Hanging out on the beach waiting for wind. Sound like a windsurf contest?
After what seemed like an eternity the trade winds finally returned to Maui just in time for the first race in the Maui Race Series. It all looked very promising for the first speed meeting scheduled a week later. Indeed the trades did blow all week and some very good sailing was had. Sunday however proved the wind to be very fickle.
Peter John - photo Bob Gilbert
The light and patchy winds proved to be a bit of a spoiler with many sailors who had intended to compete deciding otherwise. The field then was a small band of speed enthusiasts determined to enjoy the day no matter what the weather did.
Tom Hammerton - photo Bob Gilbert
At 11am things looked quite promising and many sailors rigged with the idea that things would pick up and fill in later. The first two hours produced the most productive winds with gusts up to 20 knots. Huge holes kept everyone on big boards and the event became more of a wind hunt than anything else. Competitors sailed everywhere in sight trying to find the elusive wind. There was more wind further out but the water was rougher making it a bigger challenge to find speed. In the end the lower reef proved to be the fastest, and those he found a good gust went fastest.
Wind Graph July 14 courtesy of Iwindsurf.com
Once more Alex Aguera proved to be the fastest after putting in a long day with many runs. His top 100m speed of 34.08 knots was very impressive given the conditions. Nipping at his heels was Tom Hammerton with 33.92 knots set in the same spot just 89 seconds after Alex’s winning speed.
Alex Aguera - photo Bob Gilbert
Mark Nelson - photo Bob Gilbert
The conditions waned somewhat after that, but kept teasing the sailors back on the water with each gust that passed through. A very determined effort from Peter John secured 3rd place with 33.05 knots. Jacque was struggling with his biggest sail, a 5.8 which clearly was far too small for the conditions. Very gamely he gave it a try and appeared to find a few puffs and some good speed. We thought he had a 32 knot run, but he left before the end of the meeting and timekeeper Tom Hammerton was missing in action and did not record his speeds. Eventually we got hold of Jacques tracks, and after deleting the 47 knot runs he did in his truck he placed 4th with a 31.56 knot run.
Kai Hopf decided late in the day that he might as well get wet and took to the water with a 122 litre board and a 9.0 freerace sail. We managed to stick a GPS on him just to see how fast he could get this monstrous gear moving. In the end he hit a peak speed of 29.01 knots. Not quite the 31.77 knots fellow North Sails rider Mark Nelson got out of his 7.0, but impressive nonetheless.
Thanks to Bob for coming down to shoot some pictures for us. Unfortunately we did not provide much action for him. Next time I promise!
Results Maui Vmax 2009 Speed Meeting 1, June 14th
Video from the Speed day.
