maui monthly no.78. october 2011

October 2011, Maui, Hawaii

#78

Maui Monthly no.78. October ’11.2

Photos : Jimmie Hepp Photography - www.jimmiehepp.com

Maui MonthlyOur Experience, Your Reward .3

Photos : Jimmie Hepp Photography - www.jimmiehepp.com


October was truly EPICpacked with wind, waves, jet-skis, competitions, and a lot of traveling in between!


A work trip to Wisconsin kicked off the month, and with a strong wind forecast for Lake Michigan near Green Bay, I packed up my gear and headed east for work and hopefully some killer lake sailing. My friend Bryan Metcalf-Perez was on his way back from the PWA event in Sylt, and caught a quick connection from Chicago to Green Bay to join us for the week.

We were so hyped to go sailing- Bryan having traveled 9,000 miles without a single day on the water, and me, well, not 9,000 miles but always ready to go- that on the first day we were there we rolled the Epic Sessions’ jet ski into the water and had a quick tow-in sesh. Bryan had done it a few times already and had the setup pretty

dialed, I on the other hand had to work through the learning curve pretty quickly, getting towed in no wind with gear takes a little bit of practice! Flying on my 4.5 Ghost XT across completely glassy water was insane, and though it might seem mellow, the strength of your apparent wind is incredible, and I took some pretty gnarly wipeouts learning just how strong it truly is!

The next day the wind kicked in, and we drove an hour north through beautiful countryside to Bailey’s harbor up in Door County. A system from the south produced incredibly steady 5.0 winds, with small waves coming into the sand beach just east of the harbor, directly onshore. I rigged my 5.0 Ghost XT and grabbed my freestyle 90, and had epic freestyle conditions all day! Sailing parallel with the waves is great for freestyle, you can pick any ramp you want for jump tricks on both tacks, and in between each wave it’s nice and smooth for any slide tricks. In spite of the heavier conditions we


had hoped for, we all had a great day at Bailey’s, and an awesome trip to the mid-west.

From Wisconsin I headed back to the gorge, the dismal weather was all the motivation I needed to seal everything up and get back to the airport and onto a plane to the mecca- MAUI!!! With one suitcase, three triple board bags and two quiver bags, I hopped on a flight and headed west for my 2nd full winter on Maui. After picking up my car at my friend’s house, I headed straight to Kuau and rigged my 4.7 Ghost, running over the rocks as fast as I could. The water felt like a hot-tub, and on the outside looking back I was reminded yet again of how amazing Maui truly is. The next morning I headed up to the loft and checked in, it was great to see everyone again and feel the stoke for the upcoming winter season. First up on the agenda was the Maui Makani Classic, the final stop of the American Windsurfing Tour.

The anticipation for the Makani classic was almost palpable in the air along the north shore during the days leading up to the competition. It’s been five years since the last competition at Hookipa, and as such, riders from all over the US, Maui legends, and even a few pros from the PWA tour registered for what hoped to be an epic event.

Following an incredible opening ceremony at the beach in full Hawaiian tradition, the first day was called off as the forecast called for building swell in the upcoming days. Day 2 kicked off with over 120 competitors- experts, women’s, masters, youth and amateurs- hitting the water for 12 minutes of un-crowded waves at Hookipa, broadcasted live worldwide. The beach was packed with windsurfers


and spectators throughout the day, and as they moved through the first rounds of the youths, masters, and amateurs, the swell started to build. Late in the afternoon the experts hit the water for their first round and were welcomed by sets coming in around logo high. I made the call to grab my 4.7 Ghost XT for my heat. I was powered up for my first run out, and then at the start of the heat the wind dropped off significantly. Though I picked off a few logo high-waves, I wasn’t able to connect my first two as well as I’d hoped, and unfortunately did not make it through. Ferdinando Loffreda sailed a sick heat with his 5.0 Legend, consistently grabbing overhead-logo high waves and riding them to perfection, with consistent driving bottom turns into solid hits and aerials, easily advancing into the next round.

After the experts, the women hit the water around 5:30pm, and Ingrid easily advanced in her round into the semis. Ingrid continued on through the semi’s and into the finals, where she sailed an incredible heat against strong competition and took 3rd place, and 1st place overall on the tour, congrats Ingrid!!

Ferdinando continued to show everyone just how dialed in to Hookipa he was, advancing out of his second round and finishing up in 7th place for the experts! In addition to the main competition, the AWT hosted a people’s choice heat, where fans could vote online for who’d they’d like to see in a heat, and vote for the winner via the live broadcast. As an added incentive to participating online, anyone who voted was automatically entered to win a MauiSails Ghost XT 5.3! Congratulations to Andrew Dawson for being the lucky winner - hope you enjoy many great sessions on your new 5.3!

Cya on the water,Casey HauserUS-634


WWW.MAUISAILS.COM/TR-8

Photo : Vinnie Armato

Photo : PWA/Carter


After the last PWA contest of the year, like always a bit relieved that the season is finished, while looking back at a satisfactory 7th place overall in racing.

Peter Volwater H-24


After Sylt the good weather continued in Europe and driving back to Holland after the last PWA contest of the year, like always a bit relieved that the season is finished, while looking back at a satisfactory 7th place overall in racing.

The highlight this month was for sure my brother’s wedding in Munich and celebrating with family and friends. October marked the arrival of the first 2012 Fanatic Falcon production (approval) boards and a lot of hours were spent on the water sailing them and providing feedback to the R&D department. Results are remarkable and it’s good knowing with the 2012 season approaching fast we have a most competitive set of boards.

My TR-7 are tuned to the max and every time hitting the water in Holland I am the fastest guy on the water.

Speedsailing

My are tuned to

the max...

