Hi Everyone,

I am just booking things in for a 10 day stint in at Maui (2-12th of July) & have been going through all of the threads getting tips & suggestions.

I am going with my wife whom is learning to windsurf atm & will do a few lessons, but I am betting she will spend more time doing other things while I sail in the arvo, with a couple of lessons.

We have the flights/accomodation sorted & the car hire (going for a SUV). I most likely will hire kit through second wind, though might not book in advance so I can trial some JP stuff through adventure sports.

I have found a chart on IWindsurf (recommended to me from the guys at Kanaha Kia Maui, detailing the winds in July & after converting from mph to knots the following

approx 20% of the time less then 13 knots
approx 15% of the time being 13-17.3 knots
approx 25% of the time being 17.3 knots to 21.7 knots
approx 40 % of the time 21.7 knots & over

I was wondering if any of the larger sailors out there (110kg) or bigger had issues with the 6.5-6.7 maximum rig size that you can hire being too small as I would not normally be on a 6.5 until well past 25 knots?

I was considering taking an 8.6, 1 or 2 bigger fins, a 30 cm mast extender & seeing if I could get a bigger boom at the hire mob, or is this just overthinking things?

Thanks in advance

Geoff

You would be using wave or freeride gear wouldn't you? You would only consider such a large sail if you were wanting to race?
definitely not taking the piss, but are you 110kg of solid muscle? You could easily drop 10kg or more in that time so you have more energy, strength, endurance and feel better in you boardies.

here is bretto tailwalking in maui last july..he is 100 kegs on a 4.2 and a 90 litre and he never used bigger than a 6.2

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/Still-cold-and-windless-in-Maui/

Thanks for the responses guys,

Sparky, you are correct that I am not all muscle & I am back at the gym a few times a week/have cut down the beer intake. My reasoning was that between 15-25 knots, which is 35-40% of the time, a 6.5 was not going to cut it, even at 100kg, hence why I was considering taking the 8.6.

Thanks for the link Green Leader, inspiring stuff! I can only hope that the conditions are like that when I get there, though I will be 30min away so rigging each day.

thanks again

Geoff

Been there many, many times, I've never taken anything more than my harness, besides, I love trying out boards and sails that are more often better than mine, the entire store is your quiver, and they will make sure you have the right size sail for the day or longer. Use up or even damage somebody else's stuff, not yours, and you can avoid the whole airport crap, baggage handlers can be the most danger to your stuff, even sails.

Take whatever Windguru says and double it. That might get you somewhere near reality. Maybe triple it...

Enjoy!

Was there last October.. Had 6 out of 6 days windsurfing. Biggest sail I used was a 5.4 (I am an intermediate weighing 83kg)... To give you an idea, at home in Elwood my biggest sail is a 7.0 Gator that I use fairly often when it's 16-21kn...I have a fair knowledge of physics but somehow the wind is fuller and stronger there even for the same wind speed in knots ??.

I fully agree with mastbender.. not worth taking more than your harness and maybe your helmet with you.. The rental gear is good and well priced.

Hi Guys,

Thanks again for the response.

I agree about the PITA of taking gear is & that the rental gear is well priced. If at all possible I would much prefer to just rent & as you say Mast Bender, trying out different gear.

I am definitely taking my harness, got caught out in Beleize at Cay Caulker & couldn't go out as the hire shop only had sizes XS, S & M.

I just saw on second wind site that they are selling their used/ex racing rental stock which goes up to 9.3 so if I get stuck (which I shouldn't by the sounds of things) I can just upgrade to a racing kit for the day or 2.

I have just emailed them now about the range of racing gear!

Hi everyone,

I just got back Friday night & here are my thoughts/what I ended up doing over in Maui

I hired gear for most of the time from Pritchard windsurfing/Matt (Bullets/rockets, 3S, GA manic & Ezy Legacy sails). Gear was quite new, we had a few issues which were sorted out really quick/easily, swapping gear was no problem as we were staying in Hakiu & it was a 2 min detour to stop off, though if you are not going to stay nearby or drive by it could see it might be a pain.

I also hired gear from second wind (115L blast & venom S2 sails) where I ended up buying the Blast

I hired gear from Matt as I was particularly interested in having a go on the rockets.

I originally hired a car through Kimo's (suppose to get a newer SUV) but was given an older pick up which my wife didn't want to drive. When we took it back on Monday (we arrived Sunday arvo & they were closed) they gave me a full refund & directed me to a couple of other hire companies as they didn't have anything suitable which I cant complain about.

We ended up going with Fox rentals (about $200 us more for a 2 year old car & happy wife) & a dodge caravan which was great & fit everything except the JP funstar for my wife which we put on the roof (I had 9 sails, 3 boards, 4 booms, 6 masts inside at one point)

I sailed 7 out of the 9 days I had the gear (I could have sailed all 9, but went to Hanna one day & went diving another day), many locals mentioned it being unseasonably light, there was even a guy trying a wind foil on the lightest day.

