All Photographs Copywrite(2006) of Randolph Kashino
Maui 2006 Wind and Surf Adventure
March 21
I got in late last night on the Air Canada direct flight from Vancouver. Picked up my "Word of Mouth" Car Rental and headed to my digs at Pu'u Koa, Haiku. A six'er of Corona's was nicely waiting for me in the fridge. Had one and that was enough to send me to bed. This morning I woke up just in time to catch Glenn James do the weather. The forecast doesn't look good for windsurfing, but the surfing looks pretty good with both North and South Swell coming into Maui. After this I went up to the Pawela Cafe for breakfast. Had the new special and sat outside with a coffee and read the latest edition of the "Maui Time Weekly". After breakfast I headed back to Pu'u Koa and dug my surf board out of the garage. After loading the cooler with juice and beer I drove down to Hookipa point to check out the waves. It looked like the waves had 3 to 5 foot faces and closing out pretty quickly because they were coming straight in. Pretty crowded this morning, so I headed into Kahului to check out the Windsurfing shops. After this I headed to the south side and up to Papalua Beach Park. The surf was looking pretty nice with 2 to 3 foot faces and absolutely nobody else out. My first wave was a real nice right and then I was joined by a kayaker, so the next few waves were lefts. I took a break and saw that the swell was building and went further out and caught a nice shoulder high right with 2 or 3 bottom turns. A couple more surfers came out, but they stayed on the inside. A few more waves and that was enough to start for this adventure. Next it was into Kahului to pick groceries and then back to Pu'u Koa. Some "Tako Poke" with Beer for dinner, just to get into Maui mode.
note: Tako Poke: marinate cuttlefish and vegetables, Korean Style.
March 22
This morning I dug out the Windsurfing gear to check it out. However, the weather forecast calls for no wind for the next few days, so it looks like I'm going to have to go surfing. Jeff Sutherland called and we decided to meet at Hookipa to decide on a surfing spot for the day. I met Jeff and Stephanie at Hookipa and it was looking pretty small and crowded so we decided to go over to Lahaina side to check things out. When we got to Papalaua the waves were a lot smaller than yesterday and there was a bit of wind chopping it up. We decided to go up toward Lahaina and stopped at Launiupoko Beach Park, but it didn't look much better. Next stop was way up to Kapalua at "D.T. Fleming" Beach Park. Not much here either, so we went up to Honolua Bay. Nope. I hadn't driven around the North side of the west Maui mountains so we decided to head this way to get back to Kahului. This is a pretty winding road. Paved all the way, but only one lane wide in some steeper sections. One lane means only one car width with no shoulders! The scenery was spectacular and there are some nice spots to stop along the way. We finally made it to Waiehu and went for a surf there. A bit choppy but there were a couple of good waves. Now we were getting hungry so we headed into Kahului to the "Pizza in Paradise" and we each ordered a Calzone. These are really filling and we all had to have half for take away. We summed up the day by saying "We went surfing at Waiehu, but took the long way to get there".
On the North Road around the West Maui Mountains
March 23
Late this morning Jeff phoned to say it looks like Kihei might be going off with a Kona wind. With this info, I loaded up my gear and headed over to Kihei. When I got there it looked like every desparate windsurfer on Maui was out. Not really convinced, I rigged my 5.0 anyway. It's my biggest sail that I brought with me. Well I slogged out and nearly got planing a couple of times. One reach on the way in I got planing for about 3 seconds. Even that's in debate because I was on a small wave. So, was I planing or surfing?. Oh well..Time to rig the beer.0.
Glenn, Stephanie and Jeff alias Eh Team Inc.
March 24
No wind again. Even the surf seemed to be turning off. I ended up going surfing at Hookipa for a couple of hours. Not too crowded today and there was even a couple of Humpback whales just offshore giving us a show. In the afternoon I headed to a couple of surf shops to check out boards and stuff.