Some speed sailing at my favorite spots in the North of Holland, but unfortunately no record breaking conditions; the last storm must have been in September... I have been monitoring the conditions constantly for a good forecast approaching. It is very scenic to sail in Holland these days in the fall although the temperatures are dropping now. Some more board testing in November and then I can spread my wings before the European winter really sets in.

All the best!Peter Volwater H-24


http://www.windsurfermag.com/magazine/windsurf-speed-sailing-slingshot/?params=MjR8Mjg0fDA=

You want to go faster?go2>>


After Sylt I went back home and we had the Bonaire International Rregatta. We had great wind for Formula sailing.

I won 6 of the 8 races we had during the 5 days of the regatta. We also had a great tow in competition going on friday which attracted a lot of people to watch us busting some sick freestyle sessions powered by the sea doo. All in all I had good time being back on the formula gear and maybe next year I will try to get in some international formula sailing.

Freestyle days was not as much but Tonky and I had probably 5 days of really 4.8 and 5.2 powered up freestyle conditions @ sorobon lac bay. We are back on like the old days trying to out do each other on the water with air moves and it’s really getting us to use the last of our power to make the moves be stylish and as clean as possible.

October has been a great Formula,Freestyle and chilling monthfor me


Photo : Bogo


Back to the chilling days is when we had a week of no wind and I spent some time with my daughter, taking her to the beach, swin with her, and let her play in the sand. Just some father/daughter time. She needs it and I need it.

The German magazine just have the Starboard "Flare" freestyle board as the best freestyle board, happy to hear this :).


Photo : PWA/Carter

Back to myself. I will be back at the Gym/fitness, where I will be working on my lower back and legs to get prepared for the upcoming season. This will be to prevent sore muscles and make the them stronger.

Take care guys, Taty Frans.

Photo : Bogo


SAIL RANGE2012

www.mauisails.com/2012

SAIL RANGE2012

Race sail development has been the biggest priority this month. We have had perfect conditions here on Maui to test all the sizes and the PWA registration was due the 21st. Working on the race sails is always rewarding because we always seems to be going forward and there’s so many variables in the design process.

Barry and Art do a great job taking the feedback, massaging the designs and blending theory with practice but still you have to spend the time on the water analyzing, tuning and working through the variables to come up with a faster designs. You’ve got to do it all and cover all your bases. Maui enables that sort of attention because of the conditions we have all year round.

Oh yeh and just for fun I completed the Ironman World Championship on the Big Island of Hawaii in 13 hours and 1 minute.

Aloha!Phil McGain

October is time to be “on my Game”


Photo : Bogo


Photo by Vinnie Armato

Barry sanding Tina Turtle


October... let’s see. Started out frantic, sort of. We have to get the race sails put to bed before the deadline for PWA registration so there was lots of rigging, tuning, and testing to evaluate. We had a visit from a prospective team rider who was able to get on the sails for a week or so, but in the end had issues with a radical difference in board design that made our cutouts a bgit off. He said he loved the way they worked but that the cutout thing would be a no-go for this year anyway... maybe next year though. The main thing for me was he found the speed.

Our wave sail program contiinues to move forward early also with the development of a couple of new materials that look to be very interesting and possibly very good looking as well. One of the new materials is challenging our decision making though because of the great difference in what kind of conditions people sail. If we were only talking about sunny Hawaii it would be killer, but since most people hardly see the sun when there is good wind, we have to do some more evaluation before making a decision.

Cornelia has gotten a new ’turtle’. We named her Tina, just for fun. A turtle is a protective box that goes over the sliding hatch and prevents water from being driven under the slider when you are in hard rain or going upwind with lots of spray. The turtle is also the key item that anchors the fabric spray dodger we will build that will cover he hatchway and part of the cockpit to offer shelter from the sun and elements when making passages. It was a fun project that took three weekends and involved laminating marine plywood, doing some joinery, and then finally the less than fun job of covering it all with epoxy and fiberglass cloth. It’s done now and we’re ready for the next step.

AlohaBarry Spanier

My October


TR-8 have been finalized, put into production and registered for PWA competition. Along with the race sails, the free-race and free-ride sails were also completed and sent to production.

The race sail development period is always an intense and focused time and when it is complete and sails are measured and registered then you feel a combination of accomplishment and relief. The resulting TR-8 sails are highly refined race machines. There is no doubt that we have made significant progress in the range and speed of the sails this year. The approach of adding some additional locked in profile shape in the lower sail body and balancing that with better release up top has proven to have excellent results. The sails maintain a nice soft feel but the profiles stay stable even when seriously powered and the progressive leech twist provides the perfect balance of tension and release for light feel and efficiency in rough, gusty conditions.

October was a busy month. Maui Monthly no.78. October ’11.32

October was a busy month. Photos : Amanda Szpunar


This year the Titan-GS has been improved to mirror some of the developments from the TR-8. For 2012 a moderate recessed clew has been incorporated together with refined shaping to improve top end handling. The moderate wide sleeve allows for a clean leading edge profile and cams-off rigging and the graphics and overall style of the Titan also follows that of the TR-8 this year. This is a truly powerful and capable free-race sail designed for those who want performance but with a simpler 2-3 cam, 7-batten lay out. We also incorporate a subtle recessed clew on the Pursuit this year, to shorten boom lengths and improve ease of jibing.

Full days at the loft get rewarded with some nice late day wave sessions and today looks like another good one.

Aloha,Artur Szpunar


Photo : Vinnie Armato


MauiSails.comTel: +1-808-573-0295 Fax: +1-808-573-0894

810 Haiku Road, Suite 113-302, Haiku, Hawaii, 96708, USA

dealer

find

your

MauiSails

maui monthly no.78. october 2011

Documents

maui monthlyour experience

mecca maui

amazing maui

maui makani classic

great day

apparent wind

single day

strong wind forecast