Maui Monthly no.80. December 2011

December 2011, Maui, Hawaii

#80

www.mauisails.com/2012

pick the one that fits the Best foR You

Photo : Darrell Wong

Maui Monthly no.80. December ’11.4

MICAH BUZIANISjoins MauiSails

Micah Buzianis, former World Champion, joins MauiSails in 2012. With over twenty five years of racing experience and several World Titles under his belt, Micah will be blending his experience with Barry Spanier, Art Szpunar, and Phil McGain to go after another Title. Micah commented, “I couldn’t be happier about my new relationship with MauiSails. This is an exciting opportunity for me to work with Barry, Phil, and Art. The knowledge, experience, and history these three guys have in our sport is immeasurable and unsurpassable, with more World Titles under their belt than any other team in Windsurfing. For me to have people like this to work with and support my racing is going to be magical”.

Phil McGain said,“The TR-8 race sails are our best effort yet. They are primed to win and have been delivered to the market. We expect big things in 2012 from a sailor of Micah’s caliber . Having him based here in Maui will advance our development, help him with his preparation, and improve the performance of all our products at MauiSails”. Micah further comments,”I’ve had some good sessions on the TR-8s already and am very impressed. They suit my boards very well and the comfort and speed is going to allow me to focus on the course, get a good start, pursue a tactically clean race, and finish ahead. I’ve also had a chance to play with the Legend and the Ghost XT… both feel very light and lively in the surf and in the air”. All of us at MauiSails wish you prosperous New Year and good winds on the water.For more information go to www.mauisails.com

Maui MonthlyOur Experience, Your Reward .5

Had a trip downunder early December, tackling another Ironman Triathlon in Western Australia, as well as catching up with fellow windsurfers. Had a very good race in Busselton, 11 hours 27 minutes, new personal record, then up to Rockingham to stay with my good friend Mark Defriest, got in a nice sailing day in Rockingham during my recovery week.

The windiest December

Our flagship product in the TR-8 is now well on the way to importers, in fact I had the pleasure to spend an afternoon in Sydney with Remi and Steve Walsh going over the tuning of some of the sizes and getting on the water on the 12m and 11m. We were all satisfied with the performance in the marginal conditions in Botany Bay that afternoon.


Photos : Andrea Pagan

Art has done a fabulous job on the designs, it’s safe to say all the sizes have improved and we have done our very best again to product a race winning design.

Back to Maui for the end of December, which has been one of the windiest Decembers in recent times. We had some awesome wave sailing on the Northshore, with 30 knots trades and some mast high waves.

I’m also looking forward to working with our new Team rider Micah Buzianis in 2012, our race sails are ready to win races and with Micah I know they will win many.

See you all in 2012 and we look forward good winds, good product and good health.

Aloha,Phil McGain.


WWW.MAUISAILS.COM/TR-8

Photo : Vinnie Armato

A lot of time on the water in DecemberWhat an exciting month it has been. Got a lot of time on the water perfecting the freestyle air moves. I am more confident in everything all the moves are going as I set my mind to it, so it’s a good feeling. All the sailing is making me know my equipment even more and I am at the point to come up with improvements for the 2013 Loco’s. Time sure flies when you are having a good time practicing and putting a lot of time on the water. I just love it :). December was also the month where I got back in the gym after two years not going. It’s a great feeling spending two hours every Monday, Wednesday. and Friday in the gym.


Photo : Bogo


There’s not much that I have to say. I just had a great month and the wind was so good that I also got to spend one day in the waves with my Loco 4.4 and my Evil Twin 76 liter. It’s just good at times to get away from freestyle and do some wave sailing.

Slalom was not much of a choice for me this month. I just need to fire up the vibe and then I’ll be on it. For now I’ll just stick to my Loco freestyle sails and my Flare freestyle boards.


A Happy New Year and be ready for another great year… 2012!!!!! Ciao, Taty Frans NB-9

Photo : Bogo


One of the most EPIC

windsurfing day of my life

Photo : Bogo


Growing up as a windsurfer in California, I used to despise wintertime. It meant no wind whatsoever! Now, living on Maui, it’s an entirely different story. This month we had two firing NW swells, and I had one of the most EPIC days of my life windsurfing, ever.

