Parting Shots...

More of it...

Apologies Up Front!

It's my blog, and I never get pictures, so when I get them, they are going here. So, apologies to anyone who finds themselves here now. This is the incriminating evidence of the sore throat I had on that Friday that I missed work. They told me to gargle with saltwater, so...

I realized something fairly disturbing today. I was in the restroom at the pier, and I was feverishly pulling on my wetsuit like a starved maniac, just a mess, because I just could not get out in the water fast enough. Is there a SA out there, like they have for alcoholics? I can't seem to get enough, and it is just relentless. I thought by now, I would surely have lost this severe desire to surf, surf, surf. Even after everyday, I still can't get enough. Today when I got out there, it was pretty amazingly picture perfect. It was small, yes, but the wind was perfect, out of the WSW, and just grooming the little peelers into something out of a dream. There were only three guys out by 16th street, and I saw a peak in between them and the pier and paddled out to it. There was a long wait in between sets, but when the waves came, they were gorgeous. My first one just walled up and tapered off all the way to the beach. I was so high from that, and then a left did the same thing moments later. I did not want to go into work today, but I promised I would be there at noon. I was peddling my bike frantically as the downtown church bells rang out, eleven, twelve! I made it without a minute to spare. And, then, just as I thought I was relieving Karen so she could get out there, Sherry dropped the bomb that it was she who was leaving, not Karen. That was when I knew. Karen is a much bigger and more sane person than I am. She did not break down and lose it. She kept on working, and after only one expletive. I kept promising her that when she got off at 3 pm, the tide would be coming in, and she would get it good. God, I hope I was right about that one.

Maybe we are getting spoiled...

I just could not get inspired to paddle out this morning. It just wasn't ... dare I say it, good enough? We are just so spoiled after days of fun surf, that this just seemed boring. Granted, I had to go to work today, and I knew I could go out later at low tide. but really, what a thing, to have glassy surf and warm temps, and to just walk away. Granted, it was lumpy. but it was glassy, and as Andy and I stood there at the Matanzas Street Ramp, I felt it. We are so spoiled. But, after work, it was so sunny and warm, and the wind was still so light, that I went to Crossovers, and Karen met me there, and we paddled out into the green ocean. It wasn't that great, but hey, for a winter's day in late December, it's pretty close to heaven...

Can this really be December?

At 5am the buoys had ticked up from three feet to four. By 6am, they had gone back to three. What? But, when I paddled out with Karen, Andy, and Mark this morning, it seemed like the surf had indeed come up a bit. The fog was gone this morning, and the sun came out. It wasn't perfect, but the lumpy waves were oil glass, and I was surfing with my friends. We had a blast, laughing when Andy got the royal flush and the zipper of his wetsuit unzipped to let in that not so warm water. He said he felt like the Michelin man, with his suit all filled with water, and it looked like he had rolls of fat from head to toe. Hilarious. Karen got a bunch of good ones today, despite what she might say. Mark was getting a lot of good ones on his fish. I had one that slapped me right in the head. Andy was laughing when I paddled back out, and it was even funnier because I had the feeling like I had just caught the wave of the day. It walled up so nice, and was one of the bigger ones, but as I was just pulling up to try to get inside it, it jacked up and out and just slapped me in the head. I said, "HEY!" and just kept on riding, laughing all the way inside. And, how crazy is all this warm weather? Maybe this is Hanukkah, because it seems we have been unwrapping gifts for days on end...

Still Surf...

Checked Crossovers at outgoing tide, mid-day, and it was nearly a carbon copy of yesterday. I could see three guys out with the fog lifting. The water was green (see photo), and glassy, the sun came out, and the air was warm. Another gift at winter's start.

Merry Christmas 2008

Checked it late morning, after the traditional big Christmas breakfast and opening of presents with Colby. As I passed The Well, it looked rather promising, the sun was out and the water looked green and glassy. Not very big, and certainly not Friday, but there were waves. Mike Nadeau was coming down the steps at Crossovers, and said there wasn't much. We caught up on stuff, and then decided what the heck, we're here, we have our longer boards, why not paddle out? Once we got out there, it was more fun than it had looked, and we caught a few fun ones. I missed the Firewire from the first wave, the big board felt sluggish and rather boring. It had been so much more fun Friday on that lively little rocket ship. But, hey, like Mike said, it's late December, it's warm and well, we are pretty lucky to have this. After a bit, John, T. J. and Griffin paddled out, too. Merry Christmas, let's surf!

the board harem

One board for all conditions?



