no. 21. January 2007
Good start of 2007 for Kevin. January has been an incredible month. Not only was it my birthday month, but it was filled with epic sailing. I had
Maui, Hawaiian Islands
a great New Years party, and the rest has been back to business with some slalom sailing, some wave sailing, and getting my body ready for action in Cabo Verde. We have just recently had a week of Kona winds that nearly blew away the island, but was just perfect for windsurfing Lanes. The waves were huge and the wind was strong, almost too strong at times, but none the less was very fun. I was sailing on 5.0, 4.7, and 4.2 Legends and they were working great. After a week of sailing this direction with this much wind, my body is really tired and I am ready for a short break. Coming up this month is the first wave event of the year. It seems like it just finished and now we are back at it. I feel like I am more ready than ever, so we will see how it goes. See you on the water and check out my blog I’ve just started to write http://kevinpritchardwindsurfing.blogspot.com Aloha, Kevin,
Taty. From 3style to formula. This is the first month of the year and the wind has been good here on Bonaire. The first week of the month I have been sailing and freestyle training on the Legend 5.0 and 4.5 Global that whole week. I came up with some new moves but their still very hard to do 100% but it will be possible to show them off on the tour. The second week the wind has been 10-18 knots so I took one whole day off to arrange to get my new Starboard boards out of the Customs. I received three isonic’s, one Formula, and two Flare. I am happy with my boards. So as I was saying the second week was not so good wind so i took some time to test the Formula board and I am really amazed how this board performs, fast down wind and really blasting upwind. That whole week I sailed on the formula and I am just happy to be able to sail 6 days in a row. The third week the wind was getting lighter so I sailed only 3 days mostly on the isonic in the moring then freestyle late in the afternoon. The Fourth week the wind came back and it was finally time to grab my freestyle flare board and my Loco 5.6 and go out training my freestyle tricks, well it sure feels weird to sail on a 5.6 sails because I use mostly 5.2 loco and go a
bit bigger feels kind big but it’s doesn’t matter after 2 hours of sailing because these Loco’s sails are so light and easy handling that you can get used to them quick. On sunday the 28th of january we had the first local slalom event here on Bonaire and the wind was blowing good. I was on the Isnonic 87 and this board sure is fast I had greats start and also great speed and I won all 5 races in the Mens. Kiri won in the Junior division also on the Isonic 87. It was fun to do slalom again and I had a blast and I’m sure all the participants did as well. From now on every month we will try to organize a slalom event and also train slalom on the weekends. Most of the training will be helping the kids get ready for the event in Turkey which is the pro kids slalom Worlds and also of course I will be out perfecting my jibes and speed. Later dudes. Taty Frans NB-9 www.mauisails.com | 0
Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 21. January 2007
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Phil... and all over again. We get to start it all over again. I hang on Maui for the new year which was a first for me as I’m usually down in Australia. I did have a good time with my daughter and was able to relax a bit after we finished the TR3 development. January on Maui is always hit and miss for wind, but it seems we got very lucky this year, we had some great trades wind days and some decent swell at Hookipa. And of course there is hardly any people around so you can get plenty of waves. I competed in another running race, but this time it was only 15K or 9 miles. It was called the Maui Surf and Sand 15K. I did the race in 70 minutes and finished second in my age group 40-45, which I was really happy about. Barry invited my daughter Madison and I out on Hula Girl a few times so we got to enjoy Maui from a different perspective and enjoy some real sailing time and get close to the whales. Aloha, Phil.
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Maui Monthly | Our Experience Your Reward no. 21. January 2007
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Wild month for Barry. aboard the Hula Girl with some gear to survive for a few days was also exciting. Waves were already breaking at the bow. But we got it together, and took off for Lanai. Halfway there, we decided that going around to Kahului was better, or we would be stuck on Lanai for the whole week while the storm blew out.
This was a wild month. It seems like a sleepy month for some things and that was good to get other things done that were more important. It is a month of beginnings and anticipation, and needs thinking and planning and other intangible things. January was good for that.
This is Hula Girl partner, Turk Turkington, steering carefully while we have thirty plus knots at our back. Check out the white squall coming up the channel.
We had a visit from our good friend in Tahiti, Alex Decian, from Quincaillerie NAHOATA . He came to get a stock of sails, masts, and carbon booms for his store in French Polynesia. We had him out sailing on TR-3 samples, and the wind was excellent for him. He took back three big bags full of Legends and Global, and had a good visit all around. He stays with his old friend, Robert Teritehau, another well known windsurfing Tahitian. I look forward to making a sales call down there.
What a ride. With only half the small jib rolled out, no main, we would surf at fifteen knots, dry deck, all the way around the island to the north side. The wind swell was building the farther we went downwind, but it was still so smooth. Of course when you get over to the other side, the North swell is huge and the wind is even stronger, but offshore. We beat into whiteout rain for a couple hours before dropping anchor last night inside the breakwall of Kahului Harbor, which will protect you from all but the biggest swell and wind. Safe for the duration.
This is the reward for making the trip around. Safe harbor. It’s blowing about thirty offshore in this picture, and we are safe in shallow water, no wave action.
The big event of the month and the thing I am currently in the middle of is Maui’s first strong Kona wind in some time. The remnant of a huge low that is making twenty five foot surf on the North shore, is also packing wind in squalls over forty knots. This makes a nasty swell on the Lahaina side, and you have to get out or risk losing your boat. We had just reconditioned our mooring, so the confidence was high, but the waves got too big. We had to go. With just myself and Turk to do it, we headed out. Just getting out of the harbor in the dinghy was challenging, since the waves were almost breaking in the channel. Getting
So January ended with a challenging great adventure, whales cruising with us at top speed, wind ripping. Life lived. Now, anchored in a safe harbor, it’s easy to see how much there is to be thankful for, and to treasure. I hope you all are going to have some great afternoons after sailing too. Soon. Aloha, Barry.
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