Sunday 10 22 windsurf report

Ah, what another tough day!

I sailed Kanaha with the shortboard and a 5.0. The little camera was mounted on the boom and I took a bunch of photos/videos. Not nearly as good as the ones in the previous post. It's official: this camera is more better (Hawaiian slang) for surfing.
See what I mean?


Here's a little water start. Not too exciting, but at least you don't have to turn the screen like in the post below...

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In this other one, I do a couple of bottom and top turns. I know, you can barely see them...

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After that, I moved to Hookipa to take a few photos. The waves were big, the wind was gusty and a few pros were having a blast.
Here's Jason Polakow studying an attack strategy.


Looks like it worked...


And just to finish that wave in glory, a 360. This would have been a high score in the upcoming Aloha Classic. By the way, I'm going to judge. Send me an email if you are going to compete and would like to corrupt me.


Here's another wave 360 by the Australian.


Still him, hitting da lip. He was on fire.


Keith Teboul was carving hard...


...and catching some air here and there.


Kevin Pritchard demolishing a lip.


Not sure who this one is, but for sure he got the bottom turn technique down.


Looks like he can top turn too!


Here's a little video that is called "lucky escape". Why lucky? Because there was a lull in the waves and he got a rare inside gust to water start. Boy, that was close! At the very end, a nice girl (Anna Marie) walks and says "Hey!". I politely answer "how you doin'?", stop the video and start to chat.
I got my priorities...

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Here's another little video to give you a better idea of the conditions. The guy on the blue sail had a bad timing and he will be eaten alive on his way out. It wasn't easy neither for the other guy. Sorry about the lost of focus. Not my fault.

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One guy paddled out and sat at the point. Here he goes...


Wow, what a drop! He actually made that section...


Don't believe it? Here he is, same wave.


End of the post. You guys from around the world should feel almost like you were there too to watch. Like this guy. Well, not quite... You don't have a bike with one shock absorber like him... do you?!


PS. These photos are considerably larger than what I usually post (1.2 MB versus around 300KB). Do they take longer to load? Do the whole blog page take longer to load? Please post a comment to let me know (let me know you connection speed too). Thanks.

No, wait! I almost forgot to tell you about today (Monday 10 23) !
I sailed Kanaha in the morning and Kuau in the late afternoon. The waves at Kuau were much bigger and I had a couple of reeeally nice ride. I was just thinking:"oh well, looks like I'm finally starting to like Kuau", when the wind dropped.
I was on the outside sinking with the water at my knees and it took me forever to slog all the way to the waves. My arms were sore (can't use the harness in that light wind). On the inside there was no wind at all. I started swimming pulling the board with one hand. I was slow, but I was hoping that the wind would pick up again (it usually does that). Then I checked the time: 5.45pm. Damn, I got to de-rig if I want to make it to the shore with the light!
So I did. I packed everything (this time I didn't lose anything in the process) and paddled towards the coast. Of course, at the end, the wind picked up again. But hey, what if it didn't? I did the right thing anyway and I was happy about the whole coolness with which I went thru the whole thing. Very zen. I even managed to enjoy a remarkable sunset!
I made it back thru the little beach of the Paia buddist temple/cemetery around 6.30.
New Zealand's Tracy had sailed in at Tavares and came to check that I was allright. She has a friend that lives right there and he took us back home, so we didn't have to walk back bare foot on the Hana Highway...
The hot shower at home felt particularly good.
One thing for sure. I'm gonna sleep good tonight...