Screw that!
Boards are like women: the more the better.

Let me introduce you my wave boards harem. From the left:
1) 100l freestyle (or freeride... not sure!) old RRD beat up board with reshaped tail AKA The Experiment
2) 90l Goya custom wave series
3) 81l Goya custom wave series
4) 75l custom SOS
5) 68l custom Quatro

1) The Experiment (I'm thinking about renaming it The Miracle) is the reason because I pretty much don't wave sail on a longboard anymore. What I liked about the longboard, in fact, is that it allowed me to sail in super light wind and had a surfboard rocker.


But then I figured that I didn't really need all that volume. I'm 154 (70kg) and 100l are enough to float me in any wind!

The problem is that there aren't many 100l wave boards on the market and even if you guys will find one, it will not have a surfboard rocker. Even if they're labeled "wave", they're still designed for planing. Most of the times, they are designed as wave boards for big guys.
That's not what I wanted.

I wanted a board that would take me out there with 5-10 knots of wind, clearly without any ambition of planing, get me on the wave and ride it well, with a feeling as similar as possible to the one of a surfboard.

One lazy sunday morning, three rare things happened at the same time:
1) my grinder had been resting for too long
2) all neighbors were out
3) I had nothing better to do.

So I did it.


I added more than one inch of rocker and a huge V to the tail. In the process, I incidentally also shortened the board of a couple of inches and since I was able to keep the tuttle box in place (had to sand down the base of the fin too), the fin is now placed veeery close to the tail. Not too bad, actually. I would just love to install a couple of side fins... we'll see when the three above conditions will happen again!

Pros compared to the longboard.
- it turns a lot more
- it's lighter to carry

Cons compared to the longboard.
- it doesn't glide
- can't do SUP surfing if the wind dies (I even tried... forget it!)
- can't use it as a board to teach your friends

The old time blog readers know that, when the wind is so light that it won't allow down the line riding, I like to please myself with jumping on the backside of the sail while going upwind on a wave.
With the longboard, I couldn't really turn it much while doing that. With T.E. instead, I'm now starting to go up and down the face of the wave and in the last couple of sessions, I even INVENTED the reverse lay down bottom turn.
Da heck is it? Hang on, here it comes...

You've seen the lay down bottom turns of the pros, right? Here's KP again.


Now, without having the presumption to compare myself to the greats, I'm trying to do a reverse version of that. Imagine the same wave, but with the sailor now going upwind towards the right of the photo and on the back (downwind) side of the sail. His right foot is his front foot. Just like in the regular downwind version, I discovered that laying down the sail helps the board do a tighter bottom turn. It clearly all happens at way slower speed (since the wind is very light), but the concept is the same.
I haven't figured out yet what to do with the top turn... someone suggested to continue turning into a 360... I think it's a great idea!

Forgot to say the most important thing: no footstraps. They are absolutely unnecessary at these speeds and they would be in the way 99% of the times. When slogging, in fact, the back foot rests exactly where the front streps are. And when riding a wave at slow speed it's absolutely key to be able to freely move the back foot.

2) I fell in love with the 90 right away at my very first session. It was March 08 and I still have a little youtube video of it.
I use it when the wind is 10-14 knots with a 5.0 superfreak ultralight. Again, no ambitions of planing, but the wind is strong enough to allow strapped down the line wave riding.
Most big wave boards I tried are too wide. Again, they're designed for heavy guys and maybe they work for them. When using those superwide boards, I'm unable to really dig the rail in the water. The Goya, instead, is not that wide (damn, they just updated the website with the 09 models, and I'm too lazy to get the measurement tape, so I can't even tell you how wide it is) and that makes two things happen:
a) the board is still fast
b) I can dig the rail (specially in the tail which is relatively thin) and turn it really sweet!
Where's all that volume? In the thickness in the center and front. The little con of it (in boards, just like in everything else in life, there's always good and bad aspects) is that the domed shape gives the board a little tendency to roll over its axis. At my weight and skill level though, tacking is still absolutely comfortable.
I bought it for Kanaha, but lately I used it at Hookipa too in a day with overhead glassy waves. I couldn't believe how well it worked!

