This is the West coast of Maui, sailing back to Lahaina from Makena Beach. This was a very interesting sail, full of shifty and gusty winds. Sailing from Lahaina to Makena the day before we left in the afternoon and as we came out of the lee of the mountains and south of the isthmus of Maui, the wind was simply whistling, ripping across the lowlands. As it was just the two of us (Brother and I) we were on top of our game and reduced sail early, easily seeing the wind line as we approached. As we blasted across the bay behind the isthmus area (doing upwards of seven knots with just a reefed mizzen and staysail) Emmett ran the mizzen sheet and I was at the helm while gust after gust of 30-35 knots whipped across the water! It was a wild and salty ride. Then we made a splash entrance at the Little Beach Sunday Fun Fun Fun party (a weekly hippie festival of sorts, complete with fire dancing and a bangin' drum circle) as we anchored just off the beach and swam to shore! The next morning we got up early, weighed anchor and set sail thinking that we would make it across the area with the lowlands and into the lee of the mountains before the wind really picked up. Well, part of out plan worked, we did beat the wind filling in, but instead of strong gusty winds, we found ourselves faced with very little and very shifty wind. It was very interesting (ok, also a little frustrating) to observe how the trade winds get affected as they have to maneuver around, over, behind the islands of Hawaii. Many times the wind would be going strong from one direction only to peter out and then come from the opposite direction, so we would set our sails accordingly only to have the wind shift yet again. We played along for a good while, but finally resorted to using the old iron spinnaker, an engine is a handy thing every now and then!
Here are a few of me at the helm:
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