Happy Halloween Treats

I don't think I have laughed so much while surfing in a long time. Maybe not since Karen and I sang "Oh, Holy Night!" back one summer long, long ago at Matanzas...

Somewhere around 4am, I woke up and heard that the wind had turned offshore and the buoys were four feet at thirteen seconds. It was hard to get back to sleep after that. So, I blasted to Matanzas before dawn, thinking only that it was high tide, and maybe, just maybe, it would happen.

I had neglected to factor in that it was a NE swell.

As I approached the overlook, I could see that the waves were bouncy and disorganized. Matanzas likes a southeasterly more. I called Andy to let him know. He was going to check the ramp near his house, and within minutes he let me know that it was no good. Let's try tenth, I said. It's more open to the swell, and he agreed, saying he would be there before me, and give me a report. When he called, I said, PLEASE TELL ME IT'S GOOD. But, no, it wasn't. There were some guys bunny-hopping it into the beach, he said, ugh. I thought for a moment. It's dropping tide, north swell, and when I got to where he was, I told him that Matanzas had looked way better than this brown slop. So, back into the gas-sipper I go, BACK TO MATANZAS. That was the call, as it turned out to be a good one. It turned out to be a fun, fun Halloween morning!

Bob called, said he was on his way, and I told him that I had done the leg work for him, we are going to Matanzas. Bob met me in the parking lot, and we walked down to the beach where we found Mark and Andy. It looked green and glassy, not perfect, but fun on a warm autumn day.


There is that moment, when you are first paddling out, where you slowly see if it is better or worse than you had expected. This was a morning that seemed like it was setting up for disappointment. It was very long between sets, and the high tide was making the waves back off. There were some shoulder high sets to be had, but they seemed lethargic. I began to regret not going on the bike ride this morning. I pictured everyone, on their bikes, in the parking lot, getting ready to head out, some of them disappointed because I chose surfing again.

But, hang in, like Allan says.

The tide began to drop. The Claw was out, and that always makes me sigh, because he is one of those types who doesn't have much of a sense of humor, and hogs all the waves on his longboard like no one is even around. Oh, but Bob, Andy, and I more than made up for his lack of humor. We were too busy making fun of each other, or nearly crashing into each other (Hey, Andy, how's that digit that got wax shoved under the fingernail?), to even notice him. Bob and I were talking about how gorgeous the day was, how it was nearly November, and how we were skinning it. At first, the waves seemed kinda slow, and too peaky. I was keyed up on sugar from Halloween treats, and ready to go, but there just was not enough action, at first. But, slowly things began to change, and soon we were hooting at some of the barrels we got. My best one was when Bob was sitting near me, after just paddling out, and he started shouting GO! because I was paddling for a nice wedging peak that I thought I might be too late for. My leash was wrapped around my foot, but I went anyway, got into pig-dog position to stabilize myself for the pitching takeoff... when WHOOSH! The dang thing sucked up and threw right over me! Andy and Mark had already paddled in and were on the beach. Bob said, "I bet Andy paddles back out now!" Sure enough, within minutes, he was paddling out near us, with Mark, and we got round two, the most fun of the day. Andy was laughing so hard after one barrel that I could hear him from down the beach. What fun it was out there today, laughing at what kooks we were, dropping in on each other, and laughing at ridiculous maneuvers; like my cut-out where I lost all my drive and was left standing there on the shoulder like some hapless fool. Hilarious. Good times. Happy Halloween!

bloody awesome. beautiful. you got to be kidding me. yaaaaaaaa.

You know those waves that when you kick out of them you just have to yell something out of your lungs? Specially when you're completely alone and you're not conditioned by the presence of others?

If you know what I'm talking about, you know how rare they are.
Well, today I had four of those. And listed in the title of this post are the short sentences I yelled out of my lungs when kicking out of them...

What an amazing day it was.

- surfing from 6.45 to 9.45.
- work from 10 to 2.
- photos at Hookipa from 2.30 to 3.30.
- windsurfing from 4 to 6.

The eight yoga lessons I took in the last three weeks are doing miracles and even though I clearly feel a bit shattered after a day like today, I feel very strong indeed.
It's a really good time to be me...

Hookipa was a great show since many non Maui resident pros are in town.
Photo of the day goes to Browsinho with a sick taka off the lip (or whatever that is called). He landed this one perfectly.


