Super Sneak Session

Funny how priorities and enthusiasms change. Last year towards the end of our trip all I wanted to do was wavesail. Every day that the wind blew too hard I reluctantly windsurfed. When there was no wind I grumbled and SUP surfed. Not exactly hard duty, but I was really into wavesailing and wanted to do it every day. This year it’s SUP surfing. When the surf is good I do marathon sessions. When it’s bad or windy I’ve been doing work around the house.

Today I decided to shake that silly bias and take advantage of the wind. Driving down the Hana highway, just after noon headed for Kanaha, I didn’t know whether I’d be windsurfing or wavesailing–it all depends on the wind velocity. It was howling at Ho’okipa, so I was glad i brought the full on windsurfing gear. Wavesailing is done on either a standard longboard or a stand up board fitted with a mast connector–either a track or a plug. When the wind is a little too strong for surfing, and a little light for windsurfing, wavesailing is the answer. You basically drive out to the surf using the sail and then surf the waves. The advantage is that you can really surf the waves–a standard windsurf board doesn’t surf for beans. And you can pull into waves that would scare the pants off you if you were surfing. When they start to crumble and get ready to crush you sheet in on the sail and off you go. Just don’t fall.

There’s no footstraps and the hull doesn’t plane well, so it’s not that comfortable in high wind–though I’ve done it.

Anyhow. I got to the airport access road for Kanaha and noticed the palm trees weren’t moving all that vigorously, and the smoke from the sugar mill at Puamana was no longer blowing vigorously back, but rather was drifting upwards at nearly a 45 degree angle. The wind was slacking! I got to the beach and saw only two or three windsurfers in the water. and they were struggling. Wavesailing!

I looked long and hard at the water and the waves out on the reef. There were no whitecaps, the tops of the waves on the reef were getting blown off, so the wind was stronger outside, but it wasn’t vigorous. I convinced myself that I could SUP surf instead of wavesail. So I grabbed my gear and headed out. There were a few surfers contemplating the water when I jumped in and started paddling, but I was all alone in the water, and all alone when I reached the reef.

The waves were firing erratically in the wind–some good surfable faces, but the wind was blowing the face into chop. I curled into the slot for a head-high rough-looking wave and paddled hard. Caught the wave easily but it immediately started crumbling and sectioning in front of me, so switched my back foot to the backside rail and cut hard to surfers left, riding in a surprisingly smooth shoulder towards the channel. Got a great, long ride.

As the afternoon wore on the wind dropped and the waves grew. after the first hour there were perhaps ten prone and ten stand up surfers. But the sets were steady. Occasionally a big double-overhead wave would pound through and turn the lineup into a foaming ball of boards and swimmers. I blew the drop in on a big double and got whacked hard, losing both my hat and my sunglasses. Damn, not only was that my lucky hat (lucky because i usually find it) but my best sunglasses. It was stupid to be wearing them in big surf.

Hey, if anyone finds some Maui Jims with a red floating strap, give a yell, huh?

I caught and rode some really fun waves, as well as a few that were a little too big for my current skill level, but I didn’t die and it all worked out. My Bill Foote custom board is really good in this heavy stuff.

So, at the end of the day my maybe windurfing, maybe wavesailing day turned into an excellent SUP surfing day with no crowds and the biggest waves I’ve seen this trip. The hat was a worthy sacrifice to the gods of surf.