Monday 16th October. Today AW editor John Chao took his quiver of cameras up in a helicopter. This was the cue for all of us—guests, staff and pro testers—to hit the water. The helicopter pilot clearly knew his stuff, as he swooped low over the water, following many sailors as they sped across the flat water heading for the reef break. At times the down draft from the rotors was forceful enough to shove a rider into the water. We took the presence of the helicopter as license to act as crazy as possible and we can’t wait to see the results.

Vorpant Chotikapanich, the owner of the Cobra factory in Thailand, visited the AW test center. His production facility makes roughly 90% of the sailboards sold worldwide. He told me that he has over 200 different designs in production at one time. He also makes fins, surfboards, kiteboards and booms, and has plans to make masts too. He and his German born wife, Angelika, were here with their youngest son for a brief visit to the islands.

Tuesday 17th October. Brian Thalma, Rush Randell and Nevin Sayre turned up at the AW test center today. Brian was just back from a spectacular wave tournament in Ireland. Rush is just coming back into windsurfing after a forced 14-month absence. He had some very intense and expensive surgery on his left shoulder, but when I saw him hit the water he didn’t seem to be holding back any. Nevin came to make sure we were good for booms and masts and things, and generally to see how the test was going (very well).

A bunch of the staff testers went to Lahaina, on the south side of Maui, for dinner. The place is a tourist location with cruise ships anchored offshore and expensive art galleries crowding the main strip. We spent a lot of time talking with a talented and very entertaining street artist who was making hats and bowls from palm leaves. While we waited he wove the leaves intricately with fast-moving fingers, miraculously creating a tightly woven bowl that will, he claims, last a lifetime. We asked him for a restaurant recommendation and he directed us to the Lemon Grass, where we had the owner of the restaurant choose four separate dishes for us to try. We had Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese entrees and they were excellent. Mental note: always ask street vendors, and not fancy store owners, where to eat.

Wednesday 18th October. 4.7 to 5.0 today. The contact prints from the helicopter photo shoot are in and we spent hours pouring over them. John Chao clearly showed us why he was a National Geographic photographer as there are some definite magazine shots in there.

Thursday 19th October. The guys are on 4.7 to 5.0 sails again today, and it’s 3.7 to 4.2 for the women. These high winds are very unusual for October in Maui—we are thankful for the unusual. We are even prepared for it and have a selection of smaller sails—maybe next year we’ll bring the 3.0 to 3.2 sizes too.

Friday 20th October. Some of the guys were on 3.7 sails today. The quote of the day comes from guest tester James Hirshberg, a dentist from Boston. You’ve heard from him before, but the guy has some profound thoughts to offer: "I just had a great session," he said. "I’d like to say that it wouldn’t be possible without two people. I’d like to thank Jim Drake the inventor of the windsurfer and whoever the f**k invented Ibuprofen."

Okay so maybe profound isn’t the right word, but it was honest and heartfelt. Try this one, it certainly proves that James is pragmatic about getting to Maui next year:

"It’s the end of my trip and time for me to pack up my gear, put some iodine on the coral-inflicted wounds and get home and patch things up with my wife so that I can talk my way into being here next October. It’s the only place to be—see you next year."

We’ll look forward to it.

Saturday 21st October. Josh and Jason Stone arrived at the test site today, and it’s hard to tell them apart now that they have similar haircuts. They came in a plain white van, since their car finally died—it wasn’t in good shape when they got it five years ago. Josh hit the water on a 4.4 and started working on double forward loops to the awe and amazement of everyone on the beach and on the water. Brian Thalma turned up again, rigged a 4.7 and shot out in search of Josh. They seem to attack each new sailing day with the uncontrolled enthusiasm of a child in Toys-R-Us mixed with the dedication and drive of, well, of a child in Toys-R-Us!

Senator John Kerry. From Massachusetts arrived today. Regular readers of AW will recall the in-depth interview that editor John Chao did with this windsurfer who could be president (Vol. 5, Issue 5).

Sunday 22nd October. Nevin Sayre was here for breakfast and talked at length about his kid camps and how he got them started. He noticed that his own daughter seemed most enthusiastic about learning windsurfing when she helped teach her own friend. He then found that he was teaching more and more of her friends, so he just decided to get all the friends together and teach them at once. At his clinics he makes sure that each kid gets to sail and tack before they leave. To ensure their attention remains focused they take lots of breaks to play games and have cookies, all adding to the fun experience.

Musician Thomas Dolby, who arrived yesterday from San Francisco, joined in the discussion. He has recently gotten his five-year-old son into windsurfing—his son is apparently very keen. Dolby, who comes from England, told us that just about every small lake and pond in England has someone windsurfing on it. They may be just pottering around in light winds, but they are windsurfing. The athletic and radical aspect of windsurfing is not the big deal in the UK that it is in the US. There people windsurf for the simple joy of what the sport offers, not just for the dreams that might come.

The second helicopter shoot took place today. I had a slight disagreement with the reef yesterday and am sitting this session out. From the beach I took photos of the helicopter hovering just above the windsurfers. From the look of the radical moves the pros are throwing in the waves I think more people will have close contact with the reef today.