Here's the others in strict chronological order.
Mark Angulo.


Robby Swift bailing out a goiter.


Laurent.


Keith.


Upside down Swift.


When I told him about the rockstar contest, Browsinho excitedly accepted to enter:"I'm gonna win it", he said.
To all Hookipa sailors: you'll be stoked to be announced that you are officially in a windsurfing contest against Browsinho that you can actually win.


Francisco Porcella doing what he does best. (well, he's actually pretty good at getting barreled on a surfboard too)


Long time no see Jennifer Henderson at Hookipa. Sure she didn't forget how to sail it... nice legs, btw!


Camille.


Philippe.


Jason Polakow.


Manu.


9.45pm. Tomorrow, more waves. Sunday, even bigger. Life good. Very good. Goodnight.

PS. Both the NW and the Waimea buoys already had some readings of the new NW swell at around one foot. What's so exciting about it? It's the first time EVER that I read 25 seconds as the period...
Clearly those are just the small forerunners and the period will go down, but it's going to be a good one. Way more west of today's swell though. Today the direction was just right.

a little bit of more environment catastrophe and a little bit of boom height talk

More bad news for ocean lovers (and not). I saw this on Jeff's blog.



And this is the video that Windwiner linked in the comments:



Boom height.
Remember that sequence of me doing a couple of bottom and top turns and looking with the boom way too low in the shots right in the transition between the two? It's just two posts down.
I met Tormod and told him that I would have liked to check some sequences of the good guys to see if it happens to them too.
Didn't have to wait too long... he was nice enough to send me the link to some of the sequences he collected.
Let's have a look at:
- Keith Taboul
- Robby Naish 1

- Robby Naish 2
- Robby Naish 3

So, I was right. There is a moment in the transition between bottom and top turn in which the sailor is standing straight up (Robby's 1 and 3 in particular caught this moment perfectly) and has his arms bent so that the boom is quite close to the body. In this position, of course, the boom appears to be too low... but it's not.
In the bottom and top turns, as I said, in fact the sailor is coiled (sorry, using Kelly's words.. see below) like a cat and in the regular sailing the sailor is leaning upwind forming a triangle with mast, body and straight arms and so the boom is not upper belly high anymore, but between nipple and shoulder high as it should be.
Cool, I'll be happy to go back to exactly were I was putting my boom before Tormod took the sequence, because that one inch higher that I was trying didn't feel good at all.

Waves are up here in Maui and will be up for a while. The wind should be blowing today and the weekend, but right now (6am of Friday) it's calm and I'm going surfing. Let's see if I feel like trying a carving 360. Kelly Slater just explained me how... yeah, right.

Not too exciting weather maps in the next week in the north pacific. There will be a strong high pressure NW of Hawaii and that's a very bad (and unusual) place for it: north onshore winds will prevail and no major NW ground swells (there might be stormy N windswells though). Nice long lasting south swell around mid next week though. Could be worse... could be a lot worse!

Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?

No Good Surf Today...

But there was the parade of characters today at school. My little friend with autism sat on the curb, staring at the witches, ninjas, and assorted spooky costumed children passing by. I had watched him carefully as he walked out of the classroom. Someone seemed to be forever stepping on his long black cape. And why, oh why is it that of all the things in the world to end up beside him was a little girl with huge butterfly wings? The things kept hitting his head or touching him, as I watched from across the parade path, helpless, as he swatted at the annoying random taps again and again...

Wednesday Treats

Thanks to lucky breaks, and the best one I will save for the end...

I think I got the best of it today, climbed in that little window. This morning the reports said it had just turned almost offshore, but not yet. Not yet. So, I stuck with the job, tumbled dice with my little autistic cutie, over and over, as he smiled and called me "Mary." I counseled Veasel, as he is now called. He was running all over the hallways looking for me after school today, trying to get me to take him to his friend's house. I explained to him why teachers are not allowed to take students places, but I'm not sure I did a very good job. He said his mom was at work, and "didn't care" if he rode his bike eleven miles to get there. His next plan was for me to follow along beside him in my car. Oh, Veasel.

So, I really needed a surf today. Worrying about Colby, and if he is ever going to get a break, has been wearing on me.

