Had a great day today. Can't divulge details, but not having to rig my own gear, and getting to sail a whole bunch of brand new stuff was fantastic. There is some way cool stuff for next season and I rode at least two boards that impressed me enough to want to buy them, and one that I will definitely buy.
Met some really cool and knowledgeable people who taught me heaps about rigging.
Going on a dawn bike ride on Mt Haleakala tomorrow, and planning on doing the Hana Highway Drive sometime, not sure how I'll fit that in, but I don't want to miss a thing.
Maui is very laid back, and it's easy to chill out too much and not do stuff.
Sounds like you managed to pack a fair bit into the stay. How many days down, how many to go?
Just got back form Haleakea.
5 days down, 3 to go for me, longer for the other guys.
Awesome morning !!
Had another fantastic day yesterday. Started very early to get to the bike shop by 3am for the pre-dawn trip up to Haleakala to see the sunrise. It was a fantastic experience and we had perfect conditions. Looking down on a layer of cumulo-nimbus with thunderheads poking through was amazing. Cold of course.
The bike ride down was a hoot and very easy. The guide was a trove of information and told heaps of jokes and funny stories about the Griswolds, his slang for tourists.
Then we went to Kanaha and watched some of the MAui Race series. Micah Buzianis, who we were chatting to a couple of days ago, blitzed everyone, and it was cool to watch.
Pro's you see in magazines are just people on the beach here and no-one is precious or pretentious. Being with the Surf FX guys probably helps, but I get the feeling it would not matter if I was just by myself.
There are not as many sailors as you might expect. The general decline in windsurfing and the effects of the GFC have made even Maui a bit quiet, but that means there is no crowding, plenty of parking and no aggro.
There are a few local rules designed to separate competing activities and they work very well.
The tour guide did note that Hawaii is very heavily booked with general tourism though, as the Gulf oil thing has killed tourism over there, so accommodation etc might be hard to come by and prices will no doubt increase.
The sailing in the afternoon was a hoot and after trying a few different rigs I wound up on a new multi-fin 75L wave board and a 4.5 which was perfect in the very strong conditions.
I popped another couple of loops and had a couple of big crashes trying a few more and was happy with that.
I was totally destroyed by the whole day and crashed by about 6.30pm.
good to see its still blowing :)
I got back from maui on fri night and sydney is bloody cold after 2 weeks over there.
the locals are pretty cool - Met Josh Stone and his son Harley sailing down at Sprecks - what a cool guy and his forwards and vulcans were just unreal. Was so smooth and flawless it was like watching an artist at work.
Man im having maui withdrawals - Someone needs to win the 40 mil lotto and take us all there for another couple months:)
Craig
It blew really hard today, was getting hammered on a 4.2.
Did some GoPro which I'll post at some stage. Need to edit out all the boring bits.
Great tech session with the sail designers and testers today, learnt heaps about rigging.
Met Neil Pryde and Pete Cabrhina who were both chatty and sociable, lots of yak wiht the other pro sailors who were hanging about.
Didn't sail too much as it was just howling and bumpy.
Last day tomorrow so I'll destroy myself.
I might pull that one out sometime.
Haven't heard that one before.
I might pull that one out sometime.
Haven't heard that one before.
Another hell windy day today, with not too much sailing as a result. The new sails cope well with being over-powered though, when rigged correctly. The water state is nothing to rave about here when it blows 30kt. Lots of short vicious chop and not much in the way of waves to speak of.
I have to say that the rigging clinics and advice has been invaluable.
Peter Beale and Micah have been hanging around continually giving feedback and checking all our sail tuning which has been unreal.
Home now, after a long day of way too much Jetstar.
Someone else has already posted pics of all the new Pryde gear, so I will post some video as soon as Menna edits it.
Hey, keep posting your Maui stuff! I am heading there in a month. What was the highlight?
Wrote a big post and the system lost it
My looping lesson and getting started on looping was the highlight.
Mt Haleakala is a must, make sure you do the dawn tour and go with a self-guided ride, I used Haleakala Bicycle Tours at Haiku and they were very good.
Where are you staying ?
Where are you hiring gear from ?
Yes, I have photos of looking down at a layer of cumulo-nimbus with thunderheads poking through, which is certainly high enogh to get both altitude sickness and DCS. 10 000 ft is 3km high.
No now in summertime, but I do believe it can snow in winter.
Forgot to mention I also met Pete Cabrinha, who I didn't realise is quite as accomplished as he is, being both a legendary waterman, and an artist.
I ddin't know about his art, or I would have visited his gallery.
Hey, did you find my towel ? Black and white Billabong towel.
Glad you are still getting heaps of sailing in.
But then again it's not my towel...so, its even funnier.
