Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Turtle SUP surfing

Just want to let everybody know how freaking perfect SUP surfing conditions Maui offered the last two days.

Not a breath of wind all day, not many people out. Clean 1 to 2 feet little peelers on all breaks from Kuau to Hookipa.
Way more difficult than when it's big. They're small, but they break fast anyway. And you just have no buffer zone for timing/positiong. You got to be in that spot in the moment. Challenging, hence fun.

This afternoon I started at Kuau, caught a bunch at Mama's (which used to be a wave that I disliked... today it was classic!), and then I decided to go check turtle bay (upwind of Hookipa). Never surfed there... unfortunately it needs more size, so no waves there. But I found out why it's called turtle bay...
I saw the biggest turtle ever! It was right under my board in shallow water and I thought it was a big coral head. I was quite shocked when I saw it slowly swim away...
It was so big that I could have stood up on it and paddle...
Maybe tomorrow I'll go back and try.

Anyway, after a total time of 3 hours of SUP wave riding and cruising, I felt the need for a rest. I beached at Hookipa and like a seal I crashed my body on the sand. I took a short nap in the mild late afternoon sun. It felt really good... really animal. And then I caught a few more at Lanes, that all of a sudden got shoulder highish.

This morning, instead, I surfed Hookipa on my shortboard... perfect condition for a shortboard kook like me. After the sesh, I took just one photo. Here it is. Look at that little, clean wave... look at the colors...


I gotta say: I love wavesailing, but surfing glassy waves is just another thing...
If for some reason I had to choose between the two, I'd have no doubts...
Also because I always wear some kind of wetsuit when it's windy. Today only shorts... more animal. Tomorrow, naked... even more animal!

Hey, thanks to the ones that voted. The poll is not over yet. If you didn't vote yet, please go down one post and do so.
Hey, where's the italians? E cazzo, in passato avete votato pure Berlusconi e mo' un voto a me non lo date?!!

Thanks!
PS. How am I going to finish that book if I like writing more than reading...?

3 comments:

PeconicPuffin said...

I like the paddler in the foreground who appears to be standing on the water!

Do many SUP boards submerge under the weight of the paddler?

PeconicPuffin said...

I like the paddler in the foreground who appears to be standing on the water!

Do many SUP boards submerge under the weight of the paddler?

cammar said...

Not at all, it would be too unstable...

You don't see that board because it's covered by a little bump.
Of course you can have different degrees of floatiness. For example, I have two boards that I can do SUP with.

A 12x26x3 that is barely enough to standup, but it surfs extremely well. Her name is Tippy.
A 12.6x26x4 with the mast truck. Her name is Heavy.

I pretty much use only Tippy for SUP surfing now, because I can take it to the beach without having to eat a steak before...