ho'okipa's youngest ever rider

Though his summer reading list was short, 7-yr old Dax Barker had quite a story for his first day of 2nd grade this year. When asked by his new teacher to write an essay about his vacation he provided a short but to-the-point response that any windsurfer would be proud of. No lengthy prose, not the finest handwriting, but for him and any other young windsurfer, it was the equivalent of reaching Mecca.

'This summer I learned how to water start - and I sailed Ho'okipa.'

Dax Barker is a lively boy of slight build, who has been fortunate to grow up on the beaches along Maui's North Shore. The stepson of Jeffrey Henderson, owner of Hot Sails Maui, who is passionate about developing gear to make windsurfing accessible to kids, Dax has had access to the tiny performance gear, but more importantly, the ocean.

Aged just age 3 he was already interested in windsurfing having watched Jeff and his friends in front of the house. He was always the first to open the new windsurfing magazine at the mailbox, and spent hours messing around on the lawn with his 0.8m MicroFire sail, well before he was willing to try anything on the water, which he was actually quite terrified of at the time.

As is normal for most kids, the fear of the ocean and waves took a long time to overcome. He’s still a bit scared of big breaking waves after a surfing accident rattled him a little, but this resulted in his deep respect for the power and beauty of the ocean.