Sport Today

>I was on the beach just north of Kihei on Monday wind only about 15
> when I see an old guy going out alone. He uphauls (first time I saw
> that on Maui in a while) and off he goes. He's heading downwind it
> appears and goes at least 1/2 mile out. I can just make out he's coming
> back but no where near where he started from. I am thinking he made a
> mistake of not Gybing or tacking sooner to see if he can make it back.
> Just then a younger guy heads out and I walk my Daughter back to the
> condo and come back in 10 mins to check up on him. I see the younger
> guy is upwind of him and then see the old guy is in the water for about
> 15 mins. I walk back to the beach and tell a kitesurfer about his
> plight He was watching him as well. We consider calling the coast
> gaurd. He says he knows him and he is usually OK. He finally drifts way
> in about 3/4 mile downwind into some waves but nearer to shore and we
> know he will make it. We also see the young guy coming in. As he gets
> near shore we see the young guy has white hair, wait, that was the
> young guy struggling and the old guy was having no trouble at all, we
> had a good laugh over that one. Funny how the mind will convince you of
> what you are seeing even though it just might be wrong. Plus we
> wouldn't have been too concerned had we known it was the young guy yet
> he might need our help just as much.
>                  Dave