Chile Chile Chile

We've finally managed to locate some decent internet connection.....long enough to upload some info anyway. Chile is amazing; the waves are unreal and the beaches are uncrowded. On many occasions we have been the only people sailing fighting only each other for waves! The only negative point I can find about this place is the fact that you have to wear a wetsuit. We've been here around 20 days and I have sailed 16 of them. There are a whole bunch of beaches to choose from, and each has a different type of wave-some faster, some slower, some hollow-er. Anyway, the pictures should do most of the talking. As always, eternal thanks go to Chris (Hughes) for the photos.

No internet

Ok So I miraculously made it to Chile in one piece with all my kit.
We´ve been here 3 days and windsurfed every day. The ultimate was yesterday at TOpocalma, Logo High, 3.7 weather, and by later aftrernoon I was literally blown off the water. Guys were overpowered on 3.4´s! The waves are amazing-you can get 6-7-8 turns on a wave!
The problem is that there is no internet within easy reach so I will not be able to continue the blog consistently. More like one big post at the end.

11th November

I refused to believe that there wouldn't be any wind today so rigged a 4.7 at sprecks and went out. Indeed I was only occasionally planning, the ramps/waves were bigger than they have been the past few days but it was only good for light wind riding. I was convinced that it was going to pick up....but it didn't, so we went to Kanaha which is a far better place for light wind wave riding. The wave was over boom high so it was pretty chilled and good fun.
Since it was a Sunday the surfers were out in force at Ho'okipa so the only windsurfing there was at Lanes and it wasn't too busy either.

10th November-Nuclear

A bunch of us arrived at Sprecks at 11 and were on the water soon after. I was on a 3.7 and guys were on 4.0-4.7's. Not only this but everyone was so overpowered. It was insanely windy. By lunch time the car park was full but it wasn't actually that busy on the water because everyone was taking lots of breaks because it was super windy. And if you could hold on the ramps were great for jumping.
In the afternoon we sailed Kanaha and it had dropped a tiny bit, but the wind everywhere was unbelievably gusty. Still, it's always fun to have a windy windy day every now and then.

9th November

The wind was back in full force, we were on the water just after 11 at spreks on 4.2's (men on 4.7's) and there were nice small ramps for jumping. After an hour we rigged down to 3.7! But the wind was supere gusty and up and down. Sprecks got busier and busier then the wind dropped a little after lunch so we headed to Ho'okipa-still a small swell but occasionally bigger sets came through. All in all a good day.

8th November

It got relatively windy quite early today, and since no one is really sailing Ho'okipa until 1pm we decided to go down the coast to Kanaha to get on the water early. We were on 4.7's and it was totally flat. You could sail for 10 mins before seeing a wave, and even then it was more like a ripple. So by lunch time we were eager to check out Ho'okipa. We got there and there were about 1,200 people sailing on a 2 ft wave= out of the question. Therefore we headed to Kuau-a great spot only 2 mins from Ho'okipa and has about a millionth of the people out on the water. We launched there and sailed at Mamas; still a small wave but only about 6 of us. The conditions today were in no way "epic" but as always it's good to be on the water. Hopefully the swell direction is going to correct itself over the next 24 hours so if the swell is still non existent tomorrow it should be back to good by saturday.

7th November The Wind Makes an Appearance

After no wind yesterday and a dire forecast for today we woke to absolute still. But by late morning things started to change. We went to Ho'okipa; the winds were still light so we went for a surf-which was tiny! By 1 30pm people atarted to appear out of the wood work, we rigged 4.7's (most guys were on 5.0-5.8) and headed out. The swell was small and it got super busy so it was pretty tricky. To add to that the wind was up and down, but hey, we're in Maui and we're windsurfing so who's complaining?! It was fun to be back out on the water and the forecast for the next week looks like the trades are back in town to stay.

Unexpected Wind

The forecast has been all over the place changing every half an hour so no-one thought there would be any wind today. We went to Ho'okipa anyway to make sure and unfortunately there wasn't enough. We also decided against surfing there because it was so crowded and headed to a thousand peaks for a surf instead.It was so much fun-about head high and we had a great surf. By 3pm we were done and were horrified to have messages from friends saying that the wind had picked up back on the north shore. Damn it! We raced back and I was rigged up at Ho'okipa (4.7) by 4 pm. The conditions looked really ropey-super off shore, gusty and dying wind but I decided to try it anyway just for the sake of getting wet. It certainly didn't rank high in my book of sessions but it's always awesome just to get on the water. Camilla still wasn't feeling 100% so she took some pics. Thanks Camilla!

What to do in Maui with no wind?

So the obvious answer is to go surfing, and so yesterday morning I went for a surf at Ho'okipa. Surfing there always scares me, not because of the waves but because of the locals! The swell was small and I actually really enjoyed it, I guess most of the hard-core local surfers don't bother going out when the surf is that small.



I came to Maui over 4 years ago for a month and a half and didn't once see any water falls or scenery on the Hana Highway, so during this trip I was determined to make the effort to see some. I managed to persuade a friend who knows the trek through the bamboo forest to check it out so a few of us did that in the afternoon. It was amazing! There are about 5 waterfalls to see and the trek gets tougher the further you go. It starts off easy through dense bamboo, then you have to scamper across rocks through streams, then you have to use rope to pull your self up a 12ft rock and eventually there is a section where you have to swim. But it was definitely worth every second.



Today was a different story since it didn't stop raining all day. Determined not to waste the day we did something rather bizarre- christmas shopping! I know it is ridiculously early, but if every day from now until christmas is windy then it won't get done at all, so at least most of it is out the way.

So the ultimate no wind activities turn out to be: Surfing, trekking to waterfalls and shopping (although I never really enjoy the latter).

2nd Nov - Surfing

Unfortunately the forecast was right-no wind. We decided to check out the surf spots near lahina to see if there was any surf at all. There was, but it was super small and we went out at Launiupoko. My friend, Camilla had just got a new mini-mal and was eager to test it out. We ended up having tons of fun on the little waves catching one after the other-easy paddle outs and super chilled. The first day of no wind was indeed a success.

11th Oct-1st Nov

I was inspired to create a blog after having spoken to Giampaolo; writer of a famous blog in Maui. As a result I will summarise the first 3 weeks to catch up on what went on........
The first 9 days were windy and sail sizes ranged from 4.0 - 5.3, I sailed everywhere from Kanaha to Spreks to Kuau, and even Ho'okipa for the first time. Ho'okipa was an amazing experience for me and the only part that was difficult was overcoming the psycological barrier of the rocks. But really, it was fine!

On the 18th Oct the first winter swell arrived and ho'okipa was mast high, everyone was out -it was super crowded.

The 21st and 22nd brought no wind, but having not really sailed all year my body was in need of a little rest.
From the 23rd until the 28th freak summer winds were blasting the North shore, guys were fully/over powered on 4.0's and I was out of control. As a result I had a littlw accident mid forward which put me on crutches. Luckily it was a muscular injury meaning I could be back on the water within a week....and so I was by the 30th although I had to take it easy for the first few sessions. By now the swell had dropped all over the north shore which was a huge shame, but we still made the most of the wind and spent a lot of time working on jumps.
On the 1st Nov we sailed as much as possible since after that the forecast was looking real bad for wind. This was a little tricky since the night before had been halloween-and since Lahina is famous world wide for its street party we had to go to witness it. In England halloween is celebrated in a low key manner, so what I witnessed here on halloween was insane! Everyone was dressed up and the atmosphere was immense.