The Week In Review
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The week started with an unusual low-pressure system hanging around near the island, which brought us some rain and worse prevented the trade winds from howling on our beach. While we were aching to get more time on the water, it did provide us time to get issue I of the J.E.W. out and take care of some necessities like food shopping. We went to this place, Costo, which turns out to be way cheaper than the little markets in the south end where I had done any shopping back home. It also turns out that Eric and I are the only two people on the planet who didnÕt know about such places. After dealing with the chores and publishing our first issue Ð we were still stuck waiting around for the weather to clear. Rather than mope around we decided to make the best of it and explore the island, continuing to log miles on the bike and keeping up with our Yoga practice. Monday was sort of grey but the clouds seemed to be breaking so we got the bikes out and set out on a twenty five mile loop down towards South Maui. About two miles in, the skies opened up on us with blinding rain, the kind of rain that soaks you instantly. Tropical rain storms on Maui are an interesting phenomenon. For one, they tend to come out of nowhere, rain incredibly hard for a few minutes and then disappear, making way for the sun. Also, locals tend not to even notice the storms, leaving the tops down on their convertibles, maintaining whatever pace they were walking and not even looking up towards the sky as it if were totally expected. Makes it easy to pick out visitors who immediately begin to scramble for shelter only to realize that the rain is over as soon as they get the top up or make it under a roof. Its similar to being in an earthquake in LA, as out-of-towners tend to go into a complete panic, hiding in the basement under furniture with the windows open and buying up batteries and canned goods while LA residents will walk down the street putting on makeup and drinking decaf cappuccinos without spilling a drop. In any case, Eric and I, having been on the island a week are hardly locals but had seen a handful of these storms so we kept peddling through the monsoon expecting it to end quickly. It didnÕt. We peddled into blinding rain for another five miles but as we got further south we rode out of the storm and came onto some empty and awesome roads. I think the rain had are adrenaline going as there were parts of the ride that we were locked in at twenty five miles per hour Ð absolutely hauling. Despite the weather it turned out to be a great ride and a pretty funny sight as we returned home completely drenched and covered in mud from head to toe Ð well worth it. In fact, I was so psyched when I returned from the ride that I came screaming into our driveway forgetting that it was made of gravel Ð my bike stopped instantly in the loose rock but I kept going, a la NewtonÕs first law of motion, dumping the bike and ending up turtled with my feet still clicked into the pedals. Once I cleared with Eric that I was ok Ð he burst into laughter. We decided to celebrate our ride by heading out to dinner up the road to a place that came highly recommended by many of you called MamaÕs Fish House which overlooks HooÕkipa beach Ð it was getting close to 6:00 and we were just about head out to dinner when Eric looked out the window and noticed the trees shaking Ð ÒJonny, I think the wind picked up Ð letÕs check it outÓ - We walked down to the beach and saw about ten people heading out for a late session. Giddy with excitement, we raced back up to the sail rack and grabbed our boards for an epic twilight session coming off the water just as the sun went down. Again we were all smiles after just a small dose of the sport we love. Now completely exhausted from the ride and late windsurfing session we dragged ourselves up to MamaÕs for some chow. IÕve never been a seafood fan but did promise myself that I would try new things as part of this adventure and was pleasantly surprised with the Ahi (local Tuna) with mango sauce that I hadÉof course at that point I probably would have eaten anything. Tuesday morning the wind was looking good again. Eric and I had been trying to arrange for windsurfing lessons with this guy Craig, who came highly recommended for advanced instruction, but had been unable to coordinate given the unpredictable wind. With the wind from Monday evening having built through the night, we awoke to howling winds and gave Craig a call to arrange for some lessons. Craig started by sailing a couple runs with each of us to watch our style and then we met with him on the beach to discuss what he saw and figure out where we wanted to focus. My first run out with Craig I headed straight for the waves, jumping off the first two ramps I found and landing awkwardly on the second jump Ð as I tried to reposition my board to keep going out I looked up and saw a huge ÔcobraÕ (thatÕs local talk for a large and scary wave that is cresting and about to break) and I was unable to straighten out the board in time so my only choice was to be a man, or at least pretend to be one, and try to jump it Ð of course I entered the jump out of position and as soon as I was airborne the wind threw me around the front of the board (known in windsurfing as a catapult) and caught a face full of my boom. The catapult not only gave me a nice bruise on my chin and drew a little blood, although not enough to chum the waters (I hope), but also a nice crack in the nose of my freestyle board. After spitting out a couple gallons of water I realized I was down in what I like to call the laundry mat, which is the area right in the middle of the breaking waves out at the reef. The laundry mat refers to the washing machine like tumbling you get, also known as getting Maytagged, while trying to regroup and get back on your board. I made it in safely and CraigÕs first words were Ð Òwe need to work on jumpingÉnot for fun but for your safety man!