March 25
Still no wind in the forecast. I went down to Hookipa early to see what was happening and the surf looked pretty big with 8 to 15 foot faces. That's what the Hawaiians call 4 to 8 feet. I headed back to Puukoa and Jeff phoned to say they were going to try surfing at Lowers at Kanaha Beach Park. I took my time to get going and when I got to Kanaha, they where already out. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes to paddle out to the reef at Kanaha and when I got out the waves were a more reasonable 2 to 4 foot Hawaiian. I lucked on my line ups for position and got the first wave no problem. My second wave was even better going to the right with a couple of bottom turns. We stayed out for about an hour a half then headed in. Then we headed to Pinatas for a late lunch.
March 26
We've all but given up on windsurfing for the next week, so we decided to head back for another session at Kanaha. This was another fun session. Waves were'nt as big as yesterday, maybe 3 foot Hawaiian, but I had a really nice wave and got in about 4 or 5 bottom turns. Lots of kayakers and paddle surfers out today, so we had to becareful not to be in there line on a wave. They were mostly beginners and didn't have much control on where they went. After 3 hours of surfing, we headed for lunch at the food mart at the Queen Ka'ahahumanu Shopping Center. Later that evening we had a Sushi fiest at Puukoa.
March 27
Really dark this morning with lots of rain and a squall came through and blew my deck chairs over. I phoned Jeff and he was going to lay low today. No word of any wind. So I headed down to Hookipa. Waves were a lot smaller today. Only 1 to 3 feet and almost no crowd, so I headed out to the point to surf. No really good breaking and peeling waves, but I managed to get one good left. After an hour or so I headed back to the beach. When I got there I knew the surf was getting really small because the locals were gearing up to do some spearfishing at Hookipa. I hung out a the beach for awhile then headed back to Puukoa to relax for the rest of the day.
March 30
Well, this is turning out to be a surfing trip because there isn't any wind to be had. The last couple of days has been surfing at Hookipa. I'm not complaining because the surfing is pretty good. Not too big, good for longboarding. I've also gone snorkelling over at Oneuli Beach. Visibility was pretty good (15 to 20 ft) considering all the rain thats been dumping on Maui. This time the fish were cooperating for photos. Unusual, for this beach because the spearfishing usually makes them pretty skitterish.
March 31
This morning the weatherman, Glenn James, said today has been the 40th day in the row for rain on Maui, but he is indicating that the trades are going to build in next week. In the meantime its more surfing and snorkelling. Good news there was some wind at Hookipa, not enough for me to get inspired to go out and break some gear. Most of the Proffessionals, however, decided to make a go of it. Jeff and Glenn decided to go out to on bigger sails (5.4). The waves looked fun, but the wind was really offshore and there were lots dead wind times. I ended up going surfing near the end of the day at Hookipa. It was pretty choppy surfing with the wind.
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Winsurfers should NEVER do This
to a Surfer at Hookipa or your looking for Trouble
More action in Low winds at Hookipa
April 1
Big overcast sky this morning and absolutely no wind. However, there's a big sale at Second Wind today. I went down there and checked out all the goods on sale and found a nice 7'10" Naish epoxy Surfboard that I got for a killer deal price. I then headed to Papalua Beach Park to see if there was any south swell to be had, because there was still no hint of wind on the north shore. Waves at Papalua were happening, but still pretty small, only 2 to 3 ft faces. It was good enough for some relaxing longboarding.
April 2
Yahoo! Finally some real windsurfing. Sprecklesville went off today. I had a couple of really nice sessions on my 5.0. And the forecast looks pretty good for the next week. The wind started out a bit light so I rigged the sail pretty full. Jeff went out on his 5.3 and freestyle board. My first run was just slogging in the light wind. The next run the wind picked up and it was solid 5.0 sailing. About an hour later the wind died for a little while. Time enought for me to have a beer break. Then it picked up again and I was out there for a nice long session. Waves were pretty small, but I was happy (like all the other windsurfers) just to get sailing again.
