Kihei Kitesurf Guide
Kihei – Secondary Spot:
The town of Kihei provides the next largest spot (in terms of kitesurfer population) on Maui. There are
two primary launches: Waipuliani Park, behind the Maui Sunset condo complex, and Whale Beach, next
door to the Pacific Whale Sanctuary. Both are accessed via South Kihei Road. The winds can become
inconsistent as there are a lot of ricochet and wind shadow effects between the prevailing trade winds,
Halekala, and the West Maui Mountains. Technically these are some of the strongest winds available for
kitesurfing near the coastline on Maui with wind gusts in excess of 45 mph (40 knots) common. Good for
big air and occasionally waves. During Kona weather events (winds coming from the south) this is a great
spot. With regional winds from NE, ENE, and E directions, the wind here will mostly be from the N.
During Kona events, the wind can be S, SW, or even W.
Note that straight N regional winds tend to go offshore here as the ricochet effect off Haleakala’s
western flank pushes the wind line 2-3 miles offshore (a strange effect that has caught man visitors by
surprise). The wind sensor at Ma’alea is the closest public wind sensor but the ricochet effects off
Haleakala mean you need additional data to figure out if its good to kite Kihei (you can combine the
speed data from Ma’alea wind sensor with the DIRECTIONAL data from the North Kihei wind sensor to
guesstimate if the wind line is near the shore). Situation where the wind is coming down straight N at
Ma’alea and is blowing NE in Kihei can happen (this is caused by N winds ricocheting off Haleakala
pushing the wind line far offshore near Kihei coast).