le onde grandi are back

Grand day.

I had an early wave sailing session at a spot up the coast. It wasn't great (the wind was very offshore hence very gusty and strong on the face of the wave), but there were the first mast high sets of the season, so it felt really good...

Then I went to Hookipa to take photos.
In the couple of hours that I watched, I was impressed by the performance of three guys: Camille, Levi and Polakow. I do feel like mentioning Kevin Pritchard too.

Let's get to the photos. I don't really have a favorite one, so I'll stick to the chronological order.
Believe it or not, I don't know who this is. But yes, it is still possible to rip on a single fin.

Morgan.


Compared to those waves he rode at Cloudbreak, this must have felt like a knee high wave for Jason Polakow.
Sorry if it's out of focus, but I still haven't read the manual of the new camera. It's good to be bazy (a mix between busy and lazy).


JP's aerial wave 360 in a critical section.
Levi did a few of those too. So perfect that a couple of times I felt like standing up and clapping hands...
It was a lot of fun to watch the best sailors in the world rip the waves apart in those challenging conditions.


That is one steep rise registered by the North buoy. The NW one went up to 9 feet 14 seconds.


Levi doesn't need fins. He buries the whole board in the top turns!
Notice the spray.

I believe this is Nathan Mershon. He's leading the AWT rankings with high chances of winning the whole thing. It's the first time I see him and, even though he might not be as radical as the top guys who live here, he sure rips.

This is from another day. Together with the next photo is an example of "cropping on the camera". Camille.

Love this shot of Browsinho!

I guess we're now back to today... blogger doesn't load the photos in the order it used too. One of the many little things that changed (for the worse) in the switch to the new PC and operating system.
Anyway, classic Josh Stone.

The evening surf session was for me actually better than the sailing session. The main reason is that I was on a 6.0 at a longboard/SUP spot and I managed to catch at least 5 good waves. I love the way I'm pushing my limits on the surfing.

In order to continue to do that, I'd like to go catch a few more at dawn, so you guys will excuse me if I, despite of the fact that could find things to write about all night, will now end this post and go to sleep.

Le onde grandi are back and I want to dance with them.


PS. Hey, uncle Robby and me are 8th and 9th! Only the first five take part to the expression session at the AWT Maui Makani contest. I really hope I won't make it, but I do confess that it would mildly thrill me to end up with more votes than the most famous windsurfer in the world...
So move those lazy fingers of yours, go to the AWT website and click on my name!!!