60 Days of Summer - Time to pack

This time next week we will be somewhere between Bahrain and London on route to LA then OGG. In many ways the time seems to have gone so slowly and yet it only feels like yesterday we were packing to leave Maui.

Southside Maui Beach - looking forwward to some southside surf and SUP action.

BAHRAIN: I was really pleased to get a good string of days on the water but this last week has only really be windy between 11am and 2pm so I haven't be able to get out. Instead it has been back to the gym and pool. There is a possibility of wind today but then the models show nothing for the rest of the week.

FLAKA - some progress has been made, I was feeling good about things then saw some great videos of Air Flakas which raised the bar somewhat. At the moment I guess I am just not giving it enough, I must commit to the move more, with plenty of wind around the corner I am pleased that I have at least made a start, hopefully within a couple of weeks I will be able to report on rather more success.

Air Flaka by the master!

KIT? Seems like Maui has been super windy this year so far, which makes me wonder if I need a 4.1m HSM Bolt too? Taking my 73 Tabou but would love to get a 79 and a 100 freestyler.

SLALOM UPDATE: Fimgers crossed Andy (who starts to persuit of UK slalom glory this weekend) will be meeting me at Heathrow with a slalom board and sails packed and then I will be almost ready for the Maui Race Series, my first event is likely to be in 2 weeks time.

TRANSPORT: Busy searching for new Maui wheels... needs to be able to get around the island while being weighted down with tons of gear and still be able to find room for a trip to Costco. Lets hope the summer 2010 version is better than some of the wrecks I have driven in the past!

I had better start packing.

More to follow...

Weekend warmup...

The charts have been bang on all week but I have had various work commitments which have meant that I have not been able to get out the last few days but I knew that I would get back early today so was pleased to see the sasnd flying about this morning when I woke up. The wind persisted throughout the day and when I got home it was perfect for more freestyle training.

15-20 knots, 38C airtemp, 34C water and sunny, not bad! I continued to work on lots of board / sail 360s and heli tacks. I was finding it rather harder to get the final part of the board/sail 360s today, guess that was due to more wind?

I tried a flaka on just about every run, ok so they may not look much like the flakas you see on youtube or at your local beach but I do feel that I am making progress. Today I was getting better pop and getting the nose jammed into the water, not getting far enough forward. I seem to almost get it then lean back and not commit fully. I had a few fun crashes but everything is still in one piece!

Tonight I will watch some more video so that I can analyse my progress a little better. With the wind set to continue for a number of days (actually looks to me like the longest period of wind I have seen in 3 years!) I wonder if I can get these flakas ticked off before we leave for Hawaii?

Great video, nice to see an old HSM SO, these ones with the cammo luff hold a special place in my heart...

The 2 week countdown has started, we'll be negotiating excess baggage charges with BA in 14 days time.

More to follow...  

Maui coundown

So far June (the windiest month according to the stats) has not delivered any action, although from watching the daily updates it does seem to have been windy enough during many days for BIG slalom gear, but by three it has all been gone. The air temp has risen alot recently with overnight lows of 32C and daytime highs of 47C.

Looks like we might get a little something tomorrow and it looks really good for next weekend, fingers crossed!

3 WEEKS TILL MAUI - yes the countdown has really started now. With the lack of wind and scorching temps not much we can do but work out in the gym, but I am confident that we will both be fully ready for what looks like a rather windy summer. We are counting the hours before we get to fly back home for 2 months.

Time for some old Maui pics - 15 years and counting!

Camp One, Spring 1996, 5.0 Bugler Wave and Hotworks 250

Camp One, Spring 1997, 4.2m Bugler Wave and K-Bay 8'4"

Hookipa Beach Park, 1997, Chris and Phil

Hookipa, Winter 2001-2, Naish 5.0 and 8'2" F2 Custom 

Hookipa, Summer 2002, Naish 5.0 and Mistral Score 250

Hookipa, Spring 2005, 8'2" SOS and 5.0 YES Wave

Kahana (West Maui), December 2005, 8'2" SOS and 5.0 HSM SO

Hookipa, Spring 2006, 8'2" SOS and 5.0 HSM SO

Hookipa, Summer 2007, No need for straps!

Kanaha, Summer 2008, Liz, 3.7m HSM Fire and 105 Angulo Sumo 

Sprecks, 28th Dec 2008, Chris & Liz

Molokai, Summer 2009, 5.3 HSM Fire and Tabou DaCurve 73

What is funny is that all these pictures are very fresh in my mind, as my 15 year Maui Anniversary approaches (1st Sept 1995 to 1st Sept 2010)  it is a great time to reflect on days gone by and look forward to what lies ahead.

More to follow...

Maui Race Series 2010

After watching Tom and everyone last year I really want to give the Maui Race Series a go this summer. Hoping to get a slalom board and rig, but if not it will have to be a trusty wave board. It should be fun.

I will not be in Maui until the 9th July so guess its the 17th and 31st that I will be aiming for.

More to follow...

New Bolts, HSM FB Comp and Old Gear

I am eagerly awaiting my new HSM Bolts now, just waiting to pick them up. Finally ordered my first carbon boom yesterday too, was hard to part with the cash (although when I convert into Bahraini Dinars it seems cheap!), but based on the conclusions from my earlier post I am sure that I will be pleased with the result.

The Bolts will be very differnent from what I used too, I have been using the HSM Fire since their introdcution in 2008 and before that I used the SO (which was a similar set up) for 3 years. I am looking forward to the lightness which I think will be great for wave riding and aerials, I think that it will be like a shot in the arm for my sailing (and I have needed it recently!)

