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Full on windsurfing at Kuau
Christmas day and the trade is gusty and strong. The north-north west swell is increasing and at 6 foot every 14 seconds, plus an 11 second wind swell in early morning. Sun is out.
I put my Quatro quad wave-sailing board, my new Hotsailsmaui Firelight sails in the car and drove ten minutes up the coast to Ho’okipa beach park. Two windsurfers out and still some surfers. Looked much more gnarly than I had expected. Mast high peaks with increasing swell and wind, I decided for Kuau which can be really good in bigger waves – and more space between the impact zone and the rocks compared to Ho’okipa.
Soooooooooooooo much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!
With the off shore wind direction many opt for swimming out in the channel before they reach the gusty wind. I thought I was going to do the same but still did a half hearted attempt at sailing out. Wow! My 4.5 is the worlds lightest production wavesail (at least with 5 battens, there might be a lighter 3 or 4 batten sail somewhere). And with a light 370 mast and my trusty old Aeron carbon boom the rig was ridiculously light in my hand. No problem to stay balanced over the board and let the rip take me out to the first gust.
Jibing in on the first set felt like yesterday. I felt straight away that this is one of my favorite spots that I have spent quite some time at. Particularly in this wave size – big but not extremely big – it is so much fun. I sailed very conservative due to my injured foot. It it so easy to injure yourself in this gusty quite gnarly conditions. My first 3, 4 ways were amazing. Big and clean, and not closing out on me. Then I went down the coast a little bit against next major peak/wave named Norriega. It was bigger with over mast in every set. I did not really find my rhythm there, maybe due to my foot (the carbon protection was more than annoying after a while, I have to duck tape it more to keep it in place), or maybe just because I haven’t wind surfed for some time, and not in these conditions for almost a year.
[IMG]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T9FY8Hyad0M/Tviq3sw2CLI/AAAAAAAAACk/S4cCCaOspPs/s320/My+4.5.JPG[/IMG]But, still so much fun. If you just let go, and allow yourself to have fun when not making it out, when going right, riding down-wind against a fast braking left (!?), when swimming after your gear, or getting smashed by a section braking straight down on you, if you just have the right attitude, windsurfing is fun regardless if you excel or not. I had a blast during all my session, including meeting up with all my local Kuau friends on the beach. And one more thing; my new sail, the Firelight 4.5 did excel all the time. I had extremely high expectations, but was still taken by surprise by this sail. It worked perfect in the strongest gust, it was flawless on the wave face, fast and snappy on the way out, and light as a feather in the hands – major credits to Tom Hammerton and Jeff Henderson for having shaped and built this wonderful sail![IMG]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3284013435224339432-3796314939795858866?l=jeppessurfnotes.blogspot.com[/IMG]
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