As usual I got a lot of stuff to post and little time to do it. Let's start clearing some of the backlog with some photos of Wednesday Feb 13 at Hookipa.
It was almost the end of an incredible six days of wave sailing (from the 9th to the 14th), in which I scored four 5 stars and two 4 stars sessions... my best sequence ever!
And the best thing is that I kept scoring plenty memorable sessions even after the wind died and it got glassy perfection for surfing. North shore, south shore... plenty awesome waves to ride.
Anyway, here's a first small selection of the photos I took that day from the bluff.
I selected the bottom turns. Unfortunately I didn't take any of the other great sailors (Levi and Kauli, just to mention a couple), but this is already a great show.
Watching photos of bottom turns of the pros, I noticed how the tip of the mast usually points towards the section of the lip they will hit.
I tried to do that myself and it helps... at least in big waves.
Let's start with uncle Robby.
Jason Polakow.
Kevin Pritchard.
Robby Swift (figure eighting with Polakow)
Michi Schweigher.
So, what is your favorite? Oh, I forgot... you can't put comments anymore...
Btw, thanks to all the people that expressed solidarity via email.
Eventually the comments will be back with some form of moderation.
In the meantime the counter stats show that you guys are still reading the blog even without the comments while I enjoy a momentary lapse of quietness...
Post update: to celebrate the return of the comments, I'm adding two other bottom turns of the two sailors mentioned in the first two comments.
Jason.
Kevin.
6 comments:
palokow is my hero ! so i vote for both pic's with jason
Good pic of Kevin. I think he carries the most power through his bottom turns of the bunch now. Michi, and also Robby, lay down the sail at a different angle indicating a bit more back foot oriented turns.
fswp, what an incredible sailor Jason is.
He's completely missing the part of the brain that makes you make your moves in a "safe" way.
May not be the best thing in a contest, but he's so much fun to watch...
Ola, good analysis (as usual). Don't forget that PROBABLY Robby is riding a single fin and Kevin, Jason and Swift a twinzer (these ones I know for sure, since I got photos of aerials). Not sure about Michi.
Btw 1, nothing wrong with the more back foot oriented turns... I like them just as much as the more front foot oriented ones.
Btw 2, nice photos on your blog. Too bad my swedish is a bit rusty...
Btw 3, I had some memorable rides Friday. I was just 100 yards downwind of you guys, and it seemed to me that the waves were peeling much better giving possiblity of more turns and a clearer channel to sail out...
To reward you guys for the first two comments after the short blackout, I added two more bottom turns of the sailors you mentioned.
great !!
Jason is indeed incredible and like you say probably missing some part of safety brains, but to me, that proves he's doing it his way and having real fun all the time, even during contests, i just love his 'radical f*ck you wave i'll shred you apart' attitude, if you know what i mean :)
GP, some of the photos on my blog is by my son, he's getting some interesting perspectives sometimes.
The other day: I rode the downwind wave later in the afternoon. Caught some of the best rides of my life, actually, particularly one bomber that came through that I both got some nice turns on and some fast dtl speeding. I agree the wave was better down there. And I even think they get easier to ride out when they get bigger. And the channel is indeed easier to find if you just go down wind far enough. Not the best place to be whan the wind shuts of and it gets dark though...
Bottom turns: It's amazing how much power these guys put down. I thought about it the other day. For these guys board width gets really critical since they really bury the rail way past the forward shoulder. The other day we sailed I was more happy on my rather wide EVO 70 than on the narrow Quatro I also rode. One reason is probably that I'm not cranking down hard enough to be bothered by the width. A "damped" but kind of wind shape is probably a good compromise for most of us. I will certainly try getting that front rail of the Quatro in the water next time though... but I prefer a bit smaller waves to experiment with more radical bottom turns.
A-ha!
Glad you know you scored too... I was wondering what the hell you guys were doing up there...
I was really tired from two hours in the morning and decided not to challange those big sets in the afternoon.
Went to kanaha instead. It was super light, but got out of the water at 6.45... that means I had fun...
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