You Know It's Too Windy When...

... the sh*t has really hit the fan...

imagine, you're sitting in there, doing your business, and then... Wham!  OS!! OK, you know it's too windy when...

...it's a gorgeous, sunny, windy afternoon at Kanaha and no one, absolutely no one is out at Lowers.  Do those waves look a bit blown out to you?  You know it's too windy when weird wave looks like this...

... much weirder then usual.  You know it's too windy when Olaf Sutor, who is not the smallest guy on the beach, is out on a 4.2 Super Freak.. rigged flat...

.. and he's fully powered.  And check out Uppers in the upper right corner.  It turned into weird wave!

You know it's too windy when you don't have to carry your sail, the wind does it for you.  Whether you want it to or not...

You know it's too windy when people rig up, take one reach out, then come back to the beach muttering to themselves...

So if you get the impression that it was too windy to sail, or at least have a fun time sailing, you guessed right.  At least for me.  Julia and I sail nuking gorge conditions all summer.  In the gorge a 3.7 day is epic, with huge smooth swells rolling down the river and glassy flat water near the shore to try your tricks.  Nothing like it and definitely worth a trip to the gorge to experience.  On Maui, a 3.7 day turns the entire north shore into a giant weird wave, with washing machine chop filling all the gaps.  Perhaps not so epic but actually very rare.  Usually the trades stay in the 18-30 range.  5.3 or 4.7 sail for me.  Almost never more then that.  However...

According to the locals, this might have been the windiest day at Kanaha they have ever seen. Ever!  The chart below tells part of the story though those on the water claim the gusts had to be above 50 at the peak.  One thing for sure, you could not stand on the beach, unless you enjoyed having your skin sand blasted and every pore and crevice in your body filled with sand. The bad news is the super strong wind trades are going to continue for the next week or so.

Another thing that is unusual, but nice about the current weather is how clear it is.  Up at Makawao early this morning, the full moon was shining so bright, it was almost like the sun was rising prematurely ...

at the same time, the morning sun was just starting to light up Haleakala.  The peak was entirely free of clouds. I could see the solar observatory brightly lit, though it was still dark down below.  The top of the mountain is over 20 miles away, but looks much closer through the lens of this amazing camera...

Cheers!