Starting to get it.

[nalu-sup]

We (wife and I) had our best day yet of downwinding by far during a run in Kihei today on our F16s. Perfect conditions with the wind averaging 26-29 straight down the coast, with gust to 35. For the first time we spent more time surfing than paddling, which is what we have been shooting for. In case there are any other newbies out there like us trying to figure this sport out, here are some of the things that seemed to contribute to today's fun (I have to say that after talking to the other paddlers on Maui, including all of the great people on the Maliko shuttle, I would swear that we are the only people on the planet that are not already experts at this sport, very humbling):
1. I am getting a better sense that the steepest waves are not always the best to catch, but it is the ones right behind those with the more drawn out slope that are often the best glides, with of course less chance of pearling into the wave in front. (Though the steep ones are certainly the most exciting if I can manage to catch them and not pearl into the next one.)
2. Rather than just studying the bumps visually, I am starting to feel when the energy in the water is ready to accelerate the board. Before I would always paddle hard when it looked good, but this did not always result in a glide. This feeling through the board and my feet is proving to be a better indicator. This gave me a much better sense of when to paddle easily just to keep the ball spinning, and when to go into power mode to catch a glide.
3. I have figured out that, at least with the F16, it is almost always better to catch bigger bumps with an angle across the swell rather than straight down it. Just like surfing, it is a lot faster trimming along the face of a wave rather than just riding straight ahead on it.
4.In the past, once I was on a glide, I would steer the board where I thought it should go based on visually reading the water. I still do that to some degree, but I am also trying to feel the different cross energies during the glide, and let the board respond to those different cross pulses without over-controlling it. I think that many of my previous falls were from trying to force the issue with the rudder or rails, either trying to rail steer the board against where it wanted to go or trying to force it to stay flat. Today I focused on softening my ankles and allowing the board to harmonize with the cross rollers and cross pulses of energy. It sometimes surprised me where the board wanted to go, but it almost always worked out better than when I tried to force it to go where I thought was the best line.
5. I am getting better at moving my feet quickly and often to use the whole length of the board. Before I would take step back on a fast glide, but I am discovering that one step is often not enough. Today I was regularly going from the tiller all the way back to the fin, and every place in between. Credit this to studying all of the videos of Jeremy's footwork. He is often either on the tiller, or all the way back over the fin, with less time in between than I was previously spending.
6. I finally tried a coiled leash today, rather than the big thick 12 footer that I have been using. Either it made a big difference, or my technique improved more than what seems reasonable. I was able to generate more speed to catch bigger bumps than I could never catch directly before, and maintain more speed longer which allowed connection after connection.
7. When I am right back over the fin, I am working on more of a "soul arch" stance, and less bent forward. Once again, credit to Jeremy.
8. In the beginning I was underestimating the power needed in those critical strokes to catch bumps, especially larger and faster ones. I was paddling more like I would if I was paddling back out through the surf, instead of how I would if I was paddling to catch and surf a big fast moving wave.
9. One of the biggest differences today was in the direction that I was riding. Kihei always has larger swells coming from the right, and smaller bumps coming from the left, and almost nothing going straight down the coast. Up until today, I would usually need to catch the smaller bumps coming from the left, and then hope to connect to the bigger ones coming from the right. I spent 90% of my time riding right. Today I was able to easily catch the larger bumps coming from the right, and spent 90% of my time riding left usually resulting in longer glides and more connections. This was a 180 degree change for me, and I attribute it to a combination of all the above factors.
Many thanks to everyone on this forum for sharing their advice, and for their patience with my newbie questions. One thing for sure, even after today, I have many downwind days ahead of being humbled and tumbled, but today did feel like a huge step in the right direction.

[headmount]

A tip on these posts.  Space instead of numbers is easier on old eyes which is what many on this forum have. 

I had texted you but when we drove up we saw you were already on it.  Saw your wagon at the launch.  Today was a 12 out of 10.  Absolutely perfect all the way to Andaz, even that usual rough patch by the Mana Kai was absent.  Best day yet in the ski for me but I know it was the conditions way more than me.

The view you have had windsurfing ripping along a long trough is going to serve you well.  That's what we had today.  But all the points you brought up are good. 

I've done many runs where I'm waiting for someone and just watch and wait for just the right moment to take a stroke.  This is very instructive.  Also conditions can vary not only from day to day but hour to hour so don't feel like the lone soldier when you have a rough day.  Yesterday I drove to S side and didn't even paddle!

My only tip for paddling, especially your F-16 is don't over react with stepping back on a glide.  The nose rocker is fantastic on that board and you can stay in the front seat for a fairly long time until you connect into a big glide.  You'll know when it's really time to step back.

On the N side they had a race today and as good as it was for us on the S side,  it was rough for them at the race.

[nalu-sup]

Glad to hear that you also hit it in Kihei today; like you said, 12 out of 10. Like you, we looked at it yesterday, and decided not to paddle. When the wind is that east on the north shore, Kihei is a long way from trustworthy. The day before, a number of windsurfers and kiters ended up swimming in when Kihei shut off a couple of times.

