contributors' post

Not much to post about. Conditions suck and will keep sucking for a while. Big, messy and stormy surf, sideon wind, kind of cold.
I have fun no matter what, but it's definitely not classic Hawaii...
Hence, I'll post stuff that readers sent me.

Julien took this shot at Hookipa on Tuesday, last clean day before the conditions of the ocean deteriorated greatly.


Yesterday, most Hookipa regulars were down at Lowers. Ola instead decided to challenge an up the coast reef. He said it was gnarly and not fun at all.


Italian couple Andrea and Laura (the ones on the left) are leaving after a three month stay and offered pizza and drinks to their beach friends. Thanks for that and thanks to Bob for the photo.


Last, but not least, a link to a video that Lano sent me.
What that fisherman says shocked me. Unfortunately this is a common attitude: "we, the human race, the most intelligent race on Earth, have the right to decide who has to live or not".
Unfortunately, we, the human race, are fucking up the planet because of that attitude.

sea lion back side action

No, this post is not about the sex habits of marine mammals.

It's about the craziest looking board on the market: the AHD Sealion.


Here's a little video I shot today (8-10 knots of wind).

sea lion backside action from giampaolo cammarota on Vimeo.

Hey, how apropos was the title of the song?!!
Ok, I know you guys want to see where the camera was... One of those sticky plates that come with it. The safety line proved to be unnecessary.


Here's another video that the designer Bruno Andre put together.

And here's some standup photos (the yellow board is Jeff's).


I'm not telling where that wave is... not even under torture. What a discovery!


Too bad that since that day I haven't seen it working again.


I guess it's very tide dependent... you really don't want to fall there!


End of another day at the office.


Talking about offices, here's Hot Sails Maui designer Tom Hammerton's working table with his latest creation: the Fire Power Edition. It seems, in fact, that in Maui we are a little weird and we want sails that kill the power (that the gusty side shore wind offers in abundance). It also seems, in fact, that in other parts of the world they actually want sails as powerful as possible! Weird...


Well, it was spectacular out there today.
I timed my session right with the rising tide and those waves were just beautiful.


Up the coast it got pretty freaking big, with plenty 10-14 footers (lots of tow-in action).
Tomorrow, more of the same. Check Pat Caldwell forecast... a really good looking one.
It's going to be a busy week here in Maui.
Don't worry you guys... I'll make sure that all those waves won't go wasted.

flow rider

Post update.

Here's the link to Sharon's post with more funny shots.
Here's the link, instead, to some serious fake wave action. Check the last rider... a very young Jason Prior shows everyone how it's done.

Lastly, I'd like to publicly declare how proud I am of myself. After the fake wave, yesterday we all went to a pub and had a few beers (and for my first time ever a Shepperd's pie... not quite a big hit in Italy!).
I was feeling happy and tipsy. The party continued in an Haiku home, with master DJ Masters. I wisely decided not to go. I knew I would have had a few more and I knew I would have hated life on Sunday morning (that's what happens at my age when you drink too much and don't sleep enough).
Instead, I woke up full of energy and had two light wind wave sailing sessions that made me very happy indeed.

Life is about priorities. I just love mine.

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That fake wave in Kihei is so much fun...


Cool, relaxed and focused.


'Zactly!


The cool pool dude takes a little girl for a ride.


Here's the old fart again.


Hand in the water is not cheating.


Bikini of the day.


The fart tries to go sideways...


... and there he goes!


Thanks to Sharon for taking all this photos. She got plenty more, so stay tuned: I'll post the link right here as soon as they're online.
But the most thanks go to birthday boy Danny who rented the place for us!!! Thanks Danny, that was a blast!


PS. The day before I was practicing balance with dinner... I'm getting good at that cabbage risotto my mom showed me!

jeff's foot + footstraps + pwa + rocks encounter

Lil post update.

Right after reading my post, Ola and his family ran into this other seal on the south shore and took a few pics. Thanks!


So incredibly cute! Mine was slightly more pissed off, though...


Now this is Michelle Hunziker instead. She has absolutely nothing to do with Maui and Ola, but it was right next to the seal in the folder where I usually put the photos downloaded from emails. Sorry (not!), but I just couldn't stop myself from uploading her too.
"Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world... I feel like I can't take it."... let's see if someone remembers which movie this quote is from.
Anyway, I had the luck to meet her and she's truly incredibly beautiful. And in her case, I even feel like I could take all that beauty... or at least give it a good try!


What now, two photos for the seal race and only one for the human race? Da hell, here's another one!
Without any doubt the most beautiful woman I shook the hand of! Didn't wash my hand for a week after that...



AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!! Scrolling down the post, Bruno now just got into my screen. Right after the Hunziker beauty... that scared me more than the seal!
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Plenty stuff in this post.

Jeff's post about his broken foot, reminded me that I made a short interview with Bruno Andre about the DaKine footstraps he's using that should prevent those kind of injuries.