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Jeff showing off at Sprecks
Sprecklesville Beach
April 3
Blasting Trade Winds Today! I got to Sprecks at 11:00 and it was blowing pretty good. I rigged my 5.0 and downhauled it all the way. Went out and was definitely overpowered, but I managed to stay out by staying inside where the wind was a bit lighter. When I came in I decided to wait for a half hour to see if the wind was going to die down a bit. No Way. So, I rigged my 4.0. That was a bit better, but it's still pretty windy in the gusts. Jeff went out on a 4.3 and broke his harness belt. I took out the wind meter and got 20 knots gusting to 29 knots on the beach which means it was likely 30 gusting to 40 knots out on the water. I did a couple of more sessions and by 4pm that was it. Later that evening we went to "Jacques Bistro" in Paia for dinner.
April 4
After yesterday today was nice 5.0 sailing at Kanaha Beach Park. Waves are still flat so no real wave sailing to be has. Lots of turtles out there today. I had to be careful not to hit any. Perfect day for practicing tacks. I sailed out to Uppers and caught what waves there were. Everybody else had the same plan so it was pretty busy. I was pretty tired after sailing and didn't feel like making dinner so I went to Las Pinatas and had their "Kitchen Sink Burito".
User Friendly Kanaha Beach Park
April 5
This morning my muscles were really feeling the last few days. A couple of Ibuprofen took care of that. Winds look a bit lighter today. I stopped at Hookipa and the waves were a lot bigger, nearly mast high breakers. It was really busy, the parking lot was full. The wind still looked pretty light so I drove down to Secrets Cove to check what it looked like there. Only 15 knots and it didn't look like anybody was out at Sprecks. So I drove to Kanaha. More sailors out here but it looks like they're on the big stuff. I rigged a 5.0 anyway. I slogged down to lowers and was able to catch a couple of waves. After a few runs of this slogging I tacked back up and called it a day.
April 6
It looks a little windier today, but it could be really up and down judging by that cloud bank out there. I rented a Carve 121 to see how it would perform in the waves at Kanaha. When I got there it was looking windy so I stuck with my JP wave board and rigged my 5.0. It was really up and down wind but better than yesterday. I headed down to lowers and got my line ups for my first wave of the day. Perfect down the line with 3 or 4 bottom turns. Then into the beach to tack and then back out for another. After awhile I came in for a break and then a big dark cloud appeared, rained and shutdown the wind. This was my chance to try the big board. It performed pretty well and got up on a plane pretty fast. I tried on the waves at lowers, but it wasn't very good at catching waves. The wind came up again and I sailed back to the beach and got the smaller board again. It must have been good sailing after that because I sailed until after 5pm.
April 7
This morning I took a look at the Sprecks webcam and it looked pretty windy. A call to Jeff and we decided to go to Hookipa to check conditions there. When we got there, the wind was pretty light and the waves were as small as I've seen them this trip. We headed to Sprecks where we knew there was some wind. When we got there it looked really windy. Not having a 4.5 I rigged my 5.0 and downhauled to the max. That worked because my first session was for about an hour. Then it looked like it was getting even windier. When I went out the wind backed off even more. The wind was nearly onshore and catching these small waves was pretty much impossible in these nukin conditions. Jumping was pretty good though, because you could get some speed up before hitting the ramp. Josh Stone showed up at the beach and was nailing some major loops. Jeff was trying push loops and doing pretty good until he broke his boom. My last run was in nukin winds, it wouldn't just back off. Hopefully, tomorrow it will back off a bit so I can rest my muscles.
Jeff doing Push Loops at Sprecks
What's wrong with Jeff's boom?
