The swell built in size compared to Friday and yesterday Hookipa was solid head to logo high with some mast high sets. Only 11-12 seconds between the waves and very consistent set arrivals made for a lot of people on the rocks.
I had two sessions at a downwind break: a early one and a very late one. Clearly the latter was the best, since both the wind and the tide dropped and the waves got cleaner and hollower.
In between sessions, I took photos from the bluff.
The above one is my favorite of the day. Nat Gill is always a pleasure to watch.
The other ones are in chronological order. Laurent.
Nils in foreground in a photo that shows a typical set.
Dunno this guy.
The lifeguards went to rescue a kitesurfer in distress. Fellow windsurfers, please stop complaining about the lifeguards that are only there to apply the ten men rule, because when someone is in need, they do go out and rescue people.
If you break your gear and/or go on the rocks but you're not in danger, it's not their task to come and help you. They're there to save lives, not to help you save your gear.
Julien is sailing pretty good too.
Nat air 360 off the lip.
Oh-oh. Now what?
Keith is back. As you will see from the short video below, he's very good at floating over white water.
And hitting lips, of course.
My buddy Paolo wasn't liking his old stiff sails. I let him try an old superfreak of mine (4-5 years old at least). You should have seen his smile yesterday...
The Superfreaks are the easiest, most forgiving, most gentle on your body and longest lasting sails in the world.
This is a fact.
They're not the most powerful of course. But when the wind is like this (iWindsurf.com graph)...
...who cares about the power! When it blows between 15 to 35 all you want is a sail that dampens the power and that's what the dacron construction, the wide pvc window, the two central battens that don't go all the way to the mast and a few other unique peculiarities of the Superfreak do.
And if you think this is sponsorshit talk, do yourself a favor and try one. You may like it or not, but I guarantee you that everything I wrote is 100% true.
The easiest, most forgiving, most gentle on your body and longest lasting sail in the world. Period.
Talking about sails, looks like that brother to brother phone call was a successful one. Or maybe taking advantage of the fact that he's not here, Luke just went in Levi's truck and nicked one...
Julien one hand top turn into aerial.
Luke.
Elena is the most wave sailing addicted person I know. She racks up the most hours of sailing at Hookipa every year, without a doubt. No one can compete with her in that category, not even her husband!
Good old Alex Aguera.
Nico first aerial.
Nico second aerial... on the same wave! Kinel...
This beautiful body belongs to the girlfriend of one of the sailors. I just wanted to leave her anonymous, but her face is just as beautiful. Lovely dress, btw!
Bit of a damage.
Luke.
Luke.
Nat was throwing some sick tweaked aerials. I missed most of them.
Nat.
Keith.
This first video shows a set and a bunch of "normal" sailors on it. Then Graham Ezzy pumps up the level, but you can still see how difficult it was because of the big chop due to the strong wind and extreme high tide.
Well, Keith looks quite at ease. I love the way he floats the white watery lip.
1 comment:
I agree with you about the girl's dress - it's very pretty. What a change seeing a female clothed!
Anne
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