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 FRED HAYWOOD: RACING WITH ALOHA!

Fred Haywood takes us on a trip down memory lane as he tells us about his pioneering days in windsurfing and his new book – “Racing with Aloha”!

Words – Fred Haywood // PHOTOS – Robby Swift, Fred Haywood, Arnaud de Rosnay (courtesy of Jenna de Buretel), Pete Box. 

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From a barefoot young boy in Maui, to a legend in windsurfing, Fred Haywood has a few tales to tell! His talents in the water began early, with national American records and titles in swimming giving him a scholarship to Stanford, before he returned to Maui and became a pioneer in wave sailing at Ho’okipa and the first windsurfer to break the 30 knot barrier, setting a new world windsurfing record at the time of 30.82 knots in Weymouth, England in 1983 at the Johnnie Walker speed trials. Now a successful realtor, Fred has wrote his memoirs – “Racing with Aloha”, which charts his unique journey of swimming with Mark Spitz, surfing with Gerry Lopez, and pioneering the sport of windsurfing with Laird Hamilton. The book has an engrossing account of a pivotal time in our sport’s history, from a man who was there at the start of windsurfing’s boom. Read on as Fred gives us an insight into his incredible life.

SURF ADVENTURES

Fred Haywood – “After graduation from Stanford in economics, I attended a talk from a fellow economics graduate who was discussing job opportunities, and I was not impressed. I thought getting back to Maui would be best as I never desired to be corporate and work in a coat and tie! My first job was as a busboy in the Maui Surf hotel when it opened, and then I moved on to work in construction of condos in Napili, which I found to be very hard work. 

 I got into real estate after construction. I wanted to work 3 months and surf for 6. My goal was to get to Indonesia to surf in Bali. I used my very first commission of $2,000 to buy a plane ticket to Bali and went with my friend, Bill Boyum. On Bali, we met up with Bill’s brother, Mike, and we all ventured down to surf Uluwatu and other surf spots. We were hiking a half hour to the surf one morning when we ran into two other Hawaiians, Gerry Lopez and Jeff Hakman, who were the world’s top surfers. They were lost, so Mike showed everyone the path to the surf spot. The shoreline was lined with cliffs, although there was a cave that opened from the top. We climbed down a pretty shaky rope and bamboo ladder to the beach inside the cave. I was in awe to surf with these two legends, and enjoy some of the best surf on the planet! We had the ocean essentially to ourselves. Mike Boyum later established a surf camp at Grajagan (G-land) that launched an industry.

ORIGINS

I began windsurfing while living in the Whaler condominium on Maui’s west side. Late one morning, I saw two windsurfers round Kaanapali Point and come in to the beach. They were the first people I saw on a surfboard with a sail. I met them, and Mike Waltze taught me how to windsurf shortly thereafter. He told me of how he dreamed of sailing Ho’okipa as it had side-shore winds every day, which is perfect for sailing in waves. I agreed that Ho’okipa would be the best place. I told him I had surfed it most of my life and that we knew to get out of the water by 9 or 10 in the morning due to the high winds chopping up the surf. This was music to Mike’s ears, and he mentioned that he didn’t have the money to buy a car to get over there. That afternoon, I co-signed a loan at the Bank of Hawaii to buy his car. It didn’t take long for Mike to pay me back from many photo shoots he did for advertising products. I followed him to Ho’okipa to sail over the following weeks and had a blast with nobody out but friends! 

SAILBOARDS MAUI

When the real estate market crashed in 1981, after Jimmy Carter raised interest rates from 9 to 19% overnight, I knew it was over for me. I had about 5 properties on Maui, which cost $8,000 a month. I could not afford the payments, so I listed all 5 for sale at a 20% discount under the comparable property sales and offered 6% to the outside broker. I sold all of them within 4 weeks and ended up with no debt. It would be years before the real estate market recovered again. 

Around the same time, my brother Jim died in a car crash, and late one night, Dad came to the house in Kahului that Jim and I shared to give me the news. I knew that Jim would have wanted me to have fun, and I was lonely in the Kahului home at the time. At a party a few weeks later, I ran into Mike Waltze and Bill King, and over a few beers, I suggested that we open a windsurfing shop in my Kahului home where Jim and I had lived.

