Maui and Kauai in September

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mephastopholes
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Maui and Kauai in September

Post by mephastopholes » Wed Aug 05, 2009 8:02 am

My wife and I are heading to Maui and Kauai during the first two weeks of September. Anyone have any info on the conditions of kite beach during this time of year? Plus where to kite in Kauai and what to look for there? What size kite(s) to bring? Both the twinny and surfboard? Etc. Greatly appreciated...
Thanks in advance!

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Re: Maui and Kauai in September

Post by OliverG » Wed Aug 05, 2009 8:07 am

Should be great on Maui, good on Kauai as well, with winds being a little lighter. Both boards would be nice if you can bring them, for kites on Maui you could ride anything between a 5m and 10m, Kauai figure a size up on everything, anything between a 7m and 12m. If I were going I'd bring a 7m and 9m, and since my 5m packs up small and I can use the 7m or 9m bar, I'd probably bring it too for the possibility of a nuking Maui day.

For more info check out the travel article here:

https://www.bayareakiteboarding.com/ind ... &Itemid=38

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Re: Maui and Kauai in September

Post by amir » Wed Aug 05, 2009 8:38 am

I'm jealous. Very jealous.

I went to Kauai last September and it was so much fun. Kited 5/10 days, but could have kited 8. It was light most days (15 kts). I was on my 10 and TT then. If I was going again I'd bring a 12 and a surfboard. There was surf most days. Locals said that September is when the season is ending, but that only means it's not windy every day.

We kited mainly at Ha'ena Point and Tunnels and did one downwinder from Lumaha'i to Tunnels. Definitely do the winder. You could probably also launch from Hanalei for a longer ride. 'Anini is also a mellow spot if the tide is not too low. Also, you can probably kite near Kapa'a. I was advised that Maha'ulepu near Po'ipu is also awesome, but didn't have a chance to go. I'd still go for north shore first.

surfnewsnetwork.com will provide all you need for wind/waves. I relied mostly on the NWS report.

Kite beach in Maui will be will be windier and more popular so be safe.

And if you want to go on a very cool adventure. I'd recommend the kayak trip down Na Pali with napalikayak.com. The day we went we could have kited the whole way. It was fun riding the wind swell.

Have fun! Feel free to ask for more details if you need them.

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Re: Maui and Kauai in September

Post by hawaiimind » Wed Aug 05, 2009 8:44 am

You will have the time of your life. Kauai is my favorite place, can't say enough good things about it. I spent my younger years running around there doing every crazy thing possible on that island, and I totally agree that the Na Pali kayak trip is about the most amazing thing you can do. You probably have seen this coast 100 times in movies, be ready to be blown away by it in person.

You can crunch the numbers for a site using the archive data out there on the internet, which I did when I was bored and traveling last year. Kite Beach on Maui has over a 90% chance of getting sustained winds over 13mph on any given day from June-Aug, and in September that percentage drops a bit to 84%, so still looking real good. And as you've heard about Maui, it typically blows a lot stronger than 13mph. How often will it be nuking? That is a tougher question, as the stats I used look at a sustained speed for over 3 hours, so may not show those afternoon blasts. Just go to one of the wind sites and look at what it did last September. You will probably come to the conclusion that you want to bring all of you kites and boards! 6/9/12m quiver would be good (and hopefully you won’t even need that 12m). I didn't run any numbers for Kauai, sorry. Have fun.
Mark Neveu, riding at 3rd, Sherman or Alameda on Naish gear

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mephastopholes
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Re: Maui and Kauai in September

Post by mephastopholes » Wed Aug 05, 2009 10:04 am

Thanks for the awesome link and all of the great info! :) I Don't know why I never saw that section before as there's a plethora of info to be found there.
I'm already super stoked about the trip and my only real concern besides what gear to bring is the temptation of trying to kite every day while over there: my wife's really cool and understanding about the addiction, but I don't want to abuse this, ya know?...
Otherwise, thanks for the all of the valuable info again and hopefully I'll have some cool pics to share upon return...

