Postcards from Maui - Day 4

A safe view of the waves ... for the paranoid.

It was a perfect day. That is to say, it began and ended in the water.

Morning saw another shot of northwest energy making its way to paddling distance from our condo. The entrance to the break is out over a rocky shelf and then jump in with your board. This would be my second go at the slightly sketchy entry. It was high tide -- even smaller waves swamped the low parts of the shelf. But the low parts looked more passable, so I crept along. Meanwhile, a local practically ran tip to tip across the high rocks to my left and was in the water in no time. You know who the haole is, right?

But I got the last laugh. Which is to say, I got a phat one to myself. It was well overhead, it was a fun drop, it was walled up, and it had a bowl. In short, it was a racetrack. Turn left, drive fast, exit. And with that, I paddled in. I'll replay that a few times if I have any trouble sleeping.

Speaking of paddling, that's how the day ended. Thanks to a member of the local paddling community, I got to do a late afternoon five-miler from Ulua Beach, south of Kihei. While I waited to meet Shawn, I caught two local popoki (cats) in repose. On approach, they slunk off, but not before I caught this shot ...

The other cat (black) is in the bush just in front of the car.

It wasn't hard to spot Shawn. Who else was gonna sail into the lot with a couple paddleboards atop his ride?  I could hardly believe the excellent stock board he was letting a total stranger use. I think it weighed less than my shortboard.

It turned out to be a classic uphill to downhill paddle, and I had the best host. Turns out there aren't that many prone paddlers in Maui, but these proud warriors always hold their own in the Moloka'i race (known here simply as "the channel"). It sounds like they number only slightly more than on the Monterey Peninsula plus Carmel.

We headed straight out into the windswell, which is to say directly out to sea. Didn't see a single boat. It's the downwind leg that's addictive. Someday, there'll be a twelve step program for downwind paddlers ("Came to believe we were powerless over downhill races and that our lives had become unmanageable"). I learned that the Maliko run, about 10 miles on Maui's windswept north shore, is coming right up ... two days after we leave. I'll just bottle that up and save it for our own Wilder Coast runs.

Life is gooooood!

DeeAnn captured our daily sunset while I was en route from my paddle.