This time of year is photo shoot season on Maui with the best of the best all turning up to score some of the conditions that make Maui the Mecca of the windsurfing world.
I had been eagerly watching the forecast for a week leading up to the trip, and as the time to leave came closer, it was apparent we were going to be in for a treat.
The boys heading out to Sprecks
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Phil, Joel and myself were catching a flight from Melbourne to Sydney and from there then flying to Honolulu before catching another connecting flight to Maui. We were all nervous about the large amounts of equipment we had to drag around and the potential damage the excess baggage could do to our bank accounts! Amazingly for us we scored the best check-in chick at Qantas ever. She processed our bags no questions asked without even mentioning excess baggage. It wasn't until our inter-island flight that we had to cough up any cash. $35 US. A pretty awesome run I thought. It could have been bad though when Phil let it slip that we had windsurfing equipment (which incurs a flat fee of $100 per bag) as opposed to normal 'surfboards.'
Joel and I were left to convince the check-in dude otherwise, quickly coming up with stories of luggage and camera equipment. We eventually made it on to our flight and as the North Shore of Maui came into view excitement levels went through the roof.
Rolling swells were pounding the outer reefs and we could see the ocean was covered in whitecaps. Touching down at Kahului we got our hire car sorted, dumped our luggage at our house just behind the beach at Sprecklesville and hit the water. Fully powered on my 4.2 zone it was a sick jumping session - a perfect start to the trip. Later we drove through Paia to check out the world famous Hookipa Beach Park. For those who don't know this spot is to windsurfing what Pipeline is for surfing, having a reputation for consistently good conditions where the world's elite come to hone their skills. It wasn't really happening when we checked it out but the JP team were still out there ripping up the small waves for the photoshoot.
Big crash at Sprecks
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The next day James was arriving from Alaska where he had been heli-skiing in some serious terrain. His arrival was timed with that of a pumping new swell. After a morning session at Sprecks we headed to Hookipa. This time it did not dissapoint. It was mayhem on the water with basically every big name in windsurfing out ripping up the mast high plus sets. After a quick chat to Jason Polakow on the beach, me and Joel hit the water with James and Phil both opting to sit on the cliffs and catch the carnage on camera. Launching off the beach it became apparent that it wasn't going to be easy making it out the back. A super fluky breeze and large walls of whitewater made sure Joel and I both got worked before finally catching a break through the sets and making it out into the lineup. After one decent wave I made the mistake of catching one of the smaller left over swells, sure enough as I pulled off it a monster set loomed on the horizon. I knew I was in trouble as the solid 6fter walled up in front of me and proceeded break right on my head. During the split second it took for me to jump off my board and get smashed by the wave I had already come to terms with the fact that I was going to be dealing with a lot of broken gear and a trip over the infamous Hookipa rocks. After a massive swim I was finally reunited with my gear. Amazingly I was wrong, everything survived no dramas! Unfortunately the wind had dropped out by this stage and I had to dog knee deep in water back upwind to the beach. After about 20 minutes a gust came in finalling allowing me to make it back in safely.
First Hookipa wave of the trip
Over the next few days the swell slowly died down but was still decent enough for some solid sessions at Hookipa. After a week of pumping conditions my hands were looking worse for wear so I decided to take a break and just film the boys for a day. It was probably a wise decision as the wind continued to crank for another 5 days!
Twin Falls
While it had been windy our routine consisted of waking up somewhere between 10 and 11am, having breakfast, going windsurfing all day, coming home eating dinner and going to bed around 1am. When the wind backed down we finally had opportunities to see the other aspects of Maui. We had three days before the wind came back to check out the sights. On the first day we went to the Twin falls which is a system of waterfalls just off the Hana Highway. We wanted to do some cliff jumping but after an assessment of the water depth we decided it would probably not be a good idea!
Later in the afternoon the boys decided to go hire some SUP boards, not being a big fan of SUP I opted to stay at home and start editing the video footage from the last week. They returned a few hours later apparently lucky to still have their limbs intact after an encounter with a rather large shark!
The next morning there was an unpredicted pulse of swell so the plan was to hit the waves at Lanes on the wave slaying SUP boards and then drive up to the summit of the Haleakala volcano. Again I didn't really want to go SUPing but Phil decided not to push his luck after the shark incident the day before so I borrowed his board. Launching off the beach it suddenly became apparent that SUP was not a good idea. When the tide is low at Lanes you have to walk over a rock shelf to get into the water. As the waves break water sucks in and out over this rock shelf covering up the huge numbers of sea urchins waiting to destroy unsuspecting feet. Totally unaware of this fact I walked out over the shelf before standing on a few small urchins. Quickly I wisened up and started to look where to stand, unfortunately a wave broke on me and the behemoth that is a SUP board, causing me to lose my balance and stand right on a huge urchin... In considerable pain I finally made it off the shelf and out to the back of the break. Sitting down on the board I inspected the damage finding a monstrous black spine stuck in my foot. I've stood on urchins before but this thing was truly massive... About 5mm in diameter and 4cm long with a dangly intestine looking thing coming out the end. Sitting out in breaking waves was not really an ideal environment for minor surgery but I couldn't even stand up on the board with the spine in my foot, after a few minutes of mucking around I finally pulled it out and proceeded to bleed all over the hire board. Knowing that I could be in for a close encounter of the finned kind I decided to head in without even catching a wave... Back on land I watched Joel and James get a few waves before they came in. James got dumped on the shelf and ended up with a similar gash in his foot to mine after a run in with another urchin.
Sunset on Haleakala - Joel, James, Me
In the afternoon we started the drive up Haleakala for sunset. Halaeakala means house of the sun and is the huge shield volcano that makes up most of Maui. It is over 3000m high and towers right up above the cloud line so usually you cannot see the summit from sea level. When we got up there it was freezing! I had only brought one jumper so was totally unprepared for that kind of cold. Being that high the air is also thinner, something we really noticed when we started running up the stairs to keep warm! After taking a few photos we quickly headed back down (thanks to Phil's engine braking skills) to the warmth of sea level.
The $800 fish!
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The next day we went fishing on a charter off Lahaina on the West coast. Joel woke me up at about 4am about 7 hours earlier than usual so I wasn't really in a good mood... After a quick snack for breakfast we made it to the wharf at 5.30am ready to catch a marlin or a massive yellowfin or any sort of large gamefish really. When we made it out of the harbour the ocean was glassy and it was pretty awesome watching the sun rise over the West Maui Mountains. By this point we were all excited to catch some big fish. However over the next 8 hours we only got two hits... One was a large Mahi Mahi that didn't connect properly with the hooks. The other was a 30 pound yellowfin that James landed providing us with some awesome sashimi and lots and lots of tuna steaks. It was a bit disappointing that we didn't get any more fish, but James was pretty stoked. It was easily the biggest fish he had ever caught. After the fishing we went for a quick surf out off the harbour wall before rushing back around to the North shore as a fire spread across the West Maui mountains. That night we all went to bed pretty early ready for another solid week of cranking wind and waves....
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