First off, I’ll admit I have no photo evidence, but you can head to Jimmie Hepp’s albums on facebook and check out Dec 8th to get an idea of the size I’m talking about. With the swell direction the way it was, a few of us opted against going out at Hookipa and instead headed down the coast to a break just below Kuau. On this particular direction, at this particular spot, the wave jacks up, but instead of closing out, it just peels-forever, just outside of a bay. When I say forever, I’m talking 6-7 turns on mast and half+ waves, with no one out. I took my 4.7 Ghost XT and 74L quad and headed out. The point of the bay is lined with rocks, not at all in harms way, but just far enough out to cancel

any wind chop, allowing the waves to glass off and be butter smooth. I sailed from mid-afternoon till dark, exchanging set after set with only a few friends out. I’ll never forget one set that rolled, I was shlogging out from the inside and looked upwind and, literally, sh*# my pants at the size of the waves lining up on the outside. My buddy was on one already, and though he was only a 1/3-1/2 of the way down the wave, it was already well over his mast. I yelled as loud as I could for him, cheering him on as he charged down the wave, barely squeaking over the top of it. It was big the entire day, but this set was just something else. I made it over the 2nd wave, and then saw the 3rd and final of the set, already frothing on the outside. I tacked, pumped onto the swell, and pinched upwind to get into position. Dropping into the monster, I could feel the water trying to suck my board, and myself, back up the face, as I charged down it.

and as I got near the flats I dropped the sail and set the rail for what was probably the most thrilling bottom turn of my life. I didn’t even notice the sail, rather it was more of a pendulum for me to leverage off of as I it laid flat on the water, and looking straight up at the lip above me, I knew what was coming next. Flying back up the face, the Ghost powered up so smoothly, giving me the control I needed to feel confident and gouge off the top, redirecting straight back down and into my next bottom turn. This process repeated itself 6 more times until I finally hit the channel and kicked out, only to find my buddy exclaiming that his wave was his best of the year, and as you can tell, I felt the same way. Sailing with just your friends, on an Epic day, is what it’s all about.

The buttery smooth water made this ‘zzzzzzzzzzz’ sound under my board


A week later I packed up and headed back to Cali for my birthday and Christmas. Strange being 26, I’m starting to feel like I’m finally getting older, hahaha! After my birthday, my extended family came over to my parent’s house, it was great to see everyone again and catch up. Living the life of a nomad windsurfer has been awesome, but family is definitely what matters most, and I don’t get to see them as much as I’d like. However, the friends I’ve met along my journey, and the family I’ve found in MauiSails, makes everything worthwhile.

Here’s to health, happiness, and a fantastic 2012 for everyone!Happy New Year

Cya on the water,Casey HauserUS-634


Photo : Jimmie Hepp


Photo Bogo Rider Robercik Spot Hookipa, Maui

www.mauisails.com/2012

Writing my MM December ’11 report from Margaret River in Western Australia. Life is good, there’s been waves every day and a good friend from Holland came to visit and we spent lots of time (AND FUN) on the water. It seems that there has been a late spring, on the drive down everything was coloring more green and less dry then usual; except in Margaret River by the coast there’s been an out of the hand bushfire raging for days and things look torched.

The wind has been quite consistent so it makes choosing sails easy, either a Legend 5.0 or 5.3 and 81 or 94 liter quad. In Perth there was a big yachting world cup and pre olympic qualifier event,

December in Australia



I went to look before driving down but the RSX hadn’t started yet. The sea breezes started kicking late this year and its usually more windy here then up in Perth, so Margaret River is definitely a good spot to hang and a magnet to open ocean swells. Few Shark sitings though!

This happens to be my last MM, as I would like to announce leaving MauiSails now to start with a new sail brand from January 1st 2012. I’m very excited about the future and would like to thank you for reading my reports and your enthusiasm in the sport, thankful also for the support of MauiSails in these last 3 years and proud to have had the opportunity to work with Barry, Art, Phil, Caroline, Rick and the rest of the team; keep up the good work! I will miss you. Its been a pleasure writing about my experiences and off course hope you enjoyed my stories.

