Tuesday 10 24 Hookipa windsurfing report

The main feature of this post is the long (10' 16") video at the end.
Ulli, seen Michelle's final comment to the post below this, do you think you can keep it that long?
Anyway, I just found out that you can talk over the movies and I did my first video with the director comment. I try to explain a few things to whoever is not too much into windsurfing and surfing.
I noticed I did quite a few English mistakes (Michelle, I hope that doesn't turn you off). For example at the beginning I say "there WAS a lot of pros" and at the end I use the word overestimated, but what I really mean is overated... But I like it enough not to do it again.

First, let's have a look at a few pics from the day.
This is our "neighborhood" spot of Kuau, where I sailed in the early afternoon. I can walk down the street with my sail already rigged (I have a set of sails always rigged at home) and launch from the rocks. As you can see, the conditions aren't too bad... Look at the color of the ocean under the noon sun.


This is Hookipa later in the afternoon. Jason Polakow continues to impress me with his splendid form. Here he is doing a one hand aerial and he's just about to stick his front hand in the lip of the wave. It reminds me of an incredible picture I say on Windsurfing magazine a few months ago. It was Luke Siver doing a radical top turn with the back hand on the boom and the front hand dragging behind in the water, looking like Kelly Slater. Josh, remember that?
Hey, look at that guy swimming in front of the wave. What the hell is he doing there? Kind of sketchy, I'd say... he's probably a windsurfer that fell and temporarely lost his board.


This is Kai Lenny ripping at age 13. Thanks to Jeff Henderson of Hot Sails Maui, who came up with a superlight specialized kid rig, kids can now start windsurfing as young as 4 to 6 (depending on the body type). That's why you see a lot of young kids already ripping in big waves. Thanks Jeff for a remarkable innovation that gave windsurfing a new gust of freshness.
By the way, the guys at Hot Sails decided that my blog was good enough to deserve a link on their 2007 website. Check it out! http://www.hotsailsmaui.com/2007 .


This is Glenn showing off the beauty of his Superfreak. The Superfreak is the best sail I have ever used and when I say that, I mean it.


Check out how Robby Naish lays down the sail on his bottom turns. It's a way of achieving a tighter radius of turn.


Robby casually (only one hand on the boom) checks out the wave 360 that Polakow is doing.


Look at this cuite patutie chilling out on the hill at Hoo.


And here's the video.

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Ops! Looks like the end got cut out. I'm not going to upload it again. It was almost done. The thing I was saying at the end is:"I want to thank the country of Brazil for sending it over"...

Comments are welcome. Help me to entertain you better.

PS Let me throw a forecast while I'm at. Sunday a big and messy north swell will pick up. It's been generated by a wide almost stationary fetch quite close to the islands. The short travel distance will allow the shorter period waves (around 8 seconds) to arrive the our shores (usually, the fetch is more far away and the die on their way) together to longer period waves (around 13 seconds) and that will make for confused breakers. The good news is that Sunday is going to be windy. Messy waves are horrible for surfing, but still ok for sailing...
At the beginning of next week, the wind should disappear and the waves should get really big, still from the north. Pat Caldwell says up to 28 feet faces. Conditions should stay about the same for the whole week.
With that size and direction, you can only find me in one surf spot in Maui. Which one? Top secret...