April 8
First thing this morning (7:30) I headed down to Hookipa to see if it was surfable. It didn't look very good, really windy and choppy and small, so I headed into Paia to get a cup of coffee and a cinnamon bun at the Livewire cafe. Then back to the beach to see if conditions were going to improve. Nope. So I headed back to Pu'u Koa and loaded up the windsurfing board and headed to Kanaha. On the way I stopped at Hawaiian Island and rented a bigger board to test. The Naish Titan 125 liter board. When I got to Kanaha winds were still looking light. I rigged my 5.0 and then went out the Titan 125. It planed up pretty fast and was a lot less kinder on my knees in the chop than the Carve 121. Jibing it also seemed pretty good. My final test was to see how it was in the waves at lowers. Not to bad, better than the carve, but definitely not a wave catcher. The wind then really picked up so I was able to do a big upwind reach from lowers all the way up to upper Kanaha Beach where I had launched from. I then switched back to my JP wave board and headed out again. The waves were pretty small and the wind started to back off again, which required me do 3 tacks to get back up to the launch. I switched back to the Titan and went back out. Offshore there was a big black cloud showing a bank of rain heading this way. I was out when it hit. Rain and squally wind conditions and then no wind. The Titan performed pretty good and was very sloggable and I tested its uphaul-ability. I weigh 88 Kg, so uphauling on a 125 Litre board was not too much problem, but still requires some board sense to know where to stand. It was definitely better than trying to uphaul on the Carve 121. Interesting how only 4 liters makes that much difference. The rain relented when I got to the beach but the wind had definitely shutoff. It was 2 o'clock, so I took the Titan back to the shop and then head to Las Pinatas for a burrito and beer. After this I headed back to Pu'u Koa. The last week of windsurfing had taken its toll and I then went into full relaxation mode for the rest of the day.
Hookipa Action
April 9
It's looking a bit cloudy this morning but the trade winds a blowing. I went down to Hookipa at 11am and met Jeff and Stephanie. Sam Ireland (CAN-1) had just arrived on Maui and was rigging, anxious to get out there. The Starboard crew was also there doing a photoshoot. Waves were 5 to 8 feet, but the wind was dying as the clouds moved in. Jeff went out on his 5.4 and slogged out and caught one good wave on the way back in. This didn't inspire me, so I headed down to Kanaha. When I got there, the wind looked pretty light, but after a few minutes the clouds opened up and then the wind started to crank up. I rigged my 5.0 and with my wave board headed down to Lowers where it looked like there were some nice waves breaking. Great session! Nice waves and not too crowded. I rigged the 5.0 a bit full and was really powered, so I went to the beach and downhauled it more. That made it perfect and my next session was even better than the first. Lots of wind made it easy to do the waves and then head upwind inside the reef, tack and the head out above the breakers. Perfect conditions. Later that evening, Jeff and Stephanie came over to Pu'u Koa and we had a barbeque. I did fresh Mahi Mahi marinated in lime and soy sauce. It tasted pretty fine with a Mexican beer!
April 10
Again it was cloudy this morning and when I went to Hookipa the wind was really light, so I headed to Spreck's. When I got there the Starboard crew was doing a photoshoot in really light wind conditions. That was at about 1 o'clock. I was just about to head off to the shop to get a bigger board when the wind kicked in another 5 knots, so I rigged my 5.0 and headed out on my wave board. By this time the wind had cranked up another notch so when I came back in after my first run, I downhauled the sail. Back out there, the swell had picked up so there were some nice 2 to 4 foot faces. It made for a couple of nice wave rides. Jeff and Stephanie showed up around 2 o'clock. It got pretty choppy later on so jumping wasn't as great. My highlight of the day was when I was setting up to do a bottom turn on a wave this guy came right off the wave in front of me doing a back loop. I had to put the brakes on and came to a stop 5 feet from him. It was Kevin Pritchard with a camera mounted to his mast. Sorry Kevin! By 5pm the clouds had really moved in and it was raining everywhere except at Spreck's and the wind had completely died. We waited until about 6pm and then headed into Paia to have dinner at the Fish Market Restaurant. Mahi Mahi Fish and Chips.
