22 Apr 2008 22:10:08

stoke (long)

I went out to Kailua yesterday morning. I was expecting decent wind, nothing great, as I'd sailed a 6.2 the previous day and the wind was supposed to be dying off. When I got there, the wind was light, but after a while it picked up and I rigged the 6.2 again and went out on my 114-liter board. It was very mellow sailing, and after a couple of hours I was feeling a bit hungry. The wind was also picking up a bit so I was hoping that I could swap boards down to my 95-liter wave board. As I was coming in, another sailor came planing up the beach, did a sweet, effortless little tack and headed upwind. Even at Kailua, not too many sailors pull off this move with that kind of panache and I thought, "there's a pretty good sailor out there today." As I snarfed down lunch, the wind picked up even more, and before I was finished sand was blowing across the beach and the water was filled with frothy whitecaps. It's kind of unusual for the wind to notch up so quickly and so strong at Kailua. So not only was I going to get to use my smaller board, but also rig down, which is also an unusual thing to do at Kailua--most people just rig once and live with it. I chose my 5.3, so between board and sail change, I was expecting a pretty dramatic increase in wind. I also wanted to try out a big pointer fin on this board, so as soon as I got out I started testing its upwind capability. Eddy, a local pro who's kind of the patriarch of Kailua windsurfers, was goading me into going up to the boat launch, about 300 yards upwind of the launch, so I headed up there. I got up to the launch, jibed and started heading out toward Flat Island, a few hundred yards upwind. Just then, the guy whose tack I'd admired earlier along with two other sailors came screaming on a beam reach in front of me. Just as they crossed in front of the island, all three of them swooped into these full-out laydown jibes. I recognized Robby Naish in the lead, his board on edge, his sail and body nearly parallel to the water. He and two of his buddies were out doing a photo shoot for the day. They'd tried to get some waves the day before but neither wind nor waves cooperated, so apparently they were going to do some speed runs that day. So I spent the next hour or so sailing a bit downwind, watching them. That spot has some of the smoothest water on the islands on windy days and these guys were just ripping it up. I'm sure I'll have to be Photoshopped out of some of their pictures, though I was on Naish sail. But it was really thrilling to watch this impressive display of speed, power and gracefulness. Pretty good sailors indeed.

22 Apr 2008 23:39:49

ocubot

Re: stoke (long)

Awesome Steve! I bet that was very cool to watch...did you pick up some tricks? I haven't been out in a while...broke a mast a couple of weeks ago and had a LOOOONG swim in (with company). Glad to hear someone has been out enjoying the winds. see you down there next week hopefully. -michael.

23 Apr 2008 01:33:53

Re: stoke (long)

No tricks, this was all about speed. I think they may have been shooting video, since that spot, with the background of Lanikai, would give you a good backdrop for gauging speed. Sometimes video just tracks the sailor, and because the background is so far away you don't get a good impression of speed. Even that was impressive though, just for the pure aggro-adrenaline rush. Glad you got back OK from your mishap. With the new baby, gotta be careful. On Apr 22, 8:39=A0pm, ocubot <mjnjunkm...@gmail.com > wrote: > Awesome Steve! =A0I bet that was very cool to watch...did you pick up > some tricks? > > I haven't been out in a while...broke a mast a couple of weeks ago and > had a LOOOONG swim in (with company). > > Glad to hear someone has been out enjoying the winds. > > see you down there next week hopefully. > -michael.

23 Apr 2008 07:21:50

Glenn Woodell

Re: stoke (long)

On Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:10:08 -0700 (PDT), smark@seattletimes.com wrote: > I recognized >Robby Naish in the lead, his board on edge, his sail and body nearly >parallel to the water. He and two of his buddies were out doing a >photo shoot for the day Robbie has a distinct style all his own. Really smooth. You can pick him out of a crowd. I had the pleasure of meeting him a few years back on Hatteras Island. Glenn