It’s been eight months since I stepped onto a plane and while I’m typing this at thirty thousand feet, this week was almost enough to have me cancel my ticket. Sorry if I can’t give the location away, not only is it another location report for an upcoming Boards beach report, but having just had the best sail for over two years I have to confess to being a little embarrassed.
The idea behind the beach reports were to open a few eyes to the possibilities of what the UK has to offer, I didn’t expect it was going to be me that would get that wakeup call. Getting out with the local sailors has been really rewarding, arriving to a warm welcome and new conditions has been good for my sailing and sole, but this week I’m a little embarrassed for driving by for the last twenty three years.
Maui is for me windsurfing’s mecca and while I wouldn’t be brave enough to make a comparison with home many of us have used it’s name or breaks to define our own territory. Even on my home ground we have renamed our best jumping spot mini’s, “mini Jaws” though the association between the two has more to do with it’s location compared to the main beaches than anything our chop can produce.
So I guess it gives nothing away that the locals don’t already know, I was sailing just below mini Maui this week, though if I had to make the call I would have called it Spreck’s as the jumping wasn’t only similar, but maybe even better, sorry but it’s true, this place rocks.
I brought my son Reece and Adrian with me, while Adrian just wanted to see new beaches it was Reece who would be recording the day as he stood on the beach behind the lens. I’d also mentioned where we were heading to Duncan (drunken and disorderly) from the Boards office “don’t you dare pass without picking me up”, that should have been the indicator to what was to come, but it really hit home when the ultimate wind chaser rocked up, to be fair it was Timo who put me in touch with the local mafia.
Hell I’ve got to get off this subject, the memories are busting to get out and there are already enough hints. What I can tell you is, if it wasn’t for this flight I’d be there right now and seeing the forecast that would include most of next week. Better still I wouldn’t be alone, not only because there’s a great bunch of locals but also from what I learnt when I got home.
Apparently Reece wasn’t always looking through the lens, he’d called home and while his feelings echoed mine it was his last words that just might make this a family trip “Mum, even you’d like it”.
