Kihei Downwinder: Stand Up Paddling The Easy Way

Just how spoiled are we downwind Stand Up Paddlers on Maui? Outrageously spoiled. Not only do we have the incredible Maliko Run, but Kihei can toss off a pretty good run when the winds are right. South side downwind runs don’t have the huge swells of Maliko, but they can get knee to waist high once the wind has some time to work on the water.

This video is of a run from the Canoe Hale at the Kihei Pier to Makena Landing. the camera fogged after the first few minutes, and an hour of watching a guy glide on swells is a bit much, so I took five minutes from the front of the run, and a minute from the least fogged section with bigger swells. My paddling throughout looks like wimpy little dabs at the water (sorry about that Dave). That’s because it was all I needed to do and I was feeling lazy. Actually, I should have done more to link up swells and increase my speed by finding the peaks. The folks I was with–Randy, Chan, Dave, Jack, Devin, and probably a few others–all got to the other end long before I did. That’s a little hard to believe when you see the kind of rides I was getting, and they never stopped. But these folks are fast, and when their boards hit the water it’s game on. I was just having too much fun to paddle hard.

Enjoy. the music is Pink Martini, in honor of their recent visit to Maui.