Back on Maui, Hookipa full on!

Take a look at the pictures below, Dagmar took . A happy camper,

A couple of hours after I landed back from the Netherlands, I was in the water enjoying the superb swell in Hookipa. It's always great to be back on Maui. 4.8 the 74 Evil Twin what a combo. looking forward to the new quads from Starboard.

Every body came out of their summer sleep and was in the water. What a great start of the coming winter months. This El nino year promises to be a very swelly year indeed.

Aloha from Maui

11-city tour

After 5 days and 27 hours and 32 minutes of paddeling and a 4th place overall, my 11-city tour was over.
This was one of the best races I have ever been. The organization, the support, the competitors and the sceneary was amazing. 5 days of paddling, eating sleeping, eating, paddling....
We had to eat incredible amounts of food to keep our body fueled up for the next day. Our Maui chef with his 2 kitchen angels did a great job in the kitchen. The weather this week was stormy, rainy and every now and then a little sunshine which made it a real challange to fight the up-wind stretches. I am working on a little video of this race. Here is a preview with some pictures.
The start in Leeuwarden.

Stormy conditions made it a tough race with 6-9 hrs of paddling each day.

Up wind battle on the first day

Connor with 14 yrs, the youngest

Zane always in good spirit and a joy to have on board.

The Dutch scenery

Every day a we had a battle going on. Mostly Byron (USA), Xavier (SP),Eric (FR) and I where battling for the first four places.

Rough weather almost every day.

Going for second place on day four.

On board the 'Zuiderzon' our home for 6 days.

After every race we had a massage which got us in shape for the next day.

The end Results after 5 days
1. Byron Kurt 26:44:19 --- 2. Xavier Masdevall Garçon 27:12:30 --- 3. Eric Terrien 27:13:16 --- 4. Bart de Zwart 27:32:33 --- 5. Mark Raaphorst 28:23:40 --- 6. Erwin Janssen 29:08:49 --- 7. John Hibbard 30:27:01 --- 8. Zane Schweitzer 30:46:56 --- 9. Gerhard van Geest 30:48:41 --- 10. Paul Schuitema 31:49:37 --- 11. Conner Baxter 32:45:13 --- 12. Martijn van Deth 33:53:40 --- 13. Anne-Marie Reichman 34:12:05 --- 14. Donna Badome-Raaphorst 34:33:57 --- 15. Patrick Smits 19:30:29

Thanks Annemarie, Dan, Toos (Annemaries mom) and the CIOS crew for this awesome event.
2 more days and it's time to go home to Maui to see my wife and daughter.

Aloha from the Netherlands

Stand Up Race in the Netherlands- 11 city tour 220KM

Two days in this amazing 5 day- 220km race, everybody is sore and tired. But it's all worth it. Today was almost a repeat of yesterday. Byron Kurt (USA) took the lead form the start. Xavier from Spain, Eric from France and I followed at 2 minutes for hours until the 15 minute break in Hindeloopen. The landscapes are incredible. Yesterday we battled the wind the whole day for 7 hours. Today we paddled against the wind the first half and then we turned North and had the wind in the back all the way to the finish. Sorry I can not upload any pictures from the boat where we stay on during this race but the official website has plenty. http://www.supfryslan.nl/
All the racers sleep onboard an tradional dutch 'platbodem' ship. This makes a perfect place to talk story, have dinner and put all the boards.
So after 2 days my ranking is 4th about 10 min behind 3rd. Still a lot of hard work in the next 3 days and 140 KM.
De groeten from the Netherlands, Bart

Business as usual and SUP

The wind is back to full strength. In Kanaha, Hookipa and Spreck it was business as usual. Sail sizes 4.2 to 5.0. Everybody happy. Both remainders of the recent hurricanes turned out to be little 2 day squals.

I did a little downwinder today to get ready for the 11-city tour, a 220km race through the canals in the Netherlands. September 1-5. http://www.synso.nl/sup/?page=home. Annemarie Reichman organized this race ( see picture below). I will updating the blog every day during the race.

Below here is Maui Margie Warmuth, always good for a smile , a little help and support to anybody in Kanaha beach park. Thanks Margie

Starboard just came out with their latest models. The quad. 4 Fin boards, what I have seen so far they are pretty smooth. Even shorter turns, more surfstyle feel, and still great performance. I can't wait to try them myself and I will let you know as soon as I did.

Aloha from Maui.

Hurricane Felicia

The wind has been very, very good the last months. It was almost going to be to good because hurricane Felicia was coming. Luckily the Hurricane is downgraded to a tropical storm and maybe even a tropical depression which means the wind will be almost like any other day this month. A real hurricane hit on Maui is very unlikely. The records show no data of a hit the last 50 years, but only 15 years ago there was a hit on Kauai.

The image below is today's. You can see the amount of moisture which is going to hit us. But the tropical High to the North, remains strong so it will only be short disturbance before the trade will be blowing like they did all this month. Happy Sailing

PWA Canary Islands

While we have a breezy summer here on Maui with consistent winds and some summer south swell. The PWA tour was making a stop in Pozo, Canary Islands.

It has been a while but Hot Sails Maui has a team rider in pro-racing again. Diony Guadagnino competed in Wave and Slalom and made a success full comeback in pro windsurfing. Slalom 15th place, wave 17th place.

Philip Koster took the overall title in wave.

Take a look at his last explosive heat.

Saturday KANAHA KAI SALE

This saturday, the Kanaha Kai 4th of July SALE, from 9:00-6:00

Pass by for snacks and drinks 13:00-18:00

Aloha