The smokin spring and summer Maliko report

[headmount]

Check out the angles on this pic on this last weekends OC race.  Pretty stunning conditions for them tho it woulda been treach on a SUB with those winds slanting onshore.  That's why most of us were on the south side....
https://www.facebook.com/808photo.me/photos/a.615449155255601.1073741916.154574388009749/615449208588929/?type=1&theater

[PonoBill]

Kathy's first Maliko on an OC1, her first week on an OC (she's usually on a SUP or ski) and she actually pulled this off even though her paddle is on the wrong side. Amazing balance. She won the women's waterman series and was third overall in Women's OC1. You might have wondered why we think so highly of her. Now you know.

And yes, that's a Ke Nalu canoe paddle, and no, Ke Nalu doesn't make canoe paddles. Kathy wanted to buy it from me, but I'm going to just make her one for being such a studess.



this is a second after she recovered the ama. You can see how scared she was.

Kai calls this "Small kine fun"

For those of you wondering why were always whining about goPros making Maliko look flat, this is NOT a big day. Not by a long shot.

[stoneaxe]

I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I may never be ready to do a Maliko. Certainly not in any conditions that you folks describe as "festive".

[PonoBill]

It's really not that bad, you're up for it. You just don't want to look back. Most of that stuff rolls right under you, and if you have a guide they will take you around the spots where they won't. Those spots are actually great fun, but not for the uninitiated.

It's cool to see that a camera with the right lens can capture what it really looks like. That was what I'd call a moderate day. No big swells from a week of tradewind blowing across a thousand miles of fetch, and not much of a groundswell from the north. Just local, bumpy stuff.

[stoneaxe]

Given my poor performance last time out and that shit seems headed further south that much bump would make for a long day IN the water. Maybe if I can find a twin of my Vec to rent or something even more stable than headmount's board that I used. Anyone on island have a wider Maliko 14 (or longer) that i could rent?

[headmount]

Today was my first Maliko in 5 months.  Perfect conditions and felt like I'd been going regular.  Still a southside preference but even with a medium swell the conditions weren't crossed up very much.  Pretty stoked.

[covesurfer]

Good on ya, HM! Who did you paddle with?

I'm sidelined. Maybe I can get back to it soon, I hope.

[headmount]

Jimmy, Gavin, Victor and his son Shaun.  Jimmy finally got racks on his new truck so there is a god.  I think Gavin put them on but he still carries his board in the bed. 

Get well soon

[covesurfer]

The trades were back today in full force on the north shore.  I booked the shuttle around 8:30, figuring I'd paddle OC1 if it ended up light and give my healing foot another day of lower stress. By 11am, it was clear that we were going to have an all-time run today. I popped 2 ibuprofen, stretched my feet and lower legs and called it good. I've got enough antibiotics in my system to kill anything and no cuts so I'm good to go.

I'd say the wind angle was a solid E but there was some north swell that caused the large and building easterly windswell to veer towards the inside. Going right was more challenging and slower, but it was necessary if you wanted to maintain your line.  Wind must have been gusting to 35 as the tops of waves were getting blown off. It was a little gusty but there was always plenty of horsepower in the wind. It was pretty easy to chase the fast moving windswell, not always as easy to catch as I thought it would be but the wind really helped.

Had 3 falls, all of them kind of dumb but with my foot still on the mend, I was a little more clumsy and not quite as quick as I would have liked. All things considered, three falls wasn't bad at all. It was pretty chopped up at times and you had to really pay attention. When I hit the edge of the outer reef near Sprecks, it really got topsy turvy but after another mile, it was surf city and there were great runners that you could catch and ride right or left. I even managed to do a couple of extended surfs following the wave faces with just the rudder and no paddling at all. That was cool.

This was only my 3rd Maliko run in 2015 so far. To get a day that was so good after such a long time was just really something to be grateful for.  I love the south side with it's groomers that make most of us feel like downwind heros but Maliko is the real deal. It doesn't cut you much slack. Today was one of those really good Maliko days that almost made me feel like I'd learned a little this winter paddling Kihei. I'm sure I'll get slapped down shortly.

As always, it felt good to enter the harbor. I kept looking over my right shoulder for approaching ships but saw nothing. It was weird, but I had this feeling another big vessel was coming even though I couldn't see one. The Pasha ship was still unloading so it wouldn't be going anywhere for a while. Still, the harbor was brutal with the easterly wind direction and velocity. Took me a long time to get across and it wasn't a lot of fun. About 30 minutes after we got in, I looked out and saw a huge tug with a barge in tow approaching the mouth. That would have been ugly. So, missing that and having a great run really wiped away the harbor pain. There may be more on tap, forecast looks pretty decent for tradewind coming up.

