Posted by
Blair on 13:50:28 3/3/2010 from 24.43.213.117:
Take a look at a map of Maui. Notice how the Kihei coastline runs due north-to-south? Well, when the North winds are nuking -- as they were this past Sunday -- the Kihei-to-Makena run is ON!
With Saturday's Maui Canoe & Kayak Club OC-1/Surfski//SUP/Paddleboard race being cancelled due to the tsunami warning, Maui's watermen and women were itching to paddle and, with the due-North winds absolutely howling on Sunday (30-50mph), there were dozens of craft launching from Kihei Canoe Club, also known as "Suda's," or Ka Lae Pohaku.
The 10.6-mile run from North Kihei to Makena landing is pretty fun when it's tradewinds, but there are some slow spots, especially down near Wailea. The run usually takes between 1:40 and 1:50 on a stock paddleboard -- depending on the tide and wind speeds -- but Sunday was a whole different story.
Leaving North Kihei, Dave Ward and I got into the groomed bumps right off the bat. The wind comes off the cane fields and creates fresh ripples that become whitecaps after travelling less than a mile. They are short-period corduroy lines and are not crossed-up by any kind of backwash or side chop at all. In fact, the periodicity lends itself perfectly to a 12-foot paddleboard, and one barely has to paddle when gliding along in a trough!
As we got about halfway down the Kihei Coastline, the bumps had increased and, as some SUPs passed me, I saw that they were at least waist-high. Plus, with the winds being basically without "holes," the bumps were constant. Add a bunch of whales flipping and flopping all around and you've got an adrenaline-filled Sunday afternoon!
At around the 6-mile mark -- 1/2-mile off of Keawakapu Beach -- I sat up to see if Dave was near me anywhere, but he was nowhere to be seen. All I saw were waves and whales. Needless to say, I did not sit for very long! Earlier, I had recommended we follow whoever was ahead, but that proved impossible. With the mist being blown off he tops of the big bumps, and frequent rain squalls, visibility was extremely low. (I had also quipped to Dave, earlier, that most people would consider this a good day to go to the movies).
When I got to Makena Landing, I saw that my time was 1:20, which could only happen on a Disneyland kind of day. I waited for Dave for about 20 minutes and, when we finally spotted him, he was laying on the back of Jennifer Konohia's F-16 SUP, helping her paddle a little.
When he got to the beach, he said he had pearled on a big bump and lost his board. "Gone in an instant," he said. He was swimming in from about half-a-mile out and would have been fine, but was happy to hitch a ride! (Can you say "Pelagic Predators"?)
We loaded some OC-1s -- and only one paddleboard (ahem) -- on Dave's truck and started out of the paddler-packed parking lot. Jennifer Konohia stopped us and said that her husband Peter Konohia -- who had seen Dave on the back of her SUP -- had just called from a tourist's cell phone on the last beach before the cliffs at Makena to say he had missed the turn-off at Makena Landing and needed a ride.
Not knowing if he had Dave's paddleboard or not, we drove down the 4WD trail to the black sand beach at Oneuli. There was Peter, walking up the trail with a smile on his face. He had seen Dave's Eleu flitting past him about two miles upwind from the beach and had corralled it under his iakos, between the ama and hull of his OC-1.
Not being able to turn left very well while encumbered by a 12-foot paddleboard, he decided to head further south to the last possible landing site, Oneuli. Beyond that lies Kahoolawe and/or the Alenuihaha Channel and a one-way gale-force downwind e-ticket to Johnston Atoll.
How he managed to get both craft safely up on shore with 30-40 mph winds blasting, I forgot to ask but we got everything loaded and were heading back to North Kihei -- looking out at an impossibly white, frothy Maalaea Bay -- when I said to Dave, "dude, next time wear a leash." His wife, Dane, chimed-in, "yeah, and you owe the Konohias dinner!"
Maui no ka oi!
