Friday, November 17, 2006

PWA Maui day 8

Better conditions today with some nice sets coming thru.
The whole losers bracket was run and there were some nice, really nice heats.
Levi against Polakow was my favorite.
But it's too late for a detailed report tonight. I filmed all the waves of the final and I will post it at my earliest convenience.

I just want to mention a few things:
1) Angulo won the contest (this time officially), Polakow was second, K. Pritchard third and Levi fourth.
2) K. Pritchard won the wave world cup crown, Angulo second and Kauli third.
3) Iballa Moreno won the women contest AND the wave world cup.
4) The pussy factor at the party at Charley's was extreeemely high.

Why am I in bed at 10pm then?
Because right after the end of the contest (5pm) I called Jeff to see if they were still testing the longboards. "We're done", he said, "but sails and boards are still on the grass by the beach. You're welcome to come and pick whatever you want".
I got there at 5.20. Light wind, small waves at upper Kanaha.
Roughly 30 minutes of safe sailing before dark, I estimated. Clearly I picked up my new foamy 9.6.
Fun. Very fun. It had a too small fin that made the tail too lose, but I had a lot of fun. 30 minutes are not enough to come up with a detailed description, but here are my very first impressions:
1) impressive floatation for a 9.6. I could uphaul confortably enough.
2) very fun upwind wave-sailing
3) a bit akward downwind wave-sailing. But that could be the small fin and the weird messy waves of upper Kanaha.
4) it feels too light. It feels like it would bounce too much on the chops of a big wave. If this impression is confirmed, I may decide to make it heavier by glassing it with fiberglass.

In summary, it's a big step closer to my perfect board, but I don't think it's quite it. Disappointed? You got to be kidding me... I'm stoked! 'Cause I got more information now!
It's not about HAVING the perfect board. It's about dreaming of it.
I dream about designing, shaping and glassing my perfect board. It may take years, it may never happen, the board may suck... doesn't matter. I'm already stoked now...

PS Tomorrow there might be some perfect conditions for longboard sailing and the boards are still all there, that's why I want to go to sleep early...
Hangovers suck. I'm so over them! Life in Maui is too beautiful to be hungover...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

just admit it, you have a better offer at home.

Anonymous said...

Home in bed by 10pm, you must be exhausted after all that lounging around on the beach talking to windsurfers and checking out the talent......dare I say keep up the good work, you need no encouragement!

Wish we were at Charlies! :(

Lano!

Anonymous said...

Nice one GP! Watching your longboard experiments with great interest. Maybe you could make some pics of the boards and tell us what makes them tick. You speak of good upwind ability, how does this work, I mean the boards have no daggerboard and very soft rails (I presume). Upwind performance would be very important since we (in the Netherlands) face quite some heavy currents with our coastal sailing.

cammar said...

Meesh, stop the British alliance...

Lano, you should have seen JP's girlfriend... oh my!

Robin, photos and report coming soon.
Those boards sail upwind great because the don't plane, so they have at least half of the whole board in the water and that act like a big daggerboard... at least, that's my guess...
I wish I had the mini-camera with me yesterday to take photos of the faces of those two surfers that witnessed the turns I was doing on my new 9.6. They could not believe their eyes! Stay tuned.

Anonymous said...

Eagerly awaiting your reports an pics, thinking about bringing this thing to the Netherlands, so can do with every bit of info you can give me!

Anonymous said...

JP's girlie? Pics please!

Lano!

Anonymous said...

GP;
thanks again for such a nice coverage of the Aloha C.
Something that got my attention was the score sheets you posted, specially in the jumps: the highest score is the "pushloop-forward".That is sick! Is that a dream jump or somebody has done it before? I'd love it if you find out..
Marcos

Anonymous said...

Robin, you just have to be patient. Conditions in Maui are pretty much epic these days. Today it was head high with some logo high sets a lower Kanaha.
Here's tomorrow's forecast:
Surf along north facing shores will be 8 to 12 feet, increasing to 12 to 16 feet with occasional higher sets by Monday afternoon.
I have so many things to say about what I am experiencing with my new board, but I don't have the time. But I will. I promise. I'll write even too much...

Lano, I didn't take any photo of her because every time she was in my field of vision my jaws dropped and I could not move. I should have had a jaws-activated camera...

Marcos, I wonder that too. If it's there, it means that at least somebody is trying it, but I'll ask Kauli next time I see him. Or, even better, Boujamaa Guillol... I'm sure he tried a few. And if he didn't, he will jump in the water and try one as soon as I mention it to him...