If the wind outside is stronger, the board planes very quickly and (thanks again to the limited width, I think) it sails really nice. If the wind gets stronger also between the waves, then it becomes too big for me to control in the chop and I go back to my lovely car and swap it for...


3) ... the 81l. You guys probably remember that I recently fixed a snapped 81 that was given to me by a friend. I liked it so much that I had to own a non fixed version. In fact, the fix added 1 kg to the weight and even though that made it bounce less on the chops in high wind (see? there's something positive even in weight), it wasn't the best for the aerials and for early planing.
The 81 for me is still a light wind board. Let's say around 16 knots steady or strong on the outside but pretty light between the waves.
Very similar shape and behavior of the 90, I fall a bit more often in the tacks. But that's mostly because I suck...

Is 9 liters enough difference to justify two boards?
Oh yesss...

4) Sean Ordonez shaped this board for Kevin Pritchard.
It's the board I use more often at Hookipa with the 4.7, as you can tell by the number of dings on the bottom that the rocks put in it...
Completely different from the Goyas, with a more flat deck and not so narrow. At this volume, in fact, the width becomes important for stability in the tacks.
This board likes big, smooth waves. It doesn't like the chop too much but... which board does?
Here's a recent photo from the water (thanks Ben!).


5) Keith Taboul shaped this one for himself with a slightly flatter rocker than usual and even though it was a bit faster he didn't like the mild turnability loss.
It's all relative, I guess.
When I tried it, in fact, I didn't find it particularly fast but, without a doubt, it was (and still is) the turniest board I have ever tried!
I'm still so excited every time I get to use it, but it doesn't happen quite often. The wind at Hookipa is always light on the inside and to go over the breaking waves, I need a bit more volume. The bigger the waves the more volume you need. I mean, I need.
That's why I use it only with small waves or in those rare days in which the wind is strong also on the inside.

Somebody told me: brah, you need a van with all these boards!
Absolutely not, was my answer. Why should I carry them all at the same time? Most of the times I know what kind of range of wind I will find and so I only take a couple with me (which fit beautifully inside my Escort) and I happily drive at 32mpg. If I feel like being particularly conservative, then I put a third one on the roof racks.
Plus, if I'm at Hookipa and I need a board that I didn't take with me, my place is a 45 seconds drive away... can't beat that!

And now that I got all sizes covered... what volume am I going choose for my first twin fin?!? Come on, is it really possible to be a windsurfer these days and not to have one?
Mmm...

The Magic Slowly Begins to Fade...

It was just me, Andy, and Mark for a little over an hour this morning. We couldn't believe our eyes, again. There was still surf, slightly smaller, but still coming in. We must study the weather maps to see what happened here, so we can order this again. It was a bit foggy, but no matter, the wind was offshore and the water 64 degrees. The air temp was about the same. For mid-December that is pretty amazing. It wasn't the snap and punch of yesterday, so Andy let me borrow his Lucas fish. There were about four or five waves I would have liked to have the Firewire on, but feeling pretty spent, it was fun, and easy, to just pick up the waves with that platter. Thanks, Andy. Then the Saturday crowd hit about 8am, and it was over. We stayed until almost 9am, but with three people on every wave, it reduced the magic factor too much to stay...

