About the Owners
Rebecca Schwarz
Before I moved to Maui, I grew up in a small town in the Sierras of Northern California. Life is easy in a small town. You get to know everyone your age, and if you don’t know the adults, your parents do, so watch out! I spent my summers by the numerous lakes in the area, the Yuba River, and hiking around in the foothills. Summer has always held appeal to me- the warm smell of dirt, the light at 8:30pm, BBQs, popsicles and long lazy days. It was during one summer that a European adventure was hatched, planning began, and my friend and I left the next fall for a three month long adventure that forever altered what I thought I knew of the world. The travel bug took hold, and ultimately that is what got me to Maui.
I was on my way to New Zealand and was going to make my way to Thailand for some in depth massage training. My first stop was on Maui to visit a friend of mine. Long story short, I never left. But, the travel bug never went away. From Maui, I have travelled to Thailand, Iceland, New Zealand, and much of the United States. Travel is never far from my mind.
The majority of my love of Maui revolves around outrigger canoe racing. I was never athletic growing up. I found my sport when I got into a canoe. I have travelled all over the Hawaiian Islands racing canoes, completed a voyage out around the island of Ni’ihau off Kauai, and participated in the Maui Nui Canoe Race, a three day, three island epic race. It is a passion that has taken root, and is hard to imagine a day with it not in my life.
Maui is one of the most amazing islands I have ever been to. The perfect Maui day is spent in a canoe in the morning, a big lunch, and sunset up at the crater. Haleakala is one of the most impressive, inspiring, and mind-boggling places anywhere.
The thing about living on an island is that sometimes it can feel so limiting, yet other times it is limitless. Maui has it’s own little bubble. Amazing things happen here. It’s an incredible place to grow and be able to reflect. I often think that I moved here too young, that I should have spent my 20s and 30s growing in a city, and then like so many, retire here. The flip side of that is that I get this amazing sunny adventurous place to live that I enjoy daily. Come in and lets talk about your adventures, racing, snorkeling or where to go get a good happy hour drink!
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover.” –Mark Twain
Dale Angel
I grew up in the southeast during the 60’s bouncing from one air force base to another. My first ocean experience I can remember was in Charleston SC, I was 6 and I swallowed so much salt water I thought I was going to drown. I taught myself how to swim after that. At 8 we moved to Coco Beach, FL and life on the beach began. On July 20th 1969 I found my passion, spending the whole day at the beach. I learned how to throw a Frisbee as we were waiting to watch the launch of Apollo 11.
The late 70’s was a dry period of my life in the Arizona desert, but there I did discover my love of the western mountains. I learned how to snow ski in Colorado and then moved to Sacramento, CA, where I continued to ski, learned how to water ski, went river rafting, and playing a lot of softball in between.
But whenever I went to the coast from Santa Cruz to Mendocino it always seemed magical. The ocean was always calling me and after going to friend’s wedding in Florida, I decided it was time to get back to the warm ocean water. Out of the blue a friend said to me one day, “I’m moving to Maui.” I was intrigued; I had never been to Hawaii before. Three months later I sold everything I had, bought a one-way ticket, and haven’t looked back since. That was 1990.
After living on Maui for six months I discovered Hawaiian outrigger canoe racing and have been passionate about it ever since. After the first year I learned how to steer a canoe, went on to assistant coaching and then on the board to help with running the club on and off for many years. My greatest achievement thus far is a first place finish in the iron master men’s division at the Queen Lilio race in Kona. An 18 mile race that is the world’s largest long distance outrigger canoe race.
My perfect Maui day: A sunrise hike, couple of hours on the water, then straight to the beach with a Frisbee and horseshoes, and as the last horseshoe game ends, watch the sunset into the ocean. Priceless!
Visitors often ask, “Where is my favorite place on Maui?” I tell them Haleakala. I have hiked in Arizona, Colorado, California, Alaska, and New Zealand. Haleakala is still my favorite one day hike out of all those places. Hamoa beach in Hana is awesome and a close second.
