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Postcard No 10 - The Final Maui Postcard . . . . for now anyways
Hi Folks, Since February we have had quite a bit of wind and a lot of swell so the wavesailing has been great. However, with summer just around the corner the swell has pretty much gone and the Trades continues to blow, getting stronger and stronger. The wind dropped out for well over a week sometime back, and had to switch over to the other thing you do in Maui... go surfing. Clean double overheads and glassy conditions here on the north shore. As you can imagine Hookipa was jam packed with surfers. It is certainly warming up here, with temperatures already hitting 88+ F (31 C). It is looking like this summer is going to be long, hot and windy. So if any of you are heading over, I would definitely stuff a 3.7m and a small waveboard in your quiver. Those who make the annual pilgrimage to Maui are arriving back for the summer. Half of Argentina has arrived on the island (well those that didn't overstay) and the Euros are trickling in daily. We are amazed at the number of people who do an annual pilgrimage to Maui for the summer - great for us though, so many familiar faces down the beach and everyone pushing each other on the water. For those of you who know Terry Alkemade from CHCH, he has made it back for his 2005 stint and I have to say it is fantastic to be hanging with another Kiwi, not forgetting, he continues our lifeline supply of Milo and gingernuts. Leland has been busy at Maui Sails helping finalise the sail designs and getting drawings to Sri Lanka before we leave. I am still working at Milagros cooking beans and rice for the tourists and hungry surfers. We have been kicking it with KP lately, taking photos for Maui Sails and the sneak peck into the life of a Pro windsurfing has been very interesting indeed. The boys had a big Super Cross training session at Sprecks the other day, practising forwards and Spocks - this is all they did for the entire afternoon session - at least 3 forwards and at least 3 Spocks per run! These Pros really go hard training and have a very high work rate, unlike the rest of us plebs who do one, maybe two moves per run and then only if we find the right chop! Leland was wrecked after this session, crashing spocks and forwards all day tuckered him out. There have been a few shark sightings these last few weeks and the other day a surfer at Kuau Bay got knock off his board by a shark, leaving some big teeth marks in his board to remember him by. We know that Tavaris (another Kuau Bay surf break) is known for sharks (deep water) and sharks come in every October/November for breeding but to have one going for a wee taste test right here on the north shore is rather scary! But the wave at Tavaris walls up clean and fast once the waves hit logo high, so it will not be deserted for long. Last week we rode the Skyline trail with KP from the top of Haleakala back to Haiku, after watching the run rise over paradise once again. It is a great mountain bike ride, with stunning vistas of Maui and her surrounding islands - a must do for any crazed mountain biker. The last of the pros are heading out at the end of the month to earn their keep. Most are on the road for 2 months starting with the King of the Carribean freestyle then on to Costa Brava for superX. Well, as I mentioned above, we are leaving Maui at the end of May and heading for new windsurf adventures in Baja , the Gorge, Peru and Brazil. We are meeting Will (aka Plimmerton Will) for 2 weeks sailing on what is said to be one of the longest right hand breaks in the world - Punta San Carlos. Seventeen bottom turns they say...right on! Everyone here on Maui is totally stoked on Baja and KP reckons "the wave is like butter and the ride so good, we will just be laughing with intoxication". From there we head to the Gorge, where we have heard mixed reviews but only one way to find out. Then we head to South America for 2 months, which includes wavesailing in Peru (which also claims the worlds longest windsurfable wave), and then we make our way to Iberqueria, Brazil for yet more wavesailing - just to really make pigs of ourselves. We are struggling with leaving such a fantastic lifestyle such as the one we have here on Maui but we also stoked on checking out other windsurfing spots around the world. Anyway, I am certain this is not the last time we will be kicking it here on the Valley Isle. As the locals say "they always come back". Aloha.
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