (July 5), Maui Fin Co. Open (July 19), and the BTW Hawaii State Championship (August 2).

There will be competition in the following windsurfing divisions: menehune, junior women, junior men, 19-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60 & over, women, wave board, pro, semi-pro, expert, and advanced. Racing will start at 11:30 with a skipper's meeting scheduled for 10 am. For more information, call 877-2111.

Raging Winds

Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 7:40 pm HST

Winds have been raging the last couple of days. Smalls sails are getting the nod as winds at Kanaha have been averaging in the upper 20s and gusting into the 30s. Sailed 4.2 yesterday, moderately powered - 4.5 would have been about right. Hardly a speck of a wave in sight, but the water was pretty bumpy and churned up. Lots of racers out tuning up, including pros like Micah Buzianis and Kevin Pritchard getting ready for the upcoming PWA tour event.

A busy day of work kept me off the water today, but my wife reports it was windier and gustier than yesterday.

Trade winds are supposed to continue through the week so no need to worry about getting skunked if you're headed here on your windsurfing vacation this week.

Windy Weekend

Sunday, June 1, 2008 at 8:30 pm HST

It's that time of year where it gets pretty tough to distinguish one day of sailing from the next here. Summer sailing has definitely kicked in. The last 3 or 4 days of sailing all kind of blend together. In a nutshell, it's been windy every day, somewhere in the 4.2 to 5.0 range.

Let's see, Friday was a pretty consistent wind day at Uppers. Sailed 5.0. Not much happening for swell so I sailed up to Sprecks to check that out. Not much going on there either - just thigh-high wind swell. Levi Siver, Jace Panebianco and Kai Lenny were the only ones there aside from me.

I hear there were waves at Hookipa on Saturday from a tiny north swell. Didn't really see any of it at Kanaha. Lots of speed racers out at Kanaha again tuning up for the start of the race season next Saturday. 4.7 got the call yesterday, not quite as steady as on Friday. Without much in the wave department at Hookipa it's time to start practicing some new stuff. Started trying forwards again yesterday. I learned firsthand that it's not a good idea to let go of the boom in mid-loop. Doh! Nothing broken though, just a minor wrist sprain, not enough to keep from sailing.

Today was Sugar Cove and Sprecks day. 4.7 was good for the early session then had to go down to the 4.2 as the wind approached nuclear range.

Looks like wind through the remainder of the week, though the forecasters are saying we might get some showers mixed in with the trade winds which tend to make it a bit gusty.