Magic Morning - Take 4 and ... Magic Afternoon Take 2

How can this be? Four days in a row of quality surf!? We are all actually tired now. When we finally left the beach today, I could not believe Bob said it. He actually hoped the waves would drop tomorrow, so we wouldn't have to put our bodies through the motions AGAIN. Whaaa? But, I was feeling the same way. By my last hour, late this afternoon, I was reduced to surfing absolutely silly. I had depleted whatever reserves I had. I felt like I would have to crawl onto the beach, I was that tired. But how could I leave? Every time I started to think about going in, I would see another beautiful wave pitch out and over in the sparkling sun. And, it was WARM! I was doing Cirque De Soleil Manuvers that were hilarious, so tired I could barely get to my feet. The bike ride alone, to and from The Point, in soft, high tide sand, was enough make a grown man whimper. And Bob did, every time we hit those soft patches that stopped us dead in our tracks. How can we ever thank Bruce and Karen enough for letting us borrow their bikes? They even gave us oranges and power bars to take on our journey. I think a Mexican dinner is in store for them. It all started at sunrise when Crossovers was so good, again, that I had to call in sick. I had a sore throat, so I wasn't lying. There was no way I could leave this behind today. Bob, Andy, and I shared it with one other longboarder. What fun we had, reliving another epic day of rolling, peeling, glassy lines. None of us could believe it, five feet and eleven seconds, again. Wow. Merry Christmas to us! When I finally went in, it was because the tide came up and the crowd hit. I only had one hour to rest back home before Bob called to say, "IT IS STILL OFFSHORE, LET'S GO!" The Point was dreamlike to me today. That hour right before high tide, it all came together for me. I had just been watching and waiting, unable to find the spot, paddling back and forth, frantically, waveless. Bob was looking frazzled after getting pitched on a big one. Then it happened. I caught about six in a row of lurching, heaving ones that put the Firewire to the test. Stalling for the tube is the best ever, and if you were in the spot today, there was no need to do much except pick your line and go. I will never forget the one that I just popped my board on, one of the bigger ones. When I came onto the beach, David came up to me, smiling, darn near excited, to say he had shot a few good ones of me, he thought. Wow. Then Bob and I just stood watching it all, eating all we could find, too exhausted to paddle one more stroke. We just marveled at everything, the fleecy white clouds drifting slowly by overhead, the green walls crashing and peeling off in the sunshine, the warmth and beauty of another amazing day...

Magic Morning - Take 3 and ... Magic Afternoon

Ingredients for fun: Low tide, seas 4.6 feet at eleven seconds, no crowd, me and Vreeland at Crossovers. What? You mean it is happening again? I was the first out, and then I heard Bob saying, "You are so core!" Really, it's called having to be at work by 8am. We were amazed at how it was so good AGAIN. Bob said, "What if you could bottle this, this feeling of riding good waves, so people could experience what they never have?" I said, "No way! We don't need more people surfing!" With that, Bob's good karma gave him a set wave that peeled all the way to the beach, while I watched, smiling. We had so much fun this morning, trading waves, and my last one was my best, just peeling off in the pink sunrise. Then, right after work, Andy was calling. "I'm sitting here in the parking lot of FA's, and it's freakin' glassy and going off!" Minutes later we were in the water surfing the pier, in yet another epic session of glassy reeling waves. We stayed out until dark, watching the sky turn all shades of orange and pink, and realized, again, how very lucky we are.

Magic Morning - Take 2

What's better than catching Crossovers, early morning, with fun surf? Surfing it with your friends! Andy was right behind me as I pulled into the foggy parking lot at 6:30am. Bob was just around the corner. I paddled out first, out into the fog, without a clue as to how the waves were. Once out there, you could see it was less consistent than yesterday, but more clean! I was so far outside at first. I heard Andy yell, "Hey! What are you doing out there?" "I'll show you what I'm doing!" I yelled back, ready to catch one and spray him on the inside. Soon, Bob came out and you could hear him hooting at one he saw rifling off on the inside. This turned out to be one of the best days. We had so much fun. One wave reared up way outside and Bob and I scratched to catch it. He went right and I went left. The thing just lurched up and I went right out into space on a crazy late take-off that Bob would tell Karen later I would be living the rest of my life. It was so awesome to reconnect at the bottom and have the wall just stand up in front of me. I was hooting and laughing the whole time. Just hilarious, we were out there. Andy caught one right that I watched him drop into late, and he just flew all over the place, a big grin plastered on his face. As I paddled back out, I saw Bob drop in on a bowly right and just go up, smack! and back down again, so nice. No one ever even came out. We scored. Then the tide started to fill in, and we paddled inside and I caught a fun, fun right to end my morning session. After I left, Andy did, too. Bob said as soon as we both left the fog rolled in, the waves stopped, and it was all over, just like that.

Magic Morning

There were so many reasons not to go. The bed felt so cozy and warm. Waffles sounded nice. Waffles, and the paper, and staying in bed awhile longer, yes. NO! Must paddle out, no matter what. No more waiting for perfection that never comes. So, out I go. Ugh. Foggy out. I hate fog. Keep going! I drive out in the darkness to the beach, all misty, and the sun is not even up yet. I get to Crossovers. No one in the parking lot. I don't even look at it. I just get my board and go. Miracles happen, yes they do. I paddled out into some of the best waves I have ridden in months. No one out except me, in the near darkness. Gradually, the light fills in and I see just how good it really is. I watch one wave just throw out and over and hoot into the morning air. My first one was a good one, but the second one, wow. It lurched up way outside. I had to scramble to get it. It was overhead and glassy and just wide open. The board just went everywhere, as if on its own accord. I rode it almost all the way to the sand, cutbacks, off the tops, it felt like flying! Then there was this left, just begging for it. I was stoked out of my mind. And no one ever even came. By the time the sun came up, I was gone, off to work. My toes were getting cold, anyway, I told myself, to ease the pain of leaving. Plus, the tide was filling in. Later, Bob would say I had the best of the entire day. Let's hear it for leaving the comfort zone!