I tried them on his board (yet another nice AHD board, btw) and I was convinced enough to go buy a set. I put them on my 81l, but since then the wind started nuking and I've not used them much. So I can't tell yet, but I'll make sure to report my opinion once I'll have one.
I just feel like mentioning that when I bought them, I met a very good sailor at the cannery and he said:"those are the most dangerous streps around!"
"Really, and why is that?"
"Because they're stretchy and if you land a high jump or aerial, your foot sometimes slips all the way in and if you wipe out it will stay stuck there..."
Shit, that makes a lot of sense I thought...
But then I told Bruno this and he said:"probably that guy had the streps too wide. I have them pretty narrow to avoid that. For example, I don't use two corresponding inserts on mine (like the two middle ones), but two closer ones (like the middle one and the one closer).
I believe that if Jeff had these footstreps, his foot would have not broken. But, what if the guy at the cannery was right? That would mean that yes, less broken feet, but more risk for ankles and knees.
So, it's all to be proved.
If you guys have experience with these footstraps, please leave a comment and let us know. But please don't report about the very first version of these footstraps: they sucked (even though I know people who liked them). They were incredibly stiff. Now they are still a bit annoying if you have to adjust them (can't adjust them like the other ones, you need a screwdriver), but they are very flexible and that's what's different about them.

PWA

While I'm writing, the final day of the PWA contest at Cabo Verde is on its way. I've been reading the TEXT live ticker and instead of being happy that there is such a thing, I can't help being frustrated that we can't SEE it yet.
Here's an example: "16.45 Angulo just pulled onto a massive set and clocked up the closest thing to a perfect ride you can get. Simply stunning sailing from him, that was phenominal, just phenominal."
How does that make you feel?

As you can see from the double elimination ladder, Marcilio Browne had a good run all the way until he met KP, who then lost to Josh Angulo. Angulo won twice against Kauli and won the event.
18:20 So the winner is JOSH ANGULO, 2nd KAULI SEADI, 3rd KEVIN PRITCHARD, 4th MARCELLIO BROWNE

Somewhere I read that Kauli was on a quad board. Quite timely, Mr. Bruce McKee in person left a comment on the Dirk's quads post. Thanks for that.

Remarkable JC photo on the PWA site. I like the caption: Camille Juban moments before it all went very wrong.

And now a funny story.

Last Monday Hookipa was beautiful. After all that shitty (but still fun) windswell, the first head to logo high sets of a proper NW ground swell were hitting the shore. I was having a blast until, unfortunately, I broke my mast. The usual kook stuff: I fell on the inside, the board towards the wave and the mast towards the beach, no time to turn it around, the next wave comes, the tip of the mast gets stuck on the reef and... SNAP. How many times have I done that?
Anyway, since I've done that many times, I knew what to do: take it easy, swim with the current and get in through that little rocky cove downwind of the rocks.
Once I finally got onshore, these two big hawaiian guys fishing on the cliff towards Lanes were shouting me something. They were downwind and I couldn't hear them. I thought they were either making fun of me or bitching about their fishing lines and I ignored them.
Once I got my shit together, I started walking on those grey rocks and DID NOT SEE something.
Now, imagine the scene. I'm on this isolated rocky little cove and I think I'm completely alone. All of a sudden, some of those grey rocks come to life in the form of a huge monk seal that barks furiously at me for having interrupted a fat nap...
Holy shit, did I get scared!
And finally I could hear the voice of the two hawaiian guys laughing:"we told you there was a seal there!".
The animal was probably ten times heavier than me. "OK honey, no worries... I'm going to walk away from you... you keep napping, alright? I'm out of here in no time..."
Anyway, how cool is that you can have encounters like those? I wasn't even pissed off for the mast. I saw a beautiful animal in its natural environment... stoked!

bummer, the audio didn't work...

lil post update. Dave put up a video from yesterday on his blog.
It's the first time I see myself together with the good guys... OMG, what a difference! And thank god I'm on the little 68l...
First weird forward loop is by Luke Siver. Pascal and Keith are so freaking fluid and Keith is always so vertical.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh well, Dave did his webcast anyway. Yesterday five hundred people tuned in and that's quite remarkable, considering how little it was advertised. There's a big market out there... sponsors wake up!

Today I had a sweet double sesh and my arms are happily sore. Here's the first pic of the day. It's horribly blurred, but I was standing leaning against a van without the usual support of the arms of my beach chair... but it's such a nice aerial that I felt like rewarding it anyway... good job Andres.


Second shot and best non blurred shot of the day, Glenster.


Giuliana hits a lip.


Eyal in a beautiful shove-it.


Two busy backloops. Leo Ray.


And Eyal again.


And, just received from an italian tourist in vacation here (thanks Fabrizio), the blog author doing his thing.


That section in front of me looked pretty good, but I forgot that when going upwind you don't go as fast as when going downwind...


Closed out. Oh well, I tried...


Just came back from a great live performance of Makana. He's staying next door. Tomorrow morning I'll burn him a cd of italian songs.
First, I'll better do some stretching though.

maybe I'll do the commentary on today's webcast!