Andy had left me a message that lunch break surfing was not very good. The waves were weak and slow. By the time I got out of the building, the wind was more offshore, the tide was almost high, and I had my sights set on Matanzas. Turned out to be worth the drive, although it was a weak and gutless swell. The water was green, the crowd factor low, and the water was warm enough to still skin it, here in late October! I surfed with Tom Burns, and a few others I didn't recognize. I had some pretty fun ones, glassy and green and the sun was gorgeous. I called Andy when I left, telling him it was definitely worth a paddle out.

And, then it happened. After eight torturous months... Colby called as I was writing this. It happened. Dreams actually do some true. He got the job in San Francisco! He will be leaving Los Angeles on Friday, bound for a near dream job in the city he loves. And, he will now be near Katie! Lucky, lucky Wednesday...

a message in the waves that we keep ignoring + new rockstar contest sponsor + couple of videos

A few years ago I saw the wonderful movie "Hawaii - Message in the waves".

That film changed my life. Since then, the amount of plastic bottles I personally introduced in the environment has been zero. For many years I've been using my refillable metal bottles and that's something that everyone should do.
Plastic bottles are only a part of the problem of course, since every plastic object will eventually deteriorate in small bits, but they're so easily replaceable! That's why I'm pissed off when I see people (I'm talking also to you guys) buying huge amounts of them.
Same as the plastic bags, of course. So easy to replace with a reusable non plastic bag, but no many give a shit.
What's the problem? Well, if you don't have the time to watch the trailers on the movie website, here's a few pics that should be clear enough.


Shocked? How's this one? Those could be the tops and bits of a water or soda plastic bottles that you drank a few years ago... and yes, that WAS a bird. A beautiful albatross to be precise.


"Why in the world those stupid birds eat the plastic bits?", I hear someone saying...
Ever heard about the pacific gyre?
This video should answer your question.


More info here.

So pleeeaaaase, don't introduce plastic in the environment that is not strictly necessary.
Halloween is coming up. Just the other day I say a stupid plastic fake battery operated candle to put into a pumpkin. Now, already the fact that one uses a pumpkin for purposes other than eating it when there's people in the world that has nothing to eat should make everyone feel guilty... am I so strange?
But inserting an extremely unnecessary and polluting object in it, is just too much for me.
Nothing wrong with celebrating, just do it in a responsible (for the environment) way please: don't buy NEW plastic for your costume!

Hookipa Rockstar Contest update
I'd like to welcome yet another sponsor for the Hookipa Rockstar Contest: Cafe Mambo in Paia is kind enough to offer $50 certificate with the motivation that anybody that ends up plastered on the rocks needs a Margarita on the rocks to celebrate. They are hosting a scary karaoke night for Halloween.

Looks like there's more sponsors than contestants so far... Elena entered the contest with a rock visit last week. The problem of this contest is that not many people are aware of it (believe it or not, not all Hookipa sailors follow this blog), so please help me spread the word.
I'm also thinking of putting the biggest price for the winner and the other prices as a lottery for all the other contestants. Your name will be in the lottery as many times as you've gone on the rocks, but in this way everyone will have the possibility of winning something. All you have to do is to leave a comment on this blog or on the contest facebook page to claim your rockstar point.

Couple of videos.
Last summer I shot a video for some visitors. It was flat and they were not pros, but I was able to pull out 17 minutes of footage. Kind of boring at times, but not if you're in it!!! I uploaded the last song (which is Funeral by The band of horses... and I totally copied it from Bruno Sillac's video!). Here it is.

summer video from giampaolo cammarota on Vimeo.

Oh, if you really got nothing to do, here's the whole 17 minutes!

I'm about to receive the new amazing High Definition GoPro cameras... so email me if you want a nice video of your windsurfing vacation in Maui!

One more vid. Cookie (who is a french guy called Aurelien, but americans can't pronounce it, so someone nicknamed him Cookie... just like my name and GP) put together a few wipeouts of last Thursday at Hoookipa.

Des windsurfers se sont font gentiment corriger par leur maitre. from windsurfing fever on Vimeo.

As I said already in fact, Hookipa last week was pretty fun with clean waves and veeery offshore winds. This week the offshore wind continues but the waves are pretty much gone.
Pat Caldwell is forecasting rough big waves out of the NW for Thursday (12 to 14 feet faces) and Saturday (14 to 18 feet faces). I personally think that those sizes are a bit overestimated. What I agree with him, unfortunately, is that right after that, at the beginning of next week, we'll have strong onshore winds with big rough windswell, kind of like Sylt conditions... that must be karma!