how Kazuma shaped my custom surfboard part 8

This episode concludes the Kazuma series, I hope you guys enjoyed it.

I can only add that I love the board and it definitely catches a lot of waves. But a good board alone isn't enough. Got to get out there and paddle!



Just arrived in Italy. Completely whacked by the trip as usual.
Funny/dumb moment on the LA-Washington plane: upon the arrival, the captain announced: "We are now approaching Dallas were we should land in about 15 minutes..."
What?!? I asked the guy sitting next to me: "Excuse me, did he just say Dallas?"
"Yes!"
"But I thought this plane was going to Washington!!!!"
"Oh, Dulles is the name of the Washington airport, not Dallas Texas..."

Kinel, I almost had a heart attack...

A Moment of Green in the Grey Afternoon...

I kept looking out the window, today, as I worked. There's a big plate glass window there at the cafe/bakery. You can see everyone walking by, the courtyard across the street. James, who lives in a ARC group home down the street, comes in now and then. He tries to help us by greeting customers and by restocking things. Today he is much louder than usual. I worry that he is driving customers away, because he is mildly retarded, and very, shall we say, in your face. One woman, sitting at the counter, sighs, "This was supposed to be a relaxing getaway weekend..." as James is loudly trying to engage them in conversation. I placate her with wassail, which she is cooing over, and we joke around. Her husband is a good sport about it all, and says he loves this little cafe, is smiling at me happily, despite James. It is slow today, and I am hoping Sherry will let me leave early, because every now and then I look out the plate glass window, and I notice. The wind looks almost dead. Maybe the waves will be good. Sherry goes to deliver a wedding cake. I am in charge. Luckily business is dead, too. But, uh-oh. Here comes James again. He sits at the counter, humming happily as he eats his strawberry frozen yogurt. He starts asking me questions. Where do I live? Do I live alone? I try to divert the conversation. Then, luckily, Sherry comes back, and she says I can leave. I am chewing my nails as I walk to the car. I can't get home fast enough, to my surfboard, to the beach. I'm going out no matter what, I am telling Andy on my cell phone. I just can't take it any more. He is stuck at home, painting the master bedroom, and he has painted two walls the wrong color, he says. You're screwed, Andy. Oh, well. He got the glassy part of the other day that I missed, so I don't feel too sorry for him. I call Karen, but there is no answer. Fast forward to Crossovers. A fog has settled over the beach. It's a murky grey. I don't care, I am going surfing. No one is even out. I race through the soft sand. Free at last. I jump in, and the water is cold. I get stuck in the impact zone, and feel my energy field draining. This is what you get, I say, for not paddling out every chance you get for exercise. I suffer through it, and get outside. At first, I think it sucks. It is just wave after wave, but peaky and all over the place. I realize I will have to be in just the right spot to get a good one. I catch a couple and it feels so good. Three guys paddle out, but soon are sucked way down the beach. It is a grey winter's day. I am alone again. But then, the sun comes out. The water becomes a nice shade of green. I catch one, a good one, and I ride it way inside. My board feels so loose, like I can put it anywhere I want. I love this surfboard. And, it is at this moment that ... I love everything.

I am starting to hallucinate...

It is becoming a bit much for me to handle... The surf has been blown out for days. Bike riding has been thwarted by wind, rain, and residual images of magic's accident. Could be I am in the beginning stages of hermitizing... and, wait ... look over there. Do you see what I see?

Rain and no wind, but still some fun waves to ride here in Maui.

I took this photos in the late afternoon yesterday at Hookipa.


This kid was ripping.


I, instead, sucked so much that in my morning session in a paddle-intensive spot I got caught three times on the inside by the quickly building sets, paddled for one hour without interruption and went back in with the astonishing wave count of: zero.
Sure enough it was a good workout.