Not sure yet we'll be able to do it, but make sure to tune in to http://www.epicsessions.tv/ around 2.30-3pm hawaiian time...

PWA Cabo Verde single elimination + Hookipa photos and webcast report

How ironic is this.

While epic conditions were once again blessing the PWA contest in Cabo Verde and the only way the internet surfers could follow the event was a TEXT live ticker (by the way, congrats to whoever did it... I like the style), Dave Troup managed to do the first windsurfing webcast ever from Hookipa on epicsessions.tv

PWA organizers would you please finally do something about it?
Or, alternatively, Dave would you please go to Cabo Verde next year instead of coming to Maui?

Here's Dave at work. See? It didn't take that much... a video camera, a computer, a cell phone data connection, a few streaming servers somewhere and some bandwidth. Of course this was just a beta test. It could be better quality but hey... I would have loved watching Cabo Verde like that!


For the records. The car from where he shot from is one of mine. It is now in the history as the car that hosted the first windsurfing live webcast ever...


I took a few pics too. I'll post them and comment about the PWA single elimination results.
This is Taka, clearly sponsored by Naish now.


Keith is still sponsored by himself, instead.


Andres.


Leo Ray.


I saw this shot coming, but I didn't have the time to zoom out. So I had to shoot a bit early in order to have both sailors in the frame. Less zoom and a bit later and it would have been a killer shot.


Can't blame the zoom though. Look how close I can get. Totally digging the rail graphic of this Naish board. Nice and stylish.


And now a short section dedicated to a few creative friends (who I hope have good sense of humor...).

Cookie in a new move called Shampoo.


Elena in a "stick a nice butt out" bottom turn.


Fiona doing a proper water job.


Forgot to comment the PWA results!
Quickly, because I got to go play bass...
1) Kay Lenny almost made the final... shocking! Unbelievable that a 15 year old kid is so competitive already to kick ass like that. Absolutely impressed.
2) A few days ago, I was at the Hot Sails shop and with Tom and Glenn we bet on how Francisco Goya would have done after so long away from competition. Guess what I said... bloody fourth, that's what I said! Forgot what we bet though...
3) Congrats to Kauli and watch out Levi on the double elimination.

Got to go!!!

live Hookipa webcast!!! (+ water shots)

There we go, it's doable.

My friend Dave is doing it today (and maybe tomorrow too) around 2.15pm hawaiian time on http://www.epicsessions.tv/
No audio, but a chat line where you can ask questions and make comments. I might be there too, since I don't think I want to sail in these superwindy supergusty conditions of these days...

In the meantime, here's a couple of shots that Benjamin Thouard took from the water in November.


I remember this next one perfectly. That was a perfect spot for a tight top turn and a killer shot. Problem is that with my poor skill level, I would have probably ended up killing Ben... so I chose a safer (and lamer) lil kick out aerial off the back.
Ben, you should thank me for having saved your life.

what to do when you wake up really early in Maui

6 am canoe paddling hawaiian dutch italian style from giampaolo cammarota on Vimeo.

Pro-less Hookipa

Hookipa, photos from last sunday.

Without the top pros who are in Cabo Verde for the pwa event, let's see some new faces.
Best turn of the day, Frederick Steinbeck.


Dean Christener.


I think I saw this face already...


Patrick Bergeron wave 360.


Mark Angulo keeps trying his thing. Sure enough, he's persistent.


Bernd Roediger.


Julien.


Last, but not least, swedish sailor Ola Helenius with his new self designed and Maui built board.


His daughter wasn't too impressed.


My big respect to his wife Isla, who left the young child alone on the bluff for quite a while. An italian mother would have never done that for the fear that the child would have done something dangerous. Which means that either italian children are more stupid than swedish ones or that italian mothers are more apprehensive than swedish ones...
Look at her: "I think that bloke over there is taking photos of me..."


"I better assume a more composed pose!"


Thanks to his dad Pietro, here's a photo of Francisco Porcella training hard in Punta Preta (what a tough job!). He has been admitted to the top (?) 32 PWA athletes (selected with a mysterious criteria) who will compete starting February 14th.
Not too shabby conditions, uh? Another webcastless event. Another great missed opportunity.


Other photos of him, on Pietro's blog.

Here in Maui everybody seems to be excited about the super windy forecast for this weekend.
For my personal tastes, it's the worse forecast I can think of. Strong, offshore, gusty, squally, short period big windswell pushing you right onto the rocks with a wave on the head every 8-10 seconds... I might well choose to stay out of the water and take photos of the carnage from the bluff.

Ah, if only Santa would bring me some webcast gear...

PS. Beachtelegraph.com linked this quite pragmatic weather forecast site. Here's a few zip codes to play with:
New york: 10001
Los Angeles 90001
Absarokee, Montana 59001
Paia 96779.

PPS. I almost forgot... here's a lil present for all the UK windsurfers. The present being not Robby Swift in a tie of course (who cares about that), but the hot college girl with the union jack in the background. More photos of that party in this post on Sharon's blog. Nice one, Ulli.


PPPS. Someone needs a room in Kuau?