Water was really clear & warm, I only sailed at Kanaha Beach Park which is awesome, nearly went for a spin on the south side but was a bit tired from the dive & was more interested in rum o'clock.

1 ended up getting day on the 5.3 (probably could have gone down to the 4.7 towards the end of the day) & another 2 days that I didn't sail which would have been on the 5.3

The rest of the time I was on either a 6.5 or 7.5, though I wish I had & would have used a 5.7/6.0 in my quiver as the change down from 6.5 to 5.3 was a bit big. I was really surprised at the number of turtles that pop up & had a few dismounts taking evasive action.

Matt Prichard was having a staycation so he recommended Casey for a few lessons, absolutely would recommend Casey to any one going over there that wants a lesson or 2 (I got 2 & my wife had 1). We worked on rigging, foot strap tuning (I really didn't like the straps on the 3S or Bullet), Jibing, heli tacking & a few techniques on getting the board to release onto the plane quicker.

My Wife & I spent 4 evenings watching the Turtles a Hookipa (thanks for the info Dezza) which was a cool way to spend rum o'clock (spirits as so cheap compared to home)

We went snorkeling at the south side at Malauka Beach one morning (Trip advisor recommendation for seeing turtles) & saw a turtle & quite a few fish, though good, none of the snorkeling was amazing as were the 3 dives we did (would have preferred another day sailing)

We stayed at Hakui in a studio called the windward apartment (about 1600 AUD for the 10 days from memory) which was great, 25 min drive to Kanaha Beach Park, self catered for the whole trip which was easy (my wife has a few allergies/is a celiac & I am on a low carb/high fat diet). We found groceries are fairly expensive (mostly due to everything being imported) compared to home/the US mainland & we shopped at Whole foods for most food & Safe ways for the rest of the groceries (get a safeway store card so you get the 15-20% discount)

The traffic at Pia which we negotiated every day was only bad on 1 day (took an extra 5-10 min to get through). Typical delay due to traffic was 1 or 2 min which was a lot less then we were expecting.

My wife's favorite shop was Island feet in town (a shop that specialises in orthotic's & big sizes) where she found a few pairs to bring home.

There was no Drama's bringing the Blast or the super freaks I bought second hand (6.3 & 8.0) home.

We stayed in Honolulu for 2 nights so we could see Pearl Harbour on the way back, I would recommend kings airport shuttle for transport if you do (they easily transported the board & sails)

Thanks for the input & comments prior to me going over everyone.

G

Thanks for sharing Geoff, how much did you pay for the Blast, are there good deals there on 2nd hand gear ?

Hi Haggar,

Blast was 1705 US/2100 AUD with the US dollars I had, the board had only been sailed once or twice & looked brand new & as the stock fin was lost they ordered in a new 40cm MFC liquid Pro to replace it which fits into a gap that i had in the fin quiver (Thanks to Greg who collected it after I left & brought it back). Also as I had the board for 3 more days after I bought it you could argue that it was 135 US cheaper as I would have hired a 115 L board anyway.

There are good deals over there if you look around, particularly if you go after the Maui race series/towards the end of the season. Stuff like harness's & fins were cheaper over there if you found last seasons stuff (46 cm MFC liquid pro for 95US from high tec)

Been there twice and the wind just seems more powerful. Everything thing used is just smaller.
Make sure you take gloves and/or plenty of good quality hand cream.
You will windsurf that often and long there is a fair chance skin will come off on the first or second day.
Could even bring an end to windsurfing for a few days

Warwick is correct,the wind dose seam stronger.I was there this time last year. Im 83kg sailed 13 days solid(No gloves) 4.2 to 5.3,but 4.7 most of the time.The hands did feel raw after day 2 but thanks to some inside info from a friend via guy cribb i discovered a fool proof measure.Before bed every night apply a generous amount of EULACTOL HEEL BALM(Get it before you leave they dont sell it in maui).Believe me this stuff works!!!!
Woke up every morning in disbelieve thinking WOW my hands have miraculously healed.
Just pack Shorts, T Shirt and Money thats all you'll need.
Kanaha,Sprecks,and Camp One are great fun but really try to sail Hookipa its unreal.
I cant wait to go back
Have a blast Geoff..

Also incase you are not aware the wind only blows in one direction all year.
Due to the amount of sailing you will do when you get home if wind is in the opposite direction it will take your brain a bit of time to readjust.

Unless its Kona which is not very often

Very interesting wind dynamics around Maui heres a moment of time late morning at the moment

Another experience I had or local ritual of compliance - don't go in the water before 10am or could have been 11am. This period is for local fishermen or similar - others on here maybe able to give you the current level of acceptance/compliance.
Good news you will appreciate the rest.