Maui Light Winds

Mgoetz · Joined: 06 Jun 1997 Posts: 54

Just finished my third trip to Maui and couldn't believe how anemic the trades were at Kanaha. Was able to get some days in at Kihei but even that was in the 5.0 -5.5 range. Just wanted to have a quick winge and see if anybody had better luck.

isobars · Joined: 12 Dec 1999 Posts: 20935

Yup. I got lucky and caught what I'm told were record winds ... 100 straight days of strong trades. My 35-day portion ran from 3.0 to 4.7, with ONE DAY as light as a 5.0 ... and I rig big. But that was exactly 20 years ago, and I haven't even come lose to matching it again. I even came home early from a FREE 6-week fall trip in 1995 because the wind sucked. I've really gotten burned out on taking short trips primarily for WSing; it's too big a gamble to suit me.

Mike \m/

jeff_bennett64 · Joined: 13 Jul 2000 Posts: 74 Location: Maui

You're absolutely right mgoetz - it's been pathetic here for the last 3 or 4 weeks. I used to tell people that if they wanted guaranteed wind in Maui come in July. It's usually a no brainer, 4.5 or smaller every day in July. This year it's been 5.5 or bigger required just about every day and a lot of days it's been unsailable on short boards.

The good news, at least for those of us here, is that it's looking like things may start returning to normal today. At 8am wind at Kanaha is already nearly 16mph and a more easterly direction. Looks like the pressure gradient is tightening up nicely. I'm cautiously optimistic that our normal trade winds may return.

Mgoetz · Joined: 06 Jun 1997 Posts: 54

Wow, 35 days at that sail size? That's great. Sadly, I think I've logged that in my entire ws career. The ride from the East coast is roughly 30 hours door to door so it was a bit dissapointing.
I did get to snorkle, try stand-up paddle boarding, improved my short game, and.....and.... took a kiting lesson (Am I allowed to say that on this forum?) And the scenery in Maui is always impressive.
You know why the trades are returning today? Because my buddy, who I was vacationing with, is wrapping up his vacation today. I'm convinced that anytime we take a windsurfing trip together, we bring bad karma to the winds.
Good luck and good sailing out there. I'll scrimp and save and try to get back in the next...3 years. And will issue a warning beforehand.

Skywalk · Joined: 23 Sep 1997 Posts: 30

I got ten consecutive days at kanaha in August last year and one day of decent waves I found that up wind of kanaha is better wind most of the time.

I normally sail at Sherman Island and the winds there have been very gusty
so far this year, finally we have had thermal winds this week its nice to have steady wind.

I was at the gorge last week and got 4 out of 6 days but talk about gusty.

How about this you should have been there story, last year at Sherman Island it was sailable wind for over 100 days in a row talk about getting spoiled.