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Re: Maui and Kauai in September

Post by eag » Wed Aug 05, 2009 10:29 am

amirhamaoui wrote:I'm jealous. Very jealous.



We kited mainly at Ha'ena Point and Tunnels and did one downwinder from Lumaha'i to Tunnels. Definitely do the winder. You could probably also launch from Hanalei for a longer ride. 'Anini is also a mellow spot if the tide is not too low. Also, you can probably kite near Kapa'a. I was advised that Maha'ulepu near Po'ipu is also awesome, but didn't have a chance to go. I'd still go for north shore first.
I love Kauai - N Shore is better overall IMO, but the kiting at Maka'ulepu was sick when I was there. It is a safer wave spot than Tunnels because it is in deeper water. It is a Starboard wave, vs a port wave at Tunnels (when riding inbound heelside)

When I rode Tunnels the reef was sucking dry and it was easy to clip your fins. Also when I was there both spots blew side-off, this was great for the waves, but you don't want to get in trouble outside in these spots. Tunnels is where the surfer Bethany Hamilton lost her arm to a Tiger shark.

I want to do that downwinder next time. I'm also very jealous.

I did not ride the E side beaches, but that is where there is flatter water and safer conditions.

Hike all the way up to Hanakapaia falls on the Napali, the pool there is great for swimming.

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Re: Maui and Kauai in September

Post by MojoMaster » Wed Aug 05, 2009 4:49 pm

I was in Maui 3 weeks ago and it was awesome. I was at Kite Beach for 3 days. On average the wind was 20-27 knots and I flew a 9 one day and a 7 the other two days. The winds on all three days picked up around 11 a.m. and stayed good until 4. I stayed in South Kihei which was a 20 minute drive to Kite Beach.

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Re: Maui and Kauai in September

Post by OliverG » Wed Aug 05, 2009 8:20 pm

mephastopholes wrote:Thanks for the awesome link and all of the great info! :) I Don't know why I never saw that section before as there's a plethora of info to be found there.
I'm sure many haven't really gone through everything on the home page, but there's tons of stuff listed there, really starting to catalog some good resources and content.

For example, how many of you have clicked on this link? You can comment on all articles and videos also.

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Re: Maui and Kauai in September

Post by doubledogdare » Thu Aug 06, 2009 10:03 am

You're gonna have an awesome time on the Islands. I was in Kauai in April and it was my first time kiting there. Lots more reef to be concerned about there than on Maui and the locals are all very helpful. Its was a really nice vibe...kinda reminded me when I started snowboarding about 21 yrs ago. FYI, since things are so expensive there I was able to save on a car rental by renting from a local on Craigslist. $25 a day and if you can believe this when I returned the car I just left the keys and payment in the glovebox at the airport when I left.

Beaches I kited were:
Kapaa. Near Burger King drive towards beach and look for the park.

Mahalepu Beach. I mostly kited here. Sometimes by myself or with 1 or 2 other guys. Told by some of the locals not to go to far downwind towards the cliffs as the wind dies down and they can eat up your kite. I pretty much kited at higher tides when the reef was a little deeper.
http://www.kauaiexplorer.com/kauai_beac ... aulepu.php

Your gonna have a blast,
DDD

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Re: Maui and Kauai in September; Mono Lake in August?

Post by mephastopholes » Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:11 pm

So I realize that this is straying from my original post and may be strange to ask considering how good I’m hearing Hawaii is in Sept; but has anyone ever kited Mono Lake or the surrounding area (June or Grant Lakes) first-hand? I'm taking my dad up there a couple of weekends from now to check out the tufa towers, craters and the ghost town of Bodie and heard that the afternoon winds pick up quite a bit.
I saw that there was a post on this almost a year ago but w/o much critical info: where to launch, wind speed, if kiting’s shunned upon by the rangers (I believe that portions of the lake may be a bird sanctuaries), does the high salinity affect anything besides burning the crap out of your eyes, etc?
Yeah, I know, I should probably just save it for Hawaii, but its just hard envisioning any kind of vacation or weekend getaway w/o kiting nowadays…

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