We opened Sailboards Maui soon after that. We hired Jimmy Lewis to build all our boards, and he was an exceptional shaper. He shaped the boards that would help me win a world record. We innovated equipment and built it ourselves in the garage of the home I grew up in. We called what we did then R&D – Rip off and Development. We innovated techniques too, like the waterstart. 

We were having visitors come to sail from all over the world and rent or buy product from us. A lot of companies built successful businesses because we asked them to create new equipment. Photographers were coming to Maui to shoot this brand new sport and our amazing windsurf spots. It all got bigger and bigger quickly, and we were having a great time!

LAIRD

I travelled and stayed on Kauai with fellow sailor Laird Hamilton for a couple of weeks, and the wind and waves were good. We sailed many parts of the island, but the most memorable was a day at Tunnels beyond Hanalei, near where the road ends. The waves were 6 to 8 feet, and there was a stiff west wind blowing. We wave sailed for a few hours, then left our rigs on the beach and went for lunch. Upon returning, we noticed that everyone sailing with us had departed, and our rigs were still on the beach. The winds had increased from 25 knots to over 40 knots, and the equipment was inching along the beach with each gust! The real challenge was that the waves appeared to have grown considerably to perhaps 15 to 20 feet, and it was closing out all the way down to Charo’s restaurant about a mile or so away. 

I said, “What do you want to do, Laird?” His reply: “Coast run to Hanalei Bay!” We grabbed the equipment and headed out into the most outrageous conditions that day. It took several tries to successfully climb up and over massive whitewater waves. After a few solo tries, we both were successful and surprisingly ended up sailing side by side outside the huge breakers. We had large sails for the run, and Laird was doing massive jumps—we were miles offshore. I stopped to flag him down. I asked him to stop jumping because of the 40-50 knot winds and probable 5 knot current. If either of us broke down, it was likely we would not be seen again. 

When we sailed into Hanalei Bay, a surf spot called Kings was breaking at over 50 feet right beside us, with 6-foot cross chop on the faces—too treacherous to sail down. We finally came in to the beach and Lyon, Laird’s younger brother, came sprinting up to us. He asked where we came from, and we said Tunnels. He could not believe this—he and his friends got blown out from the rising wind and waves and had driven down to the bay for some easier sailing, although it was pretty windy there too. 

Laird and I returned to Hanalei Bay to sail again the next day. When Laird went out, he broke off his fin on the first jump. Had he been alone, he may have disappeared, never to be found. I guess you could say we were glad it didn’t happen the day before!

SPEED

My first speed sailing contest was the Schweitzer Speed Challenge in Maalaea, Maui, in 1982. While driving down to compete on the first day, my roof rack came off the top of my car and my 4 sailboards did some cartwheels across the highway. I did return the second day with replacement boards, but things were not so good. I ended up in 18th place out of 20 entrants. I believe Matt Schweitzer won. It did not deter my enthusiasm for speed. It only got stronger.

My goal was to go to Weymouth, England, where the world record was broken the year before. I had practiced several times daily for most of the year by sailing full speed off the wind from Ho’okipa to Kanaha. Then I’d hitchhike back up the coast to do it again.

Finally I received support from Neil Pryde Sails to get to Brest, France, with Barry Spanier, who made my sails. I brought a very small speed board and smaller sails. It was a mistake, as the wind probably didn’t blow much over 15 knots. I never completed one run because the wind was not strong enough to get me going with my larger build and smaller sails and board. Klaus Simmer won the contest, and when it was over, I inherited the special ‘wingmast’ sail he used. I flew over to Weymouth, where I thought I had a chance. 

WEYMOUTH 

 I remember the night before the winds came to Weymouth, the newscaster predicted a “Black Wednesday” with a very low pressure. We screamed in joy as Barry Spanier and I finished the last details on the wing mast. The previous contest had been a bomb for me in Brest France, where I placed 315th out of 315 entrants, as the winds were so light that I never made a single run! 

The next morning was very windy and I really didn’t know what to expect. The wing mast was new, my Jimmy Lewis board had never been ridden, but when I got up and planing everything just clicked. Weymouth was not very smooth that day on starboard tack and there were other crafts on the water, so I proceeded with care. I started off with a great run, followed by multiple runs over the existing world speed record. Arnaud de Rosnay took photos of the event, and I had several covers of my record breaking run in windsurf magazines around the world. 