I am really trying to work out a board quiver at the moment, finding it hard because the conditions in Bahrain and Maui are so differnet and I want to get out of my comfort zone to push my sailing forward. I really want a decent freestyle board, a couple of slalom boards and a couple of waveboards but with no current board deal that is rather expensive. I have loved my Tabou DaCurve and would love to stay with them but I am kinda limited to used gear at the moment and I can't find any. That takes me to Starboard, they have a great range so maybe that is the way forward. I have had great fun looking at old gear on ebay.co.uk which seems to dig up the best of the early 80's and 90's gear, really takes me back, I wish that I had the space to collect some of it and I would love to see how the old boards feel in comparison.

What an 80's classic!

I was pleased to read the HSM Facebook page this morning and see that my slogan had made it into the shortlist for the winners of their comp. I liked my "HSM: Hardcore Sailing Machines" but I think that some of the other slogan were great too, guess could be good as you could change for HotSurfMaui to "Harcore Surfing Machines" and have some brand symmetry.

BTW: Still no wind here!

More to follow...

Its all in the wind

I woke up this morning to again find that the forecasts were correct and the wind was still blowing 18-20 knots so I quickly made my way down to the camp.

The Camp, a few bits of wood made it rather more sheltered today which was great.

The tide was very low so it was great for freestyle and blasting but not much in the way of ramps, I was rather stiff from my run last night so went exploring the channel. Once I had loosened up a bit I cam back to Kite Beach for some more freestyle practice, I do feel like I am making small baby steps forward. With the weather this perfect this really was fun windsurfing, I only wish I could have shared it with some people, windsurfing in Bahrain is rather a lonely past time. 

Amwaj is covered in flags, and the good news is that they have to get replaced quite frequently!

After a break I was back on the water, the wind had started to drop and it was clear that it was the end of the three days of wind. I had a really fun freestyle sesssion between Kite Beach and the ships, trying hard to land a flaka but not really commiting myself enough, something that I will have to work on. The wind dropped and I called it a day. I thought that the fun was over but I had the pleasures of dealing with a welded together mast, I guess three days of sandblasting on the beach in 35-40 degree heat doesn't help. I had to take it home in one piece and it took a lot of banging on the grass and alot of water to finally loosen. 

Today's wind chart.

There was just enough time left in the day to meet Liz at the pool and go for a swim at Tala Island, what a perfect end to day. I think that we will be waiting a while for the next batch of wind so it is back to the paddle board and GPS training,

More to follow... 

A little bit of nature

Today had looked like a good day on the forecast and it didn't dissapoint. As Liz was working I didn't have a car so after my session last night I left my gear hidden in a building site next to the beach so that I could ride down this morning to sail. It was great arriving at the beach a little after 7am and my gear there ready, the wind blowing 18-20 knots and the sun shining.

The Camp!

Beach Road

I have been slagging off my Angulo Sumo 105 recently, to be fair it has seen better days, but it has spent almost 2 1/2 years getting thrashed by the harsh Bahrain climate, the rugged and sharp beach on Amwaj and a few trips to Hawaii where is was always abused and made to do things it shouldn't! Today though it did prove (yet) again that it can handle a whole range of condition and is well suited to the sailing here.

Beach road

I had a fun freestyle session (with a small wave fin) in front of my new beach camp, the condition were perfect and it was good to make some progress (small steps!). With it not super windy I put on a longer and straighter fin so that I could make my way upwind to the building ramps in a spot I will call Outsiders, a lonely place upwind and offshore where there are ramps when it is windy enough, luckily we have had a solid wind for 2 days now so the (small) swell lines have started to develop and they produced some decent ramps. 

It was nice to be able to get some good forwards rather than just spinning although I never find looping on a 100+ litre board that comfortable on the ankles or feet. My feet actually started to rub on my straps and worried that I would create the same problems that I had during the last two summers (where my feet had holes in them for what seemed like months) I though it was time to make my way back downwind and reunite with my bike. 

After a break, food, water and a 30 minute gym session I was ready for a 2nd session. I knew that I needed to change the staps on my board to reduce the rubbing so I quickly took the really soft HSM ones that I have on my wave board and slung them into my rucksack.

A nice healthy lunch.

A brief session infront of my freestyle DVD over lunch did help!

Changing the Old Dakine to super padded HSM straps did make my feet less painful but they are still sore.

Another freestyle session and some more progress before going to Outsiders where the waves had built up and were providing some decent ramps for forwards and backs. Was great to be getting some height for a change but it was a bit hetic on the 105 now and my feet were sore so didn't stay that long. With the tide building and a solid 20+ knots I knew that the Wall (speed course) would be starting to work, the tide was still a little low but as I went down my second run I saw a dolphin which was rather cool. Session 2 over, time for a quick ride to the pool to relax with some friends before going home for a break.

View from the camp.

I wanted to try the Wall later so made a DIY aquapak for my GPS and made my way back with a new supply of drinking water. With the temps over 35C from 6am to 6pm it is vital that you have water wherever you go, carrying it all is rather a pain! My first run was my best with 22.14knots, while not quick it is the first timed run on the course so guess that makes it a record. The wind was dropping and I was rather underpowered but it was enough to show the potential that the Wall has. I did see 2 dolphins so that made up for for dying wind. Time to call it a day and get some food so that I can train at the gym tonight.

I have seen dolphins in Bahrain before but this was the first time I had seen them in Amwaj.

With the wind forecast to stick around for another day I parked my gear in the camp and rode home, kinda liking this no rigging / de-rigging life!

More to follow...