Maui Vmax 2009 Speed Meeting 2 July 26th

After a few days of light winds the speed gods blessed us with some nice moderate 25 knot tradewinds. As usual the wind was inconsistent coming and going as it pleased promptly dropping as soon as the course opened. The Iwindsurf site showed a couple of gusts over 30 mph, but these were not to be found on the speed course. Most sailors rigged something close to 6.5. Unfortunately at the most advantageous tide the wind was not co-cooperating and when it did finally fill in the tide had come up and the course started to get bumpy. The trick at that point was to find a stretch of flat water in amongst the lumps.


Image Courtesy of Iwindsurf.com

35 knots seemed to be the number of the day but then Erik Beale came in with a good run (wanting to get it logged in just in case of mishaps later). Eric's 37 knoter motivated the boys to get back out there and try a little harder. By 3:30pm the chop was getting quite bad and it seemed clear the best runs of the day were behind us. When Alex discovered Peter John had just beaten him by 1/10th of a knot he headed back to the water in a last ditch attempt to find a puff and velvet before the course closed at 4pm. Alex was unable to overcome the rough water and had to settle for his earlier 38.2 knot 100m run behind Peter John's 38.3 knot run despite having the highest peak speed of the day of 39.1. Erik held on to 3rd followed by John Smalley with another 0.1 knot margin over Tom Hammerton.

This was a very impressive day with the highest speeds of the year in all divisions. Carl Grundy put in an impressive 30.7 knots in the wave division and Tracey Harrap - the only women's competitor so far - just snuck over 30 with a 30.1 on some gear borrowed from Terry Alkemade. Chris Freeman competing in his first GPS contest in the wave division rewarded himself with a forward loop at the end of every run when he went faster. A good time was definitely had by all. Unfortunately everyone was having so much fun we forgot to take photos!

It was a very international fleet with visiting sailors from the Southern Hemisphere Chris Adamson (AUS) and Terry Alkemade (NZ) as well as fellow Kiwi transplants Tracey Harrap and Peter John. The UK was well represented with 5 sailors, Erik Beale, Carl Grundy, Chris Freeman, Tom Hammerton and John Smalley. Olaf Sutor was the lone European competitor waving the flag for Germany. The fleet was completed with the two American sailors Matt Daniels and Alex "wear-a-hole-in-the-ocean" Aguera. Thanks to everyone for coming down and making it such a successful fun day.

For full results go to Results

Peter and Alex move to the top of the speed ladder bumping Pieter Bijl down to third in Open with Carl Grundy moving to the top of Wave: Speed Ladder

Thanks to Dain, Marc, Ayesha, Chris, Liz and Anne for keeping an eye on things.

Weather Forecast For Maui Vmax Speed Meeting July 26th 2009

Although trade winds are temporarily diminished for the next couple of days they are expected to strengthen through the weekend.


Image Courtesy of Iwindsurf.com, used with permission.


A weak low pressure disturbance is expected to develop west of the islands and may shift the winds to an easterly or south-easterly direction. This is caused by some locally strong upper level winds not associated with the main jet-stream and should dissipate quickly. Worryingly this is a similar pattern to the one seen in the spring that killed the trades for an extended period of time. The good news is that the overall trade flow remains strong and the air should be dry and stable on Sunday. Given this I have to be optimistic and say there is a good chance of some decent trades in the 20-25 knot range assuming the flow does not become too easterly.



The tide looks favorable with a low at 11:04 in the morning slowly rising to an afternoon high just over 2 feet at 5:24pm. Most rocks will be covered by a good fin length's worth of water by the time the course opens. A small 2 foot NW swell is showing up on the models which would be ideal if it shows up.


Image Courtesy of Iwindsurf.com, used with permission.

We will meet at Sprecks on Sunday no matter what the forecast. Please assume racing will begin at 12 noon. If the conditions prove unsuitable this Speed Meeting will be postponed 2 weeks to August 9th.

HAM (Hawaii AMerica) Speed Challenge

HAM (Hawaii AMerica) Speed Challenge

In the great tradition of the America's Cup, The Army/Navy game and the July 4th hot dog eating contest comes the HAM Speed Challenge. A fight to the death, dog eat dog, gloves off challenge of epic proportions to settle the age old question, does Maui or the Gorge have the fastest windsurfers in the country? In the far west corner drifting off the US Pacific coast you have the Big Wave boys of Maui who brave monster swells and fin eating coral reefs to lay claim to fastest windsurfer over 100 meters. Lurking up in the top left corner of the continental US are the Big Wind warriors of The Gorge, legends in their own lunchtime, but holders of the current 100 meter record of 44.5 knots.
The challenge is simple, from July 1st to December 31st, the 5 fastest 100m GPS speeds from Maui and the 5 fastest 100m GPS speeds from the Gorge will be posted to see who really is the fastest.

The prize: bragging rights and the ability to thumb your nose at the losers knowing you are the fastest windsurfers in the country.....oh, and a nice little trophy!

KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) rules apply:
Best 5 100 m. windsurfing GPS speeds from 5 different sailors for each team
Average of 5 best 100 m. speeds wins.
Speeds for Maui team can be anywhere in Hawaii.
Speeds for Gorge team anywhere on the Columbia River.
Speeds in doppler from GT-11 or GT-31 GPS units.
All GPS tracks posted to the Speedreader at WWW.KA72.COM and details of run sent to the timekeepers for each team, Tom Hammerton tom@ocean7design.com in Maui and Roo in The Gorge roo@speedsailor.com

Results and details at www.gps-speedsailing.com & http://www.mauivmax.com/
Open to any windsurfers, pro...amateur...current & ex world record holders...any nationality...any sex...any colour...any weight...any height...any speed!