Anyway, it's still Hawaii, one of most beautiful places on Earth. Let's keep it as such, using as little plastic as possible. Thanks.

Hang on, one more. Blog reader Rafn sends another video of surfing in Iceland! Bloody hell, those guys are good. Respect!!!

Too Long Inbetween Surf Sessions

October is traditionally the best month for surfing here, but this month never got the memo. Long lulls in between good days make for an unhappy lot.

There have been rideable days, for sure, but the clean days we long for have been seriously lacking. That's why today seemed almost a mini-miracle. I had off, and the forecast came through as promised, shoulder high surf with southwest winds - woo hoo! It seemed to go southerly every now and then, marring the image I had conjured up in my brain, but it was sunny, and the sunlight danced on the wave faces like a thousand diamonds.

I checked the pier, but right away I knew I would not be surfing there. The parking lot was full of tents set up for some gathering, and there was a contest scheduled. One of the kids at school had informed me of this. Speaking of school...

SIDEBAR! DETOUR! I was asked to substitute yesterday, for a second grade teacher, the first time in my life I have done anything like this. I learned something, well, many things yesterday, but one thing that surprised me right off was that I did not go into panic mode. You see, I usually tutor kids one-on-one, and that is how I like it. Being in charge of an entire classroom of kids has never been my goal. It has always seemed too much for my flimsy spine. All the kids know me as an easy touch. I knew the minute I walked into the room and heard their excited whisperings, about me being their sub for the day, that I was dead. But, back to what I learned. I was not scared. I even smiled a little when the vice-principal asked me to do it, saying I loved a challenge. Famous last words.

I can't emphasize the lack of fear I had. Even walking down the hall to the classroom, I was waiting for the panic to wash over me.

So I walk in and get the kids, huddled on the floor in another second grade teacher's classroom. I walk them to their room, and there are some kids I know, and they are excited that I am their teacher for the day. We get things organized, I scramble for the teacher's lesson plan, and go at it. We do a morning work sheet, and there are a million questions. Raise your hand, guys, do not call out my name. I only come to kids who have their hands raised. Crowd control is number one. I am pretending to know how all this works. They seem to buy it, and we make it through this demented worksheet and on to centers, where they have things to accomplish with my constant guidance. Before I know it, we are on our way to art, and I will have a break. On the way, I apologize for mixing things up. I realize that we have left out the part where we all sit around and talk about the day of the month, the weather, etc. I tell them I am sorry, that we will do this when we get back. That was when sweet, articulate Brendan looks up at me and says, "Well, you ARE making this a bit AWKWARD!" I wanted to burst out laughing, but before I could, two kids blurted out, "But, we like it!" Oh, you kids!

When I pick them up after art, Brendan runs up and hugs me. I think, oh, you little devil, you feel bad about what you said earlier! I ask him if he can ever forgive me for mixing up his day, expecting that he is over it. Instead, he looks up at me with the most angelic face and says, "You know, you really should probably start with kindergarten." That's why I love kids. No games. Just the truth, bitter or sweet.

So, to the surf... I called Andy, and drove to Matanzas, down to the new wash-through inlet, but it wasn't happening. I drove back to the north side of the inlet and walked out to the overlook. Whoa... that looks like a nice peak. One guy was running down the boardwalk with his board. By the time I got my board, and made it down to the beach, Mark was standing by his truck, waiting for Andy to show up with his Placebo that we all want to ride. Andy came driving up then, and within minutes we were out in the water. The water has cooled a bit, but you can still skin it. I seemed to be out of the spot I had seen earlier, and the waves closed out on me for the most part. I decided to go in and check somewhere else. Just as I walked in, Andy was walking up, too, grinning from ear to ear. Come out over here, he said, and I almost didn't, but I sure am glad I did. We ended up getting so many fun ones, and for hours. It was so good, despite the current, and the waves had punch and power, for once. Bob joined us, and I saw D-Lite. It was so hilarious how he laughed when I recognized him. I have been watching you surf perfect waves in Nicaragua every single day, I said. I hate you! Someone has to live that life, and he is doing it!

Hours later, the sun was beating down on us, and we were starving. I walked up to Mark and Andy, who were already by their trucks, and were raving about a tube I had that I wasn't even sure I had really gotten into. That was the icing on the cake! We decided to go eat, and check it later. If the wind stays offshore, there may be another session...

