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A Maui Stand Up Paddle Downwind Experience (Part 1 of 3) |
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By: "Iron Phil" Gregory
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Monday, 01 December 2008 |
I’ve arrived at Brisbane Airport Sunday 13th July on my way bound for the beautiful island of Maui for 3 SUP races & all of a sudden who should I bump into but Nathan Henderson carrying his 18ft paddleboard to the oversize baggage chute. It was an amazing & entertaining sight watching Nathan & the baggage handlers trying to put this 18ft paddleboard into the oversize chute. After which I asked Nathan “what time’s your flight? He said Air Pacific 12:25pm”, I said “sweet I’m Air Zealand 12:25pm I’ll race you to Honolulu” & off we went. I had a 3 hour stopover in New Zealand due to the plane being late so I’m stressing thinking Nathan’s got a good start. I’ve arrived at Honolulu & beat Hendo by 6 hours stoked.
After 24 hours of travelling & numerous liquid refreshments I’ve arrived in Maui I’m JOJ (just of the jet). Got met at the airport with my new F-16 SUP got driven straight to the starting line for the Naish International Paddleboard Championships 15.5kms & away we go. I had my GPS watch set at 20kms/hr & it was going off telling me to slow down. I was catching some amazing runners, on one runner it was a solid 4ft ocean swell & I was a bit too slow to run to the back of my board (jet lag) & nose dived my 16fter. I got flogged & as I was coming up for air I nearly got my head taken off by another SUP.
I couldn’t stop laughing I was having so much fun & with 113 SUP’s & only 66 Paddle boarders there was a lot of traffic having the full paddle battle + it was unreal to paddle against other F-16‘s which made up 90% of the field. Not only that there’s a mine field out there - turtles some are mutant as big as the bonnet of your car, you’re on a runner & the turtle will appear out of nowhere if you hit a turtle it will rip your fin out or break your board in half. I did the race in 92 minutes & was a bit disappointed as I wanted to do that race in under 90 minutes. but hey I’m JOJ full of jet lag & I ended up coming 29th out of 113 SUP’s, even got smashed by two gorgeous Maui sheilas, I had to laugh.
Results:
1st Jamie Mitchell 73 minutes
1st Mick DiBetta 79 minutes
2nd Dean Hanmer 85 minutes
1st Shakira Westdrop 88 minutes
29th Phil Gregory 92 minutes
While on Maui I watched the sunrise above the cloud level from Haleakala crater 10,000ft followed by a 30 mile downhill pushbike ride. All you could hear was the rubbing of the brake pads against the rim of the tyres because you were going that fast. After that it was time for another down wind Maliko Gulch SUP paddle. Conditions were pumping 25 knot NE winds 4ft ocean swells I’m thinking I’d better set my GPS watch at 25kms/hr & again it was going ballistic telling me to slow down I was catching some amazing runners.
Over there you’re not paddling in balance stance mode you’re fully paddling in surf stance mode, you feel the tail of your board starting to lift you’re in the trough so its just tap tap tap & away you go you’re running up & down this big 16ft SUP surfing it like it’s a Malibu surfboard. Standing as far back as you can you can feel the double concave come into play & you’re surfing from rail to rail for 200 metres, tap tap tap another runner for 200 metres.
Now & then you‘ve got to put your paddle in the water just to stop you from falling off you’re going that fast, having the biggest grin on my face - how good is this stoked. All of a sudden this mutant turtle appeared out of nowhere I s### myself, I’ve hit its back webbed feet & the turtle’s taken off & I’ve managed to stay on the runner stoked. Hanging with Mark Raaphorst the inventor of the F-16 was truly amazing. Watching him surf the F-16 down wind he is that good he is king.
The next day Maliko Gulch just keeps getting better 30 knot winds - I’m flying out there just surfing. The wind is that strong not only do I have the mutant turtles to deal with I’ve now got the windsurfers to collide with after hearing some of the stories from the Maui locals (heavy collisions) I just gave way & it’s so hard when you’re surfing down wind going that fast to give way. It is that good I did 3 Maliko runs in one day followed by a few Bud Lights just to finish off the day. By the end of the Maui stay I did the 15.5km distance in 77 minutes my GPS watch was still going ballistic at 30kms/hr stoked.
The Maliko record is 65 minutes held by Dave Kalama a local Hawaiian Legend (faster than OC-1 paddlers)! If you’re into down wind paddling you’ve got to experience Maliko Gulch it will blow your mind it’s that good, it’s just like a surfer going to Indonesia to get tubed off his face - different sport but the same feeling. A bit of SUP trivia, hanging around the Maui Locals I get to hear a lot of inside SUP gossip the C4 sponsored SUP’s are defecting so they can just paddle on F-16’s (they are that much faster).
END PART 1 OF 3
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