Actually, the next day it blew harder on a port tack and we were ready with our smallest sail rigged up the beach. I proceeded out to make a waterstart, which took some time. I actually drifted through the starting line waterstarting and then stood up and had the fastest run of my life. It was crazy fast, but the time was only 30+ knots however I felt it was much faster. How much faster, I don’t know, but the timer told me they started the run when I drifted across the line still in the water. It was surely a record, but a poor start made it only mediocre! 

Weymouth will always be a large part of me. I have images planted in my brain about the epic event there! It was life changing and I am super stoked to forever have the experience and it was great to have it happen in the UK! I write about it in my book along with many other water adventures.

THE BIG ONE

I was driving on Hana Highway one morning when Arnaud de Rosnay waved me down on the street. His eyes were excited, and he screamed that the biggest waves in the world were coming today, and he had a helicopter coming to Ho’okipa at noon for a photo shoot. I said that is great, but I will not get there until 3 pm or so. I had been sailing there for the previous 5 days and knew about when the biggest sets would come in – at 4:30 pm. I said good luck, but I may not be there at noon. He was frustrated about our bad timing and drove off. 

I placed my equipment on Ho’okipa beach to rig up around 3 pm that day. You could not see the waves because the closer ones would block everything, but now and again I would see a sailor making a top turn or going over a wave. The helicopter was hovering overhead and following anyone riding a wave. There were perhaps 5 guys out. 

I jumped on my board and started slowly sailing out. I was on a 5.9 sail, my largest, and I wasn’t planing on the way out, so I literally had to free fall down the back of approaching waves. That took me out the first 2 tries, and I swam back in to recover my equipment, which fortunately was in one piece. Finally, I got lucky and inched over the biggest set I have ever seen, counting to 5 on the way to the top, then freefalling on the back side. The scary part was looking out and seeing another 40 or 50-foot monster face feathering and about 200 feet in front of me. It was terrorizing to not know if that wave would break before getting over me. 

I was on the outside, and I decided to not ride anything as an hour had passed since launching, and soon the big one would come if my estimations were correct. I could only plane my board when sets came towards me, accelerating the winds enough to get up to speed and then turn on the last one to come back into shore. I would gybe before the wave I was riding broke and turn out back to sea for another approaching set. I did this in and out for at least half an hour until I saw one massive wave in a set of waves looming over all the others. 

The winds were dropping, so I turned around a half-mile in front of it due to the sheer speed of the lrger waves. By the time it caught up to me, I was blown away looking at the trough, which looked the size of a 6-story building. The challenge I now had was that the winds had turned more offshore, so I had to angle across the wave and get down before it exploded. I raced down the wave and tried to get out in front as far as I could. But the wave in front of me was very large and was blocking the wind. I slowed to a snail pace and was now ascending the wave backwards. I was fearful of where the wave would break. On top of me? 

This massive wave landed just behind my board, and I was immersed in whitewater as I lessened my grip, thinking this was going to be bad. Fortunately, I somehow came clear of the whitewater and felt enough wind in my sail to move out of harm’s way and sail in to the beach. 

There were no cars in the parking lot. I was all alone. Everyone else had left. I had just sailed the biggest wave I’d ever sailed, and no one was there to see it. Oh well. I knew what I had done, and I was stoked!

All of a sudden, I could see someone running down the Ho’okipa slopes towards the beach with a camera and zoom lens banging back and forth across his chest. It was Arnaud! He had the helicopter drop him off so he could wait for me!

“You just rode the biggest wave in the world!” Arnaud hollered. “And I have a whole roll of film to prove it! This is bigger than your world record!” 

Arnaud was a legend in the sport. We all knew he was prone to hyperbole, hence his insistence in calling the wave I sailed at Ho’okipa that day the “biggest wave in the world.” Nevertheless, they were pretty big – the biggest ones I had ever sailed.

Obviously, over the years since, there have been many waves ridden around the world that are much bigger. I give a lot of credit to Arnaud de Rosnay for filming my world record and riding a big wave within months of each other. Those photos led to a formal sponsorship with Neil Pryde Sails a month later. 

