VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

Kus: Glad to hear that your gear was found. I will bring it home with me. The waves and surf in Maui are some of the biggest in the world and the warm water and sun give people a false sense of security sometimes. When the surf flags are up on the beach it is time to sail cautiously and smartly. I know you did not have much choice being underpowered and I think you did make the right decision getting rid of the rig. Weird Wave is caused by a Y in the reef between uppers and lowers and the 2 surges that meet there can pull a bus back and forth until it looks like a squished can of beer.

I hope you go back to Maui because it is a great place to sail and I know you would grow to love it after awhile.

Talk to you soon!!

Winger

Yep, it appears my many unrelenting emails apparently paid some dividends....I checked with anybody I could locate during my last two days, posting notes as I went. Now a Maui Parks guy had a rig turned in (dumpster I think) and their HQ forwarded my email to him today and he phoned me on his cell. MAHALO!!

Amazing, the mast is in at least 3 pieces (no surprise there), holed the sail sleeve but apparently all is still together and the sail is in good shape according to this non-sailor. We shall see, the boom and downhaul r worth a few boxes of beer anyhow Good luck and thx for the retrieval efforts, Winger

Beware " The Ides of March " Kus Beware!

Sorry to hear about the epic Kus. I wasn't sailing this day. Think we took the day out for some surf on the west coast. Time will heal this wound my friend. Maui is amazing. It can eat gear and the wallet. However, when it all comes together it will quickly erase the hate. I ate shit on double overhead lowers a couple years ago and snapped the mast on the reef, shredded the sail and swam for a long while. The life guards had to be watching me 'cause I was on the inside of the break. I was finally towed to shore shamefully, yet thankfully by the famous kiter Lou Waiman. This years trip was amazing. Some fun wind days, great surfing, snorkeling and family time. Can't wait to go back. Wish I could have shared a few more waves with you and the up island Fishes. Wish I was there on Monday to drag you out of the channel. Set this one free and try again in a couple. Maui Rocks! Work is Hate!

By the way the Starboard twins and quads suck ass.

Dunkin guy: Did you sail the Starboard quad?

I was just getting back into windsurfing after years of being a broke ski bum! I was stoked to get some formula gear that is of course heavy on the carbon content. Mid way through a good season I decided to do a downwinder from Porteau to Squamish. This was the downwinder I had been dreaming of for years. The emerald green waters on the far west side of Howe Sound and the consistent white caps always made me think one day...Well that day came. I parked at Porteau and called the Squamish wind sensor and it was gusting 28. It was good at Porteau for my 10.5m so I rigged and began the down wind burn! It was bare nuckle ass puckering fast. I blew by Furry Creek and was at Britania in no time. I was aware of Watts Pt and the wind shift and shadows and was able to thread the needle and come out ok as I rounded the point with Squamish in my sight. My first mistake was not respecting the windspeed! As I got closer to Squamish the wind had kicked up to the point where I was now grossly overpowered My second and most costly mistake was not factoring the river current and wind pushing me into a very dangerous position. I too was now tired beyond belief and the shit was about to hit the fan. If you are familiar with Squamish you will know that there can be barges lee of the sailing site and the port. There was this one angry barge that was rocking with the waves and the chains anchoring it were snapping tight with the rise of the waves and it looked to me like a bad situation if I went under it. It was literally do or die time as I was way to close for comfort. Even if I had the energy there was no way against the current and wind pushing me under. I made the decission to cut my rig away which is no easy feat with a metre wide board in big chop. I managed to cut the sail away and escape with the help of a boat. I lost a cource HPL carbon boom and 520 speed stick mast and a formula sail!!OUCH. Looking back it was an easy decission. I hitched a ride back to my car which was the plan all along. The downwinder was incredible. The loss of my rig was the cost of doing business! Like you Kus I was mortified to have lost my rig and require rescuing. I used to operate the Squamish Windsurfing Society rescue boat years back!! Sadly enough the rescue boat didn't rescue me! It was a good guy that saw me and came to my rescue putting he and his boat in a bad situation to save my sorry ass. Anyways the point is I feel your pain and it happens to all of us whether it be windsurfing or your house burning down-you just react and live to tell the tale!

I am going to Maui at the end of May and will watch out for the Wierd Wave! Thanks for the heads up!
Trunk