by and I thought some people may be interested in our sailing experiences.
We stayed in a house in the town of Haiku. Haiku is the next town east
from Paia on the Hana Highway. Haiku is a lot more remote than the
hotel areas which are normally in either the Lahaina or Kihei area. I
would recommend trying to stay in a house rather than a hotel. The
cost difference is minimal and you have a kitchen where you can do
your own cooking. If anyone is interested in the name of the homeowner
we stayed with, just drop a note.
We rented gear from HiTech. HiTech is really set up for windsurfer
rentals. For boards, they have HiTech glass and production boards and
for sails they have Simmer and Neil Pryde wave sails. I used an 8'6"
glass and Chrisy (my wife) used a 9'0" production.
We landed in late afternoon on August 4 with the winds blowing at
least 30! Boy were we e***d. We drove out to our place in Haiku
passing Hookipa. We stopped to watch about 50 sailors on the water.
Lots of aggressive wave sailors with an occasional looper in the
bunch. We found out later this was the first good day in a couple of
weeks so that brought out a lot of people.
Monday morning, up at 5:00 (still on US East Coast time), we drove into
town to get some boards. HiTech set us up with the boards and two
sails each. We crammed all the gear into a Geo Metro and headed to the
beach at Kanaha. Sailing in Maui starts at 11:00 and we were on the
water at 11:01. The winds were blowing 20-30. This was typical of what
the winds were going to be for the entire trip.
Chrisy was still a beginner shortboard sailor although she had
mastered waterstarts before we arrived in Maui. She took a lesson from
Alan Cadiz's school, Hawaii Sailboard Techniques, and really improved
as a result of the lesson. I took a lesson on wave jumping and my
"flying" portion really improved as a result of that lesson. The
instructors from HST are all very good and I would recommend them as a
good school.
We ended up sailing Kanaha, Sprecklesville and I sailed at Hookipa one
day for a couple hours. Since Chrisy couldn't quite handle the waves,
which were small by Hawaiian standards but were plenty big enough to
have fun in, I did a downwinder from Hookipa to Sprecklesville.
Definately an enjoyable trip although it would have been better had
Chrisy joined me. Unfortunately, someone had to drive the car :-(.
As for great sailors, there were many but without a doubt Phil McGain
was the most impressive we saw. He was the fastest, pointed the
highest, and jumped the highest. People on the beach would be "oohing
and ahhing" when Phil was on the water. We didn't see any of the big
name Hawaiian wave sailors so I don't how he would do them against them.
For sailing days, we sailed on 8 of 15 days we were there. The days we
didn't sail it still blew, but we needed rest and we wanted to
sightsee.
The great news is that Chrisy is now a true shortboard sailor and will
be able to join me on those big wind days. She is really hooked now
after paying her dues :-).
Flying home did not end the e***ment of the trip. We took off on
Sunday the 18th to head home to Newport RI. The first thing we saw on
the news shown on the airplane was a report of a hurricane named Bob.
Bob was off the coast of Hattaras and was heading North. Our final
airport destination was Providence and it looked like it was going to
be a close call on who would arrive in RI first, the hurricane or us.
Well it turned out the hurricane made it first. Since our flight had
an unscheduled stop to refuel in San Fransisco, most people on board
missed their connections out of Chicago. The connection we missed was
the last flight that made it into Providence.
Since we couldn't get to either Providence or Boston, we decided to
fly into Hartford, rent a car, and drive to Providence. We made it to
Hartford, landing in 30-40MPH of wind and rain, a very hairy landing.
RI was literally closed at this point. All the interstates and state
roads were closed by the governor. In addition, the bridges to Newport
were closed. We spent the night with friends in the Worcester MA area
and drove back Tuesday morning.
The hurricane caused a lot of damage to trees and the beaches. Fallen
trees caused massive power outages and the beach buildings had a lot
of damage. Unfortunately, it looks like some of the beaches are closed
for the season. But, windsurfers use the beaches year round so by the
middle of September we should be back out there.
So, if anyone wants more details, I can provide them via e-mail.
Overall, the Maui trip was a fantastic success, Chrisy and I are
starting a wonderful life together, and we have memories that will
last a lifetime.
Drew Jenkins US199