April 11
Today looked like it was going to be a windy day, so I headed to the Hawaiian Island shop and picked up an 87 litre Naish Vector. Then I headed down to Kanaha Beach Park. The Starboard crew was there doing another photoshoot. The wind still looked like it was up and down with lots of clouds offshore. When it cleared the wind picked up. I rigged my 5.0 and headed it out with the Naish board. Perfect conditions. The 5.0 handled the gusts and lulls and the vector performed pretty well in the chop. No real waves today. Lots of turtles. Real nice sailing conditions. On the drive home I was treated to a rainbow over Paia.
April 12
Cloudy this morning and lots of rain. The satellite photos this morning didn't look encouraging either. I headed down to Hookipa to see if anything was happening. Winds were light, but surfing looked like a possibility so I took my Longboard out for a couple of hours and was able to catch a few reasonable waves. It continued to rain and the temperature felt cooler than normal. After surfing, I headed into Kahului and had a plate lunch at the Maui mall. After lunch I headed to Kanaha Beach Park. It looked pretty gusty. I rigged my 5.0 anyway and headed it out on my JP board. No waves. Gusty, very gusty. At sometimes I thought I should have rigged my 4.0 at other times the 5.0 felt a bit light. Challenging sailing conditions. Tonight, the wind is just howling outside. Tomorrow might be really nukin.
April 13
Yep, it was really nukin out there this morning. I checked the wind models and it indicated that Hookipa might be the most reasonable place for wind today. I got there a little before 11am and Josh Stone and Brian Talma were rigging up. When they headed out things looked reasonable. It looked like an easterly wind swell was coming in with 6 foot faces and 10 second period. As I started to rig my 5.0 the swell was starting to pick up. Now the faces looked like they were more in the 8 to 10 foot range. I hung off on going out until I figured out what the set periods were. It looked like about 4 minutes between sets. I waited for a big set to pass and then hit the water and sailed out just as another set was arriving. Perfect timing for getting out. I was pretty overpowered offshore and I estimated the winds were 25 to 30 knots and gusting which made it difficult for jibing the 5.0. The wind swell outside was big, probably 10 to 12 feet which in technical terms is a Fully Developed Sea resulting from maximum fetch and duration of a sustained sea. I made a couple of runs in to catch a wave but the gusts made it nearly impossible to control my sail so a I jibed and headed out again for another try. I checked the weathers later and at the airport winds were 28 knots gusting to 37 knots which usually means it 5 to 10 knots more offshore. Finally the wind died off enough just as I was heading in on a big swell. Perfect timing. No turning back on this one as it built into a 12 foot wall to my left and right. I rode that one right back to the beach. That was enough sailing for me, until the wind died off a notch or two. Well, It blew hard for the rest of the day and the swell continued to be big, so I ended up watching the rest of the days action on the beach.
Hookipa Helicopter Photo Shoot
Picking a good time to go out is required
Jeff picks a good time to go out
Yes, Robby Naish still Windsurfs
Friday April 14
Big wind swell today at Hookipa this morning. I decided to give it a go even though it wasn't my idea of ideal conditions. Well, I didn't make it out and got worked on the middles break as the current was washing my up that way. After a half hour of this I gave up on trying to get out and headed back to the beach. I decided to head to Kanaha and try some sailing a Lowers. This was much better and I caught a couple of good waves. Then, on one of my reaches back out the mast decided to break. I probably had weakened it on my morning session at Hookipa. So, it was roll the sail up and swim back to the beach. That took a half hour because I was pretty far out and I ended up landing just above kiter beach and had to dismantle the gear and hike back up to the parking lot. So needless to say I was pretty much exhausted after todays adventure.
April 15
After yesterdays adventure I decided that some easy Kanaha sailing was in order. Before sailing I headed to Second Wind and bought a Sailworks 5.0 that I had been eyeing for sailing back home in B.C. It was pretty windy and I wished I had a 4.5, but I rigged the new Sailworks 5.0 and it handled just like I thought a Sailworks sail should. Really stable in the gusts and lots of range in power. Being really tired from yesterday I only sailed until 3 o'clock and relaxed for the rest of the day.