Back home I tuned in the Pipe Masters and that's the best surf I did that day...
Mister Kelly Slater was enjoying a big swell with some buddies at a secret spot on the Caroline Islands, got texted what day and time his heat was and arranged to fly to Oahu just in time for his first heat...


Was it worth it? I'd say so... he won it. Not only the first heat, the whole contest.
Here's how he destroyed the opponent in heat 3 of round four of the final day of competition.
Notice some kind of kamikaze fish (a small manta ray, I'd say) jumping out of the water and into the lip at the second 10 of the video... pretty nuts!

On that same page, you can watch all the heats of the last day.
Kelly's heats are:
- quarter final 2 (great match up with Pipe specialist Jamie O'brien)
- semi final 1.
- final.
In the semi final Tim Reyes combo-ed Kelly with something like 7 minutes left. That means that Kelly needed not one, but two really good waves to advance. Under Tim's priority, Kelly sneaked a Pipe wave and scored a 9 and paddling back out he got a Backdoor right and scored a 10. Everything happened in 2 minutes. And I couldn't catch one damn shitty wave in one hour...


From one living surf legend to another. Laird paddled out almost at dark. If you're learning to standup paddle surf, this photo is a "how to paddle" clinic: reach as far forward as you can without leaning forward too much, keep both arms straight, slightly bend your knees.


Carbon paddles are notoriously stiff. Not for Laird.


In a couple of days I'm off to Italy.
I don't like going back to Italy. Specially in winter time, when there it's cold and here it's wavy.
FORTUNATELY, the forecast for the coming week looks hoorible for Maui. No good wind, way below average surf (!!!) and plenty rain. Stoked!

how Kazuma shaped my custom surfboard part 7

A couple of days with no wind here in Maui give me the opportunity of a surfing related post.

Here's chapter 7 of the Kazuma saga.


And here's are a few photos that I took yesterday. Still comparing Canon and Sony. This time I had my buddy Chico (a good photographer... check that amazing bottom turn shot on KP's blog) taking photos with the Canon and yet the photos were pretty disappointing. So the conclusion is that that lens it came with is either bad or a bad "copy". It's going back.

Here's Chico's best shots (the second one is Lalo getting a little cover up).




Here's my best shot with the Canon: blurred and overexposed.


Now look at my best shots with the Sony. You got to be kidding me! Look at the sharpness, look at the colors, look at the... oh well, that's not the camera!


Lalo again.


Average file size of these photos: 300k.


And check the zoom. This is Lanes from The Point at Hookipa!


The Pipeline Masters is on. Here the live webcast.

PS. Looks like the wind just turned Kona at Kanaha... got to go sail!

---------------- post update -----------------------

Well, the Kona was pretty light, which is not a problem for me, but there were too many surfers out. I caught a few with T.E. and then switched to surfing. I surfed already this morning and my arms were kind of useless, but with the offshore wind the waves were so beautiful I just HAD to paddle out...

I had my GoPro with me and took a few shots.

Kelly hanging five. Every time I see her I always have the same atrocius dilemma: does she surf or look better? Trust me, it's not an easy one...


This one will give you a better idea of her gracious silhouette.


Alex enjoys yet another left.


A couple of shortboarders were killing it. Kind of glassy, uh?


Beauti-full moon.

The waves are not co-operating...

And I think I need a new wetsuit. Nah, my old one will make it another year.

Thank god for duct tape

Whatever that means, as predicted Hookipa was "all time" yesterday.

Let's start the show!
Best shot, as often happens: Levi with a sick goiter. I love when the tip of the sail touches the wave... it doesn't seem to prevent the success of the manouvre.


In this other goiter instead, Brawzinho's t sail didn't touch the water as much. Cleaner and faster execution, I have to say. Probably a bit easier, since he could use the energy of the closing out section in front of him.


One of those beautiful KP's bottom turns.


A rare "simple" lip hit by Mark Angulo (later in the post you'll understand what I mean...).


Brawzinho wave 360. I think there's way too much pure monofilm in that sail (later in the post you'll understand what I mean...).


Big waves, crazy moves all over the place and... Phil McGain testing race gear.


Jason Prior wave 360.


KP hits the lip and does a counter clockwise rotation... what's that a taka off the lip?


Jason Prior tweaked aerial.


And now four post subsections.

