The New Year is off to the good start for Maui Surfers. The surf steadily rose throughout New Year’s day reaching advisory levels just after sunset. After a morning session in smaller surf, I took my nephew out surfing with another family friend and his son. Here are a couple of pictures that Billy took from the shore.

The big surf continued today with an even larger swell forecast for Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. This new swell has already resulted in the issuing of a High Surf Warning for North and West Facing shorelines on Maui. This looks like it has the potential to be the biggest swell of the season to date. Hopefully, we will get a few good pictures from Wednesday’s surf.

Sugar Cove in Spreckelsville is one of the favorite beaches of The Maui Real Estate Team. This small North Shore beach is a fun spot for windsurfing, kiteboarding, SUP and surfing. It is also a fun spot for kids to get in the water. Most of the time, the waves are user friendly for kids to body board, body surf or just play. I took my Contour Roam for its first spin in the surf last weekend and took some video of my niece and nephew enjoying all that Sugar Cove has to offer.

If you are a water sports family in the market for a luxury condo, it is tough to beat the condos at Sugar Cove. Every once in a blue moon, condos will come up for sale in this fantastic North Shore beachfront complex. Check to see if there is any Sugar Cove Condos for Sale on MauiRealEstate.com. Contact The Maui Real Estate Team if you would like to be notified about new listings.

When people think of big waves and Maui, they generally think of the North Shore coastline and places like Jaws. This is the time of year when big storms marching across the Northern Pacific send huge swells crashing into our North and West facing coastlines. That being said, every once in a while Maui’s South Facing Shores will get a really big swell. These waves are typically generated by big storms in the Southern Hemisphere during the Austral Winter. This past summer, the South Shore of Maui experienced a once every 15-20 year type of swell.

Martin Lenny is an agent for the Maui Real Estate Team. His son Kai is gaining notoriety as one of the great young water people in the world. Kai is a two time world champion Stand Up Paddle Surfer, a Pro Windsurfer, an incredibly talented Kite surfer and a great surfer. One of his sponsors recently put together a video of Kai riding the big waves of this summer’s once every twenty year swell. Kai started his day Stand Up Paddling into the waves. He then proceeded to go back out for three more sessions in the water on his surfboard, windsurf and kite boards respectively. The resulting video is titled Kai Lenny 4 in 1.

You can keep up with more of Kai’s adventures on his Facebook page.

Maui is considered to be the mecca of windsurfing. The North Shore’s Northeast trade winds and winter waves have attracted international windsurfers for almost three decades. After getting a taste of the conditions offered at spots like Kanaha and Ho’okipa, many windsurfers have opted to make Maui their home. Combined with a deep pool of home grown talent, the world’s best are frequently seen testing their mettle at Ho’okipa Beach Park. It has been a number of years since Ho’okipa has hosted a professional windsurf contest. That changes tomorrow as the waiting period begins for the Maui Makani Classic. The event is the last stop and championship of the American Windsurf Tour. The event has six day waiting period with three actual days of competition.

Opening ceremonies are tomorrow at 10:00 AM on the beach. The decision on whether to run the contest each day will be decided by 11:00 AM. In addition to the contest, there are a number of fun events associated with the contest over the next several nights. It will be great to see some of the best in the world back in competition on Maui. If you are on island, head on up to Ho’okipa to check out some of the action.

We wanted to send a big congratulations to our agent Martin Lenny’s son Kai. Kai won his second consecutive Stand Up Paddle World Title yesterday. Kai wrapped up the title after placing second at a contest in Brazil. Kai won the six contest tour with one event left to spare. He will be defending his title at the Hawaiian Islands Final at the Big Island in late November and December. Kai is a phenomenal young waterman and an even better person.

While The Maui Real Estate Team can’t teach you to surf, sup, kite or windsurf like Kai, we can help you find a property that gives you great access to the ocean sports lifestyle.

Contact The Maui Real Estate Team for assistance finding your dream home today.

I stopped at the top of Maliko Gulch this afternoon and snapped some photos of the start of the sixth annual Naish Maui Paddleboarding Championship. The race goes from Maliko Gulch to Kahului Harbor along the famed “Maliko Run” on Maui’s North Shore. This stretch of coast is one of the best in the world for downwind paddle runs. Typically, the wind is at the paddlers back. The prevailing wind creates swells that the paddlers are able to catch and ride down the course. Conditions looked grim this morning as the winds were extremely light. The fortunes of the paddlers improved drastically right around race time as a steady wind started to blow along the course. Event organizers were predicting that this was going to be the biggest race yet with as many as 300 participants. Judging by the small armada of paddleboards spilling out of the mouth of Maliko Bay, I suspect they were pretty close to that number.