I am fortunate to have had oceans and mountains shape my life.
Logan King
Logan's family established a love of the ocean with his grandfather’s last hand-crafted wooden boat, which hung in the garage. The distinct smell of his brother’s wet sails, amongst the sunset reflection sometimes cast upon the wood grain that highlighted the overhead, seemed to happen as if to justify shaping beyond the most beautiful of angel’s wing. This shimmering phenomenon could be matched only by the brilliance of the most beautiful guitars.
“I would remember my dad's real patience during knot and fishing theory classes embellished upon my brothers, sister and I at a young age. Illustrated as he untangled our casted lines from the trees in the back yard.”
Enough lead weights must have been deposited there to pollute the water, or at the very least create a radioactive shield from the earth up. No early eighties bomb shelter required there, only radiating support and positive encouragement from the parental units. Many a friendly hour was spent discussing race theory with his father who would sometimes run chase support boat duty on some of the Monomoy Island races.
This level of close coaching and enrichment led to the kind of bonding, respect, friendship, and enjoyment that is embodied within Water Works Sports today.
At about fourteen years of age Logan, made his first turns on an early wooden Burton Backhill. Bindings may have just been a thick elastic band then, but the turns and lines obtained were what dreams could be made of.
By the next winter, he had ordered the first P-TEX model Burton upon its release from the Burton factory and started his first job procuring a sailboard as well. His relationship with these two boards came to be close like that of mother and child.
Eventual attendance within a maritime academy, gaining an unlimited tonnage license, and soon after a sailing endorsement, involved taking a semester off to drop chutes on the highest vertical peak of the east coast and couchsurfing weeks in Breckenridge.
Varsity sailing lasted two seasons at the academy. A storm was up and waves were upon the Cape. Instead of launching the beautiful deserted beaches of abundance, he found himself on the Charles at the Harvard boathouse in between skippers and protest meetings, watching condoms float by. Soon after, he left the team to explore the soul and freestyle elements of the sport.
While his Sailing license led to worldwide destinations of desire, he balanced his time with a season at Summit, the Gorge-Mt Hood connection, and some California dreaming in Monterey. After navigating oil tankers, freighters, ferries, offshore tugs and supply boats, it felt time to expel mud season abandonment for the island of windsurfing’s greatest stronghold.
The feeling of harnessing out as the prindle hull cuts sea, like the Enterprise outer space, made sailing instructor an easy choice. This led to beach loading cats, a number of years slinging non-profit for the whales, and drinks after dark. Logan, a friend of all sea creatures, joined Water Works Sports for the truth, quality, and integrity that they’ve always possessed.
Island living led to snowboarding four different countries, two seasons per year, and a thorough spanking of the Sierra range. Three stories of great days will be told in the slightly specific here. The first will deal with location. The back bowls of Vail, though far from secret, seamlessly projects that if the garden of eden has a winter, it would be found there. The second, possibly the greatest moment of downhill inertia, came the fourth day of a thickening dump upon the Sierras. Fulfillment of grandeur was not technically steep or air inducing, but real’r than slapping your mother none the same.
“I was laying back a line deep beneath a beckoning snow drift, the twist of the ankles in my boots to accomplish this as called for, reminded me of surgeries and hospital time accrued upon past error. As my back hand broke the wind lip spraying snow into the crisp mountain sun, but before the cascading arc rolled to its final settling, I gazed from behind the curtain to see my brother blow by me at mach space shuttle in full soul arch, rooster tail that of a Miami drug runner’s super boat.” Style was changed forever that day.
On the island front, any day he can be found surfing early when the ocean is still glassy, and when the light is between the purple and the dawn. Catching the trade winds all afternoon by sail, leaving the planet for the sky, sailing beyond the whims of Icarus, only to return to the terrestrial for the sunset glass off session; deep once again in the womb of wetness, reveling.