Oops, probably just jinxed it.

What a fantastic Sunday! (part 2)

Did I say I'll post part 2 the day after I posted part 1?!?
Shoots, I must have been busy!

Anyway, as usual, I got so much stuff to post about and little time. So for now all you get is a slide show of a nice two turns sequence that Tormod took of me that day. The action is lame compared to the pros, but it gives an idea of how much fun it was...

Let's have a look at this photo now.


One of the many things I like about the Superfreak is that it has the widest PVC window in the market. Most wave sails (like the one in the background for example) don't have a proper clear window anymore. Manufacturers assume that you can see through the X-Ply just as well, but I find it distracting.
On the other hand, I hate monofilm windows (well, I hate monofilm!), because they scratch easily and they get cloudy pretty quickly (and they're noisy!).
So PVC is my favorite choice for a window: it doesn't scratch as easily and if it gets temporarily cloudy (like if you rinse the sail off with fresh water - what an overrated thing! - and don't let it dry), you can wash it with soap and it will come out as new. It also gives a softer feel to the whole sail and that, as you probably know, is what I like.

Thanks again to Tormod for the photos. Check his blog he has some great shots of Francisco Porcella. Hookipa in fact has been quite good every day this week, with waves and veeery offshore wind. Lots of big aerials, I feel like mentioning Camille Juban's ones too. Gun sails had a fotoshoot and he was just going off.
Allright, off to surfing.

what a fantastic Sunday! (part 1)

This island is magic.



I've lived here for almost 8 years now and I'm still impressed (almost shocked, actually) by its beauty and by the all it has to offer to the ocean lovers (and not).

As I wrote in the previous post, Sunday morning I didn't wake up early enough to go dawn patrol on the south shore. So I went to check Hookipa and found that even though already windy, there were head high peaks to be surfed and one guy out. Evidently the out of season south swell was big enough to be known by everyone (or everyone in Maui reads my blog...), so I guessed that everyone was on the south shore.
Michelle called for a report and we decided to paddle out, just to say:"hey, we surfed The Point with only another guy out". Actually she ended up having some good fun catching the very first waves on her brand new 6.0.
I cut my session short to save my energies for windsurfing and managed to take a pic of her. Good style, shoulders right above the board and no one else in sight!


That's the other guy. Not a bad wave to be caught without any competition at all!


At 11am I hit the water with 72l and 4.5 together with a couple of other early sailors. The first hour was super fun: I caught tons of waves before the usual crowd showed up and the wind got even stronger and gustier. I quit at 12.30 and ate my lunch with the appetite of a hungry wolf.
Two different people happened to take photos of me, but I'll publish those tomorrow.

While I received an afternoon invitation to a free Ukulele festival at the MACC, I followed the call for more ocean action and drove Makena side. As usual, the kids were challenging the impressive shore break. Some of them, very, very close to the rocks on the east end of the beach.




I love this shot. Pure fun and joy to play with your buddies. So cool! Click on it to appreciate better.








And now the surfing. These are some of the best surfing shots I've ever taken. The light was beautiful and the stiff offshore wind created a huge white spray that stood out in contrast with the black lava rocks in the background. The water color was unreal. But that's too many words, I'll let the photos speak...















Well, the photos make it look epic, but it was super crowded and the SSW direction often didn't allow to make the whole wave. So there was a massive number of people dropping in along the way and sometimes that created some hairy situations. The following clip shows a small set.


Occasionally the wave opened up better and if you were lucky no one would drop in. That's the case of the photo on the very top. That's Michelle again, "everyone's best surfing buddy" as Juan once defined her.
Here's a little cronicle that wave. It was the last one of a big set, so the face was a bit frotty, but most people had already gone for (or got washed by) the previous waves. She did a big drop, a sweet bottom turn, the awesome top turn that I caught in the picture, then she trimmed the board halfway on the face of wave, got completely barreled on the final section and even came out of it.
A perfect 10 from the italian judge. Very good job sistah!
"best first day on a board ever!", she commented in a Skype chat we just had... I believe that!

Around 5pm I decided to go to Little Beach. Met a couple of friends, surfed the left over there, drank a beer, watched a great sunset, admired the fire dancers and the stars.

As I said: fantastic.