Sounds like you managed to pack a fair bit into the stay. How many days down, how many to go?

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.

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.

Scope said...

Hey Ken, great you're having a superb time. Be good to see the Gopro vids

Yeah, I have to be a bit careful what I post as they have all the new NP/JP stuff in them and I can't show any of that until is officially released in a couple of months.
I will post stuff that does not show anything significant once I get home and do some editing.

...the Spreckelsville delta was shining like a national guitar...

I might pull that one out sometime.
Haven't heard that one before.

evlPanda said...

KenHo said...
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.

They've been mistaken for Simon and Garfunkle before.

(that's gonna co$t me)

i think you should come home now

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.

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 ?

jimmyt said...

Hey, keep posting your Maui stuff! I am heading there in a month. What was the highlight?

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.

evlPanda said...

KenHo said...
Mt Haleakala is a must

One of my dumbest moments: went scuba diving, signed all the "I won't fly in a plane for 24 hrs etc. etc." and fully understood the obvious risks. I don't think I realised just how high that mountain is and that afternoon, about 3/4 way up said mountain, I started to feel very light-headed. It's 10,000ft+ I think I'm right in saying it can get snow?

Hey, did you find my towel ? Black and white Billabong towel.
Glad you are still getting heaps of sailing in.

tonyd said...

hey davecta still on maui windy as hell. Got your watch dude alohaaaaaa

tonyd said...

hey davecta still on maui windy as hell. Got your watch dude alohaaaaaa

Thanks good cop! Did it really get windier!!!?

sorry, did i forget to mention that today was bull5h1t windy!

Fell on the mast base. Good thing I turned just before I landed.

da vecta said...

RedDragon said...

Fell on the mast base. Good thing I turned just before I landed.

There's a new kid in windsurfing town!

and he has a very clean set of tackle....