April 16
Kanaha sailing. Nice 5.0 cruising conditions. No waves, I even ventured sailing over the Weird wave reef. Winds died early at 4 pm.
April 17
Smoking 4.0 winds at Sprecks. I should have rigged the 4.0 but decided to downhaul the 5.0 and sail overpowered. Jeff did the same with his 4.7. My sessions were short half hour each with the same for rest breaks. I kept on hoping the wind would die down a notch, but it never did. My muscles hurt!
April 18
Today was one of those days that confirms why Sprecks Beach is one of my favorite places to windsurf. I got there early today and headed out on my 5.0 Sailworks and cruised up to the reef for some really nice wavesailing. Waves were pretty small but useable and ideal for jumping. The wind was perfect, not gusting hard like yesterday. It was a good thing I had headed out early because the wind died at 4 o'clock with an sudden overcasting of cloud appearing. After sailing I headed into Paia and had a beer and tacos at Milagro's.
April 19
Hookipa was useable for mortals today. So, I rigged my 5.0 Manic and headed out. No problems on the launch today and the wind was a nice onshore trade wind. Once I got out I decided to do some cruising. I'd never been up to the point, so I did an upwinder. On the outside a school of flying fish popped out of the water. Cool! When I got up to the point there were about a half dozen turtles just outside the point break. It was also interesting to note how the wind swell was starting to build up near the point. I used this swell to cruise back down to the beach. By the time I'd finished this cruise I had been out for a couple of hours. A half hour break and I headed out again. I wasn't so lucky on the second launch and got buried by a set of waves on the way out. By the time I'd sorted things out I had been washed down to the channel above Lanes. The wind had lightened considerably which made it difficult to get upwind again. Once upwind I decided to call it a day and headed in. Later that evening Jeff and Stephanie came over to Puu Koa for a barbeque. I put on a fresh Marlin steak. We had a fresh Maui organically grown Pineapple for desert.
April 20
This morning Hookipa had monster waves with 15 to 20 foot faces rolling in. It was totally white, closed out for surfing. However, about a half dozen pro windsurfers had something else in mind. Polokow, Stone, Talma, Pritchard and others made the venture out. A few made it out on the first try. For others the ocean washed there gear back onto the rocks. The rest of us humans watched in awe from the beach as those that made it out caught a 20 footer and ripped it up on the faces. A helicopter showed up to film the action. Occassionally it got lost from our vision as it dipped into the wave troughs following a sailor on a wave face. After an couple of hours everybody made it safely back in. I headed down to a more peaceful Kanaha, rigged my 5.0 and headed out to Lowers to catch more reasonable sized waves with 5 foot faces.
Getting out at Hookipa on a Big day
I think that choppers a bit low!
Getting that Wave in
April 22, ALOHA FRIDAY
Well, this my last day for this trip to Maui. This mornin I did some packing and cleaned up my digs at Puu Koa. Then it was down to the shops and car rental to settle the bills. Then it was time for a final sail. Winds were pretty light, but waves were still coming in at Lowers at Kanaha. I rigged my 5.0 and headed out. My first couple of runs were full planing, but the wind died and it was slogging from then on. However, with the light winds most of the other sailors disappeared which left me with uncrowded wave to catch. And the wave faces were glassy smooth. So, my tactic was to slog out upwind, head in and catch a wave the slog to the beach has high up as I could get, then walk the rest of the way up so I could slog back out and catch another wave. This was one of the most fun days of wave sailing. Too bad I have to leave tonight. I quit at 5 o'clock then headed back to Puu Koa to pack up the rest of my stuff. Then I headed to Paia and met Jeff and Stephanie and we had a final beer and some calamaria at Charlie's. Then I headed off to the airport to catch my flight back to Canada. But, that's another adventure.
Aloha
Maui No Ka Oi