I am forever grateful for the many individuals who shared part of these successes. Within a few months, Laird Hamilton, Mike Waltze, and others were energized to be the first to tow-in surf Jaws up the coast and ride much bigger waves! 

LAST DANCE

My last windsurfing contest was in Fuerteventura, off the coast of Africa, where the desert winds were ferocious. I was winning the contest, and the winds were increasing, so I rigged a very special sail with handmade camber inducers to shape the sail perfectly. But it was the first time I had rode it. A huge gust pushed me into the course, and I was easily going to beat my fastest time. Fate would have it that, while in the middle of speeding next to the beach, a crossing wave forced my nose up into the air high above me. My mast tip then got caught in the sea, which caused me to do a massive cartwheel and come crashing down into a very abrupt stop in the water. I was still in my harness, and my harness hook ripped through the webbing and detached. I broke everything, including my back, almost! I heard the loudest adjustment in my back. My mast was broken, and my sail was ripped in half. I was kneeling on all fours in perhaps 10 inches of water. I wiggled my toes and fingers, and they were fine, but I was not. I crawled on my hands and knees, dragging the remainder of my equipment onto the beach to wait for my support crew to pick me up. My head was throbbing—and that turned out to be a problem for the next 6 months. 

Had I completed it, that run might have been the winning run, but not for me now. I thought about my new family at home. I just wanted to change my life again and spend more time with the two kids, Meryl and Skyler. And lying on that beach, I decided to not compete anymore. I was 39 then, my sports futures didn’t interest me anymore, but my family did. 

I stopped windsurfing and surfing several years ago due to some balance and heart issues.  I do ocean swimming and laps in the pool as well as walking now. I do recovery work also with Gyrotonics, which is a bench, platform and pullies with weights. This is for stretching out my hamstrings, as I could not straighten my leg for the first year after my injury. My two oldest children are still involved in surf sports and are accomplished water athletes; my son, Skyler, lives in New Zealand and is often found foil boarding. Every once in a while, you’ll find me at a Maui beach coaching someone new to windsurfing in the techniques that will help them be successful in the water. 

OLD SCHOOL  

I still have boards, sails, and other accessories up in my garage in the rafters. My kids use the gear and do not want me to sell anything. I donated my record-breaking board to the Maritime Museum in Honolulu, which has since closed. We are now having fun with a ‘Find Fred’s Board’ campaign on the Internet, as the museum where the gear was stored cannot locate it! Maybe it’s in someone’s ‘man cave’ on Oahu. I hope to find it and return it home! 

The sport of windsurfing is morphing into more sorts of wind gear! I enjoy watching the kiters, windsurfers, and wingers out there. I just can’t imagine what is coming next! I still have the stoke for everyone doing the watersports they love.

ALOHA

I like to talk about the importance of sharing endorphins. I always felt that when you share endorphins with other athletes, that establishes a bond between each other for the rest of your lives! It’s like we’re blood brothers. It cements the experience, and sharing these experiences with each other will last a lifetime!

I was also engrained with aloha, coming from Maui. Aloha is a real ‘thing’. We learned to respect the people and the land and to share everything with each other. This included all our sports – sharing technique, technology, and other tips to make everyone around us have a better experience. Camaraderie is more important than winning to me. That commitment has brought me continued success throughout all aspects of my life, including real estate. I have helped many associates improve their careers with the same philosophies.

BOOK  

I actually contemplated the book since I was 17, but now at 71, I decided that I had to write it after my younger brother, Bill, passed away last year. Two weeks after I started the book, I slipped off a curb and severely sprained my ankle while landing on my leg and tore all three hamstrings off my pelvic bone. Then Covid started and I was getting the book together from a hospital bed in my home, from where I progressed to a wheelchair, then walker, and on to crutches and after 23 months, I am walking again. It has been a journey, but the book engaged my attention and was fun. 

It took about six months to put my stories into book form. I forwarded the first draft pdf of the book to a literary agent friend who called back after a week and said he had a publisher. I was shocked as I thought I would only self-publish as my original goal was to write a book that the family would enjoy! If you want a copy, it’s available on Amazon!”