Wishing you all the best for 2012 and most importantly a lot of fun on the ocean or the water near you.

AlohaPeter Volwater H-24


December always seems to be one of the best months of the year for us here on Maui and this year was no exception. To make it more special, this year we were totally done with race sails so there was absolutely no pressure coming into the holiday time for finishing everything before the deadline (used to be December 15). This always put so much pressure on everyone and made the time when the island was attracting visitors and getting wound up for the high season much less fun for us all. But not this year.

Instead Art got to work on his new wave sail ideas, we got the new light weight material samples so they will be integrated into the samples for testing and early photos while the waves are still good, and he got to get away for a vacation with his family into the snow country. The wave development is a big leap into the compact theme oriented around the latest small quad fin boards and the kind of ’skate’ feel they have. The samples should be back here by the time he returns so we will be able to get pics together and start to show off the designs.

The big news (which is probably old news to the ’net savvy) is the addition of Micah Buzianis to our PWA racing and development effort. Having Micah involved will also surely add to the good work being done on Formula sails as well because he intends to do some of that series as well. It’s been a long circle to bring him back to the MauiSails logo considering he was working in our shop at 111 Hana Highway as a teen and using the sails waaaay back when. I can see his excitement too, and there already has been some positive testing with a very high level competitor. Micah said, "The 7.0 TR-8 is very fast". He’s been close to the championship before. Maybe this year will take him home.

December always has the goods


This month I got to have a visit with my youngest son, Cutter, and along with eldest son, Zeppo, and my wife Samantha, we were able to get Cornelia out in some wild conditions for an exciting interisland ride to Lanai. It was blowing into the 30’s from a perfect direction and we were able to do steady 8 knots plus all the way to Manele Harbor with just the single reefed main. Smooth water and big puffs gave us a 10.2 max on the GPS, pretty good for our fat bottomed old girl. Michael and Susan Hunter, who own a wonderful B&B on Lanai (Dreams Come True) made our day there perfect with the loan of a car and some island hospitality. If you were ever looking for an extra unusual windsurfing exploration, call Mike (808-565-6961). He has sailed there for years and knows all the secret spots. In the right set of conditions there are miles of Ho’okipas. Good to have local knowledge.

A big NW swell made the ride home to Maui equally wild, but we were closehauled and leaping into the waves. Not so comfy, but still fun. Around Maui County, you have to be ready for most anything. It’s why we are here :)

And next comes 2012...

AlohaBarry Spanier


We’ve been starting to receive reports from the early recipients of the New TR-8’s and the feedback has been very positive about the great speed and increased range and stability. It has also been great to welcome Micah Buzianis to the team and we are excited to have the opportunity to work together and see the results materialize on the race course. The fact that Micah lives on Maui is very beneficial to our development as we have the opportunity to tune and test sails together year round.

With the last of the freerace sails completed it was time for my annual pilgrimage, with the family to the snow. Having skied since I was 2 years old and my wife’s back ground living and working in the mountains it feels like a necessity to slide down some frozen water every winter. Being on a tight budget, flying into Seattle was our most affordable option and from there we drove to a very small railway town called Skykomish in the Cascade Mountains. Really a beautiful area in that eerie, foggy, WA kind of way and Amanda was constantly taking pictures. Despite a fairly dry snow year for much of the continent, we were fortunate that the Northwest seemed to draw in more weather than most areas and we still got some nice doses of fresh snow as well as a big storm for by birthday that dumped about 18”. Good powder days have a lot in common with clean, side-shore wave sailing conditions and it’s no surprise that many people fall in love with both. It was also great to meet up with some old friends and family while we were on the mainland. Our 6 year old daughter Maja made some new ski buddies and she also scared her Grandma as she likes to haul butt down the mountain and even take some air off the occasional kicker. It’s a rush watching your kid progress and grow and sometimes make you nervous.

Another year past and another

season of sails completed



Back home on Maui, it hasn’t been too hard to settle into the old mast-high wave sailing routine and we seem to be on a nice stretch of good days. Perfect for continuing our on-going development cycle.

Aloha,Artur Szpunar


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Maui Monthly no.80. December 2011

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