Thursday, November 04, 2010

outer reef bliss

What a day.

Me, Jeff and John. Glassy, beautiful, big, gentle rollers. Paradise.
John catches his first wave.


Awesome.


Jeff had a helmet with a camera on the side. I like my GoPro head band better.

Jeff has lived in Maui more than 20 years and has never seen these little buggers. It was full of them. We didn't find out if they sting...


This photo shows the beautiful West Maui Mountain and the long distance between two waves.


John drops in what was for sure the bomb of the day. That thing was double overhead plus and barreling right next to him.


I caught one behind. Smaller, but still big and with a loooong shoulder to ride.


Just beautiful out there.


Wipeout! That's when I found out that my fin screw nut broke and had to paddle back in. It was a breakaway nut and maybe the leash got tangled around the fin...


John catches a last beauty. Here's the sequence.




Who spilled the cappuccino?!


I only took few video clips. Here's one.


A couple of websites announcements.
Francky's new site is off the hook!
Need an SUP advice?

11 comments:

Jeff said...

That was some fun!

Joe Agliozzo said...

Looks awesome - must be so nice to avoid the crowds that were probably present closer to shore..

Have you tried the little Starboard SUP in those conditions yet?

Meesh said...

Tues or Wed?

wally said...

Outstanding ...

Makes me smile from 4500 miles away.

Anonymous said...

Wow! That was absolutely beautiful. what is what SUP surfing is all about right there.

cammar said...

Jeff, oh yeah!
Sorry, John ended up having the best photos... did you get any with your camera?

Joe,
when I went back in there were like three SUP surfers on the inside reef that were getting some serious (and dangerous) poundings. The inside reef was hell, the outside one was heaven. Why we were only three, I do not know, but I sure won't complain.

Haven't tried the 7.4 in double overhead surf and probably never will. I was on my Kazuma 9.3x27.5 and I was definitely surffering for its instability and little glide. The starboard is more stable, but has no glide at all, so it won't work in this size waves. At least not with me on it.
Jeff was on the Starboard 10.5 and John on a big Naish and they could catch waves much easier than me.
Big waves require big boards.

But I did try the 7.4 in head high surf at lower Kanaha and it was a blast.

Meesh, that was Wed.
Tuesday I was at the beach at 6.30am, jonesing to get in the water (had to work at 10) and couldn't find no one that wanted to paddle out to the outer reef. I ended up surfing messy Waiehu instead. The harbor in the afternoon was fun instead!
BTW, when I left home AT 6am it was too dark to check the webcams. So I didn't know that Breakwall was head high... and missed a fun session there.
That's why yesterday I finally got myself an internet phone! Clearly not a non-flash-supporting iPhone...

Wally,
glad to hear that.
The photos don't render the size of the waves, but they kinda render the beauty, don't they?

Anon,
undoubtly the SUP boards allow to paddle longer distances, hence surf spots that are normally out of reach.
I actually enjoy SUP surfing also in very small surf (thanks to that fantastic 7.4 starboard that I have).
I also SUP surf when my back is too sore from too much lay down paddling.
But other than the three above situations, I like regulars surfing much better.
No judgement, just preference.

Meesh said...

Sweet, looks awesome.

Or dbl overhead sets at the west side place where we went, which you will remember.... and there is a surf cam for that, so now you can check that aswell.

cammar said...

A swell as well!
;)

Anonymous said...

What is that thing? Jelly fish?
Is it dangerous? What makes this thing on the photo so special?

nice waves.

Aloha,
toppa

Kuba said...

Hey, GP! I feel that you definitely should watch this:
http://vimeo.com/16202331
Pure beauty...

James Douglass said...

The jellyfish looks like an Aequorea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aequorea_victoria

They don't sting but they are bioluminescent. Weirdly enough, scientists have isolated the Aequorea dna that codes for their glow-in-the-dark substance. Now they use that glowing substance for lots of biology research where they need to light up things inside cells and stuff.