[PonoBill]

Indian country for sure. That was SO much fun, but there were some pretty spooky drops. the ground swell doesn't seem to do this, but some of the big wind swells seem to be deeper than they are tall, like the water all sucks back up the face. I'm sure it's just the short period.  I dropped into one today that went so deep that I could see the color of the reef in the bottom. I thought for a second it might go dry. If it had, I don't know what I would have done--probably would have frozen solid from pure fear. As it was it gave me one of those adrenalin jolts that leave your ears ringing.

Those windswells don't veer because of groundswell--there wan't much and the waves pass right through each other anyway. They refract in when they hit the shallower water. It's a living lesson in wave dynamics. And a crazy classroom. A couple of times the teacher nearly clipped me. I could hear the pickup truck full of coconuts rumbling up behind me.

I had a bunch of falls at the top, my knee was stiff, and I was psyching myself out. I'd think "I'm going to fall" and of course I'd fall. I hate that. I'm also back on my V2 Bullet, which is tough on steep and deep days. My V1 is still in the shop. I finally loosened up and stopped freaking out, and I didn't fall at all from Mamas to Kanaha--which was definitely the craziest section. Then I started falling again from Kanaha to the harbor. Probably just the knee going south, or the rumba I had to do in those backwash waves.

Great run though, and like you said, the groomers on the southside don't really prep you for the backcountry. Usually by this time in the year I would have had 80 plus Malikos. I think this year I've done four. Strange year, but the southside certainly made up for it, and no one can complain about the surf this year--except that it ended too soon. 

[covesurfer]

I finally loosened up and stopped freaking out, and I didn't fall at all from Mamas to Kanaha--which was definitely the craziest section. 

That was a healthy wind swell. Wait till it blows for 5 days in a row like that. Gonna get huge.

I had to have several talks with myself to stop concentrating on the madness all around and to just relax and go with it. Those little self-talking to's made all the difference. If I stopped charging, I'd get 'out of shape' where the board would be fighting the swells instead of traveling with them. If I looked outside or even ahead of me, I saw huge wind swell rolling through that looked like it would kill me. But, then I'd remind myself that I was already in that and it was just fine. Then I'd relax again.

[PonoBill]

I was doing the same thing: Read the water, don't watch the war. If you look at the maelstrom to the side, or out in front where there's twenty foot breaking waves, or heaven forbid, look behind you, then things are going to go badly.

I know for sure that the thing that makes newbies freak out is the first time they look back and see what's coming at them. That can make you crap your boardies then and there. I fall when I see some whitewater coming from the side, or look out at the stuff in front of me that looks like death and destruction. If I focus on catching the bump in front of me, and keeping the board in the power, then I'm gold. Maliko is all about focus. If I loose it for a second and I'm in trouble. One reason I love it so much--no worrying about anything else when you're doing it.

[Off-Shore]

Just to let you guys know I really appreciate you sharing your descriptions with us in such graphic detail together with your feelings. We may never get to experience the conditions you describe but reading what you write puts us right there with you. Keep the reports coming! We love 'em! 

[PonoBill]

Nice little Maliko today, pretty mellow. Good up top, light at the bottom. Kind of a Maliko 95--Introduction to Maliko as opposed to yesterday's Maliko 201--Intermediate Maliko, or the Midwinter Maliko 401--Please God Don't Let Me Die Out Here.

I had a clean run until Kanaha, when my knee started locking up and pitching me off. Time to get it juiced again. I have a appointment the day after I get back to the mainland. I'm doing the geeze walk when I go down stairs--half steps, hanging onto the railing. sucks getting old. I only need a railing on the right side of my board. I never fall to the left.

It will be nice to get my V1 back as well, it's less stable, but it doesn't punch as much. I had my GoPro on the nose, and it looked like a cutwater.

[covesurfer]

Maliko has many moods, that's for sure. Today started out promising, solid wind and nice swells. The wind backed down around outer Sprecks but, the swell was still going. I swear it felt like the water was moving the opposite direction that I was paddling in at times. You had to do a lot of fast paddling if you wanted to get into and stay on the swells. Even though I caught bumps almost the entire way, I probably only had four or six linked up glides the whole run, and those were on the top. But, I only fell 2X so I cut my falls by over 30% compared to the day before!

PB, I'm going down the stairs same as you. My healing foot was NOT up for two days on Maliko in a row at this stage. Kind of feels like I dropped a 50 lb. block of concrete on it right now. I'm icing and elevating and feeling like I'm coming apart like a cheap suit!

I couldn't help trying to dig and get the glides all the way to the end. It felt like I went race pace today. Could be that I just paddled hard but I think being on antibiotics has something to do with diminished performance and energy. 

I am absolutely thrashed. I'm off tomorrow. Unless it looks really good. Then I might take my one macanu. I can't imagine doing another standup run on this foot until it heals. Oh, and, I'm not addicted to downwind. I can stop anytime I want.