Ó Good news is that we spent most of the lesson working on jumping and IÕm slowly getting the hang of not only launching off these waves but also occasionally even landing one and sailing awayÉamazing! Eric spent his session with Craig working on short board tacks and one handed sailing, which will be the foundation of some cool freestyle moves over the coming weeks. The rest of the day was epic, windy all day, and we sailed until about 4:30 and then hit the Yoga studio to try and rebuild our aching bodies. We had Craig return to work with us again on Wednesday, which was even windier. We pushed the lesson back a little as Eric and I got up at 6:00 AM to get a ride in before the wind picked up -- of course the early rise turned out to be futile as the wind was raging at sun up. We road down to Kihie locked in at 23-25 mph and returned into a nasty headwind slowing us down to 14-15 mph. Riding into a 20 mph headwind is like going up a steep never ending hill and it sucked the energy out of both of us. Fortunately weÕd gotten out early enough that we had time to catch a nap before heading out to meet Craig on the water. Craig and I spent day two working on jibes. A jibe is simply a high speed turn away from the wind and back home one of the measures of a good sailor is often the percentage jibes you hit. Here it is an irrelevant metric since no-one here comes in and just jibes Ð it is always some freestyle move or combination of a trick jibe and some other move. Craig and I sailed out so he could watch my technique and then headed back to the beach to go over what he saw. As we were sitting on the beach he was giving me some pointers about how to keep speed through the turn and he pointed out to the water and said letÕs watch a few jibes and IÕll show you what IÕm talking about. First guy in threw a volcan, next guy a willy skipper Ð next board in was a women who had V007 on her sail (meaning she is the 7th ranked sailor from Venezuela) and of course she threw a combination sail and board 360 -- we waited for a few minutes and realized that no-one was going to come in and just jibe their board so Craig took us back out on the water and told me to watch him. Again pretty humbling as Eric describes in his ÒPerspectiveÓ article. Thursday morning, after three straight days of epic sailing, we were feeling tight so we decided to start the day with a Yoga class. We took a primary series ashtonga class and Eric and I were the only two who showed up. Ashtonga is a great workout but there are some really tough poses and so having a lot of individual attention to help with our alignment was great Ð we both felt completely rejuvenated and headed back to our beach as it was already blowing strong. It seems like each day here gets better and better. This week turned out to be exactly the type of week we had predicted when we planned this trip. Twenty five to thirty mile per hour winds every day with so many hours on the water we werenÕt even rushing to get out by the latter part of the week Ð something that never happens at home. We logged 100 tough miles on the bikes including our monsoon ride, a couple hilly rides on the Hana highway and some nasty headwinds just in case the riding wasnÕt tough enough. In addition we did five Yoga classes and while our flexibility still seems well behind the curve the Yoga definitely helps our bodies after the beating they take from the bikes and from sailing in the waves. My best description of Maui to date is Ôparadise for the mind and purgatory for the bodies.Õ From the editors: Eric and I would like to thank everyone for the great responses and words of encouragement after last weeks issue. It was not an easy decision to quit our jobs and leave our friends and families behind and while we think of you often its great to hear the praise and even better the attempted insults so we will try and post the funniest response each week. (as long as they are clean, Doug) -- so please keep emÕ coming. Last weekÕs best came in from Florida (edited to keep the newsletter PG) It reads ÒJono, I live in Florida with my wife and two wonderful children so we are both in paradiseÉbut if I ever see another picture of you in a pair of bike shorts I will drain my kids college fund, fly out to Maui and put a beaten on you and your friendÓ Thank you Rusty Ð see you all next week.
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HereÕs unranked Eric ÒhelmetÓ Falk sailing with world-champion freestyler Josh Stone (USA 6) There are many dogs that
run around on our beach. This one
is particularly stunning.
Here we are with Craig, our windsurfing instructor. Check out ÒPerspectiveÓ for some great photos and the story behind the story.
HereÕs Jon ripping it up on Saturday, hanging loose with one hand off the boom.
Eric ducking a 4.7, riding a tiny 72 liter JP Wave board.
HereÕs a shot of Jon on a 5.3 jibing a 77 liter Starboard.
Jon is modeling the Neilpryde 3/2 shorty with matching half finger gloves and Gath performance helmet. A view off overlooking a lagoon on the drive up to West Maui. We found this little spot on a drive to the Western part of Maui. It truly was the best banana bread I have ever had. Jon would be more excited, but at this point he hasnÕt tasted it yet. Jon rips up wind to the beach! |
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