SW at Surfside

It's usually pretty light after a strong NW front. So Saturday morning (4th May), hanging at the park with the kids, I hadn't even thought about windsurfing. Then I noticed the trees swaying in the wind a little. A quick check of my phone revealed it was forecast to blow SW 20 to 25. What! Sideshore starboard tack just never happens.

The mental calculations commenced. Kids party 12 till 2...Julie wants a facial...Barbeque at our place at 7pm. I saw a window of opportunity. Negotiations commenced and at 3:10pm I was on the road. Twin fin, 3 sails and a banana.

Am I the only person that gets STRESSED driving to the beach? The anticipation is intense. I get this knot in my chest, my legs tingle, I can't help but look at the wind signs, check my phone every 30 seconds and drive a little bit crazy. It's probably not healthy.

I rolled up at the beach and it was flat. Flatter than flat. Nooooooooo!!!!!

What the heck, might as well sail now I'm here, and it was a blast. I threw some speed loops off the inside chop and got a cheer from some spectators. "Do it again!" they shouted. So I did! 

The Kids

6.0 action at Bird on Saturday and I finally splashed out on a kids board. I promise I'm not going to be a pushy parent, but if they ask to sail, I want to have the kit there for them! Here is a short clip, super cute:

Today was windless so we headed home after lunch. Passing the Bay it looked windy. We pulled up at North Beach, rigged the 5.2 and 30 minutes of unexpected fun followed. Talk about timing! Check it out:

Maui Recap

It has been a week now since getting back from maui and the memories are already getting cloudy. Another great trip with Guillame. He is always full power 110%. We stayed at Alexs place over Haiku way (cheers Alex! You da man). At one point there were 5 of us in his little one bedroom apartment. We actually slept with a guy called Si for 3 nights before finally meeting him. Turns out we were sleeping with a famous windsurfing photographer, who was doing the Simmer shoot. It was interesting to hear his insights into the myriad of challenges of maui photoshoots. Looking forward to seeing some of his material in future Boards or windsurf mags.

We were having too much fun to get any media. This was my best pic, Ho'okipa rainbow:

It's amazing just how many windsurfing heros and world champions you bump into on maui. They're practically on every street corner. We borrowed a couple of SUPs off Damian and I almost snapped one. I genuinely don't know how, except that the last wave was barelling and I took off too late. "Dude! That was a knarly toob!". Anyway, I dropped the board off for repair, and whilst waiting Victor Fernandez turned up too. I'm thinking - "Quick, sound interesting!". "So, looks good pretty for Thursday". When in doubt talk conditions...

The sailing? The forecast looked a little bleak but we still sailed 5 days out of 8 and could have got a 6th kona session in if we had been on it. Enough sailing for Gui to get alien hands like this:

Thursday was the standout day. Ho'okipa was mayhem with a gazillion people out and 3 different photo shoots. We got out early, and I sailed up at green trees where there were plenty of waves going spare. Then we headed to Lower Kanaha for the late session which was THE BEST! Hardly anyone out (by Kanaha standards), the inside wave was super clean and fun and I finally started to push Alexs board.

Top trip. Need to start planning the next one! Maybe.... Punta San Carlos in May!