------------- subsection one: backloops --------------------

Francisco Goya in a big one. Nico's one (a few posts down) was taken from the same spot, so imagine how high he went...


Polo makes it to the blog!


Kai Katchadourian (always a nightmare to guess the spelling... I may start to call him KK).


------------- subsection two: on the rocks ---------------

Plenty people on the rocks, since occasionally some sets where closing out the channel. Danielino stopped and held Mark Angulo's and Browzhino's boards in an attempt to save them from the rocks.


Here's how all ended up.


See what I mean about too much monofilm without reinforcement?


Mark did a bit of damage too.


The Hookipa rocks is one place where Karma doesn't work. The one time I stopped to hold a board (it was little Bernd's one), I saved his board, but mine went on the rocks. That's when I decided not to do that again. Anyone who enters the water at Hookipa is on his own.
Another great example of this theory happened earlier this year: I went on the rocks and a guy came and help me to rescue my gear. While doing so, he cut his foot so bad that he had to stay out of the water for more than a week. I felt so bad for him, since he just arrived from Argentina and was going to stay just for three weeks...

Sure, it's nice sometimes to help somebody or if somebody helps you, but there's situations in which the help can not only be useless, but even counter productive.
In this case, for example, it could have been possible that the strong current would have swept those two boards faster and saved them from the rocks... who knows.
For sure Daniele wanted to be nice, but unfortunately it turned out not to be a good idea.

------------- subsection three: Mark Angulo crazy move --------------------

What is he exactly trying to do?


It looks like an aerial wave 360 off the lip, but with an arched back tweaked start.


This third shot, taken a little later in the rotation, may confirm the theory. He landed a few on the back. I wonder if he ever landed one on the face... I have to ask him. For sure he's collecting a huge amount of interesting wipeouts...


------------- subsection four: shared waves --------------------

Laurent (can't remember who was the other guy).


Jason and Jason (Diffin and Prior).


Cisco and KP.


This last section gives me the opportunity to explain the title.

Despite my sore ankle I was able to get in the water at Kanaha thanks to duct tape. Gary showed me how to wrap it in a way that won't allow the foot to overextend and the system proved to be quite efficient. Way better than the neoprene ankle braces that I tried at Sports Authority...

I started early with light wind and my footstrepless 100l modified tail board, AKA The Experiment. No problem there, seen the total lack of streps.
The wind picked up a bit and I went out on a 90l wihtout the back footstrep. Kind of weird, but somehow it felt great to be able to move the foot around.

Here's what I experienced: during the bottom turn the back foot doesn't need to be too far back (since you're in flat water you're actually trying to push the whole inside rail in the water). In the top turn instead, I was moving it all the way back to achieve a tighter radius and to better use the energy of the top of the wave to turn the board.
In other words, I found myself moving my back foot back and forth in the sequence of bottom and top turns.
Can't go too radical, can't do crazy aerials, can't jump... but I felt free-er. You guys should try in a not too choppy day.

And what did the shared waves section had to do with the duct tape? Oh yes, because thanks to the duct tape I was able to go sail, have fun and in particular to enjoy the best shared wave of my life! Swiss Ian was upwind of me (without priority, I think) and he signals with his hand: "shall we go together figure-eighting?"
"Sure, why not..", I nodded back.
Oh my god, what a great wave that turned into! Can't remember how many turns each we had (at leat four, maybe five), all of them in the very pocket of that miraculously perfectly peeling wave. So freaking cool to be at the top and see your buddy bottom turning below and immediately after starting to bottom turn yourself and so on...
Wow. We were both screaming at the end. I tell you what. If any of us would have ridden that wave alone, it would have not been even remotely as much fun.

Things I noticed:
- I was so focused on what he was doing, that I don't think I checked at all if there was anyone else in the water. Dangerous! Next time, I'll have to pay more attention and in general those rides are probably not a good idea in very crowded conditions.
- You need to trust your buddy. In other words, make sure you pick one that knows how to wave ride...

Superstoked that his ankle injury is mild and looking forward to another gorgeous day in Maui, your reporter from paradise reminds all readers to let go of all the possible bullshit reasons (a very common one these days: the economy!) that make you eventually pouty (NOTHING MATTERS, since one day we'll all be gone and that day could be tomorrow or even today!) and to enjoy your life wherever you are.
If you are reading this, it means you're sitting in front of a computer checking your favorite blog ;-) and that means you're way luckier than these guys.