I am with you on not jumping back unnecessarily. The breakthrough for me right now is jumping back all the way to the tail on those big fast drops and glides when the decreased drag allows the board to hit much higher top speeds. To use my windsurfing analogies again, it is like the acceleration you get when you can get back into the footstraps and allow most of the board to release out of the water and just plane on the tail and fin. Of course then my next challenge is nailing the timing of getting back up to the tiller quickly if I need to in order to make the next connection. I am trying to spend less time in that middle ground where I neither have the tiller nor a ride on the tail.

Really glad that we both got it today!

[covesurfer]

Progress is awesome!

I am in no way trying to throw cold water ( ) on progression. But, keep in mind that the conditions between the north shore and the south side are very, very different. You will have stellar runs off Kihei once you start getting some solid downwind skills. You will feel like a pro. You will angle across waves in both directions and at the end of the run, you'll say, ahah! I AM starting to get this sport!

Then, you will book a shuttle for Maliko, ready to shred it, and it will kick your ass. Solidly. You will think all of that progress and skill you were sure you had started to develop was a big illusion. Of course, I am speaking from my own experiences. I've had days where I was pretty sure that I was even looking like Jeremy for 45 seconds at a time on Kihei. I go over to Maliko, sure that my high skill will be very evident, and I find out that I really have only progressed a very small amount. Sometimes, I think I've regressed! And, I know I NEVER look like JR, not even for 10 seconds, and I have the GoPro footage to prove it.

The good part is that you DO develop pretty great skills on Maliko, which make you feel like a hero on Kihei, when everything is lined up and the waves are perfect. But, when you go back to the north shore, most of the time, you may end up feeling like progression is extremely slow in coming. Because Maliko is a very technical run with challenging conditions most of the time. Sometimes it's lined up and really good, but I've found those days are much more rare than the ones with at least three swell directions. Kihei, on the other hand, tends to be  near perfect or even better, on the days when it has good solid wind.

About the time I start to think Kihei runs are the ultimate and I don't even care if I paddle Maliko again, I will do a run where I'm 3/4 mile off shore, having the time of my life and then the wind stops. Then, I feel a tickle of a breeze out of the south and the surface starts to look wierd. I am still catching bumps but then there's a breeze slowing me down when I start to slide down a bump. Five minutes later, it's blowing 20 out of the south, the ocean surface looks like you're in a Maytag and you're only to the Cove but your car is parked at Polo. Those days, you'll be loving the consistency of the north side while you learn why lots of people say that the south side is fickle.

[PonoBill]

Too true Gregg. I spend the summer feeling like a hero, blasting around on the Columbia, and then do a Maliko run and I feel like a hopeless newb. At least I've learned not to get all puffed up on a big Viento day and say "this is like a Maliko run".

[nalu-sup]

Hey Covesurfer, you are describing our experience perfectly. We get a few good runs in Kihei where we feel like we are getting it, and then say "Lets go hit Maliko"; and then its humility time all over again. I did have one good day at Maliko a week or so ago when things were starting to come together and I was actually able to pull away from a young racer half my age for the first part of the run (do I have to mention that he was a racer from back east who had never done a Hawaiian downwinder before and was on a rental board?). My last Maliko run was spent practicing how many spins my board could do up in the 30 mph winds at the end of the leash before crashing back down on my head. Just paddling out of the gulch lets you know that you are "not in Kansas (Kihei) anymore". Our current strategy is trying to take Maliko in a little easier bite size, by turning inside the reef by the airport runway to avoid the outer Camp One area, which seems to often be one of the more confused parts of the run. Finishing off inside the reef down to the lifeguard stand gives a chance for our egos to recover from whatever happened before, and finish the run on a positive note.
After windsurfing Kihei a lot over the past 30 years, I have gotten to know the fickleness of the wind pretty well, so we try to be smart about which days to go, and how long a run to set up. That means that the forecast easterly winds will have us back at Maliko again later this week for some more humble pie. Hope to see you there (at the start anyway).

[covesurfer]

The truth is that Kihei runs, when they're good, are just one of the best things you can ever experience. Headmount and Pono took me on a Kihei downwinder 5 years ago. HM let me use his heavy, fixed fin 14. When we finished the run, I told my wife that I would do anything to move here so that I could do that all the time. Somehow, we pulled it off. Unfortunately, I have only done a handful of southside runs in 2017, unlike previous years.

Every downwinder is a learning experience if you are open to that. I try to pick out one thing that I'm actively doing that seems helpful, then try and replicate that on another run. Which side I'm paddling on, how I use the rudder, where I'm standing on the board, weighting the rails or pivoting off the tail to turn, etc, etc.

Even though Kihei seems like huge rewards all the time to me, I still learn over there.  Sometimes I think I do all my learning on the Kihei side and then try whatever it is out on Maliko. I guess, for me, progress is that there are now days on Maliko, still not common but they happen, where I feel like I'm doing things pretty well. It's highly dependent on conditions. And, there are also still those Maliko days, thankfully not common in Summer, where you paddle out of the gulch and look upwind and see two story buildings marching at you. On those days, I'm really challenged just to keep my head in the right space and not be terrorized. I always do better when I'm relaxed.

The journey with downwinding seems to go on and on. It's not ever boring and I never feel like I will master it. The ocean always throws curve balls and keeps things interesting. Hope to get out later this week and run into you (not literally  ). We just got a new lab puppy and I feel pretty tied down right now!

[PonoBill]

Nothing quite like being nervous scared spitless about the conditions and then having a young whale do a forward half somersault breach coming towards you just off the eastern point of the gulch.