Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Freak Meet

This was a great event organized by Hot Sails Maui last Sunday.
Light wind (good for longboard sailing) and sunny, lots of people showed up to show off their Superfreaks and socialize.
I got too many photos to chose from and very little time to sort them all out and do a complete post, so I'll start by posting a couple. I'll add more day by day.

Here's the man who had the balls to come up with such a de-volutionary idea of doing modernly cut sails with dacron.
In the name of thousands of happy sailors all over the world: THANK YOU JEFF, those sails rock.


Ask anyone in this photo and they will say the same thing.


First photo was from Bob. Here's his other ones.
Second photo is from Sharon. She got a few more in her latest post, along with a tango dancing Francisco Goya.

After a super windy March, Maui disappointed his windsurfing vacationers with one the the least windy Aprils I can remember in the last eight years.
Still some fun wavesailing sessions (if you knew where to go) and some great (finally!) surfing conditions. My back is sore from paddling and my body is asking for rest. Goodnight and come back for more photos on this post.

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Here we go: more pics.
I like the new red of the Ultralights.


Not a fan of the black. But I like the devil woman...


You can put whatever you want on a Superfreak. The name of your company, your favorite rockstar...


The socializing part was great too.


Also thanks to the Superfreak punch...


Juliana dances gracefully (must be the punch).


Bart shows off a classic rail ride on my good old 12.2 (must be the punch).


What are you guys exactly trying to do? (must be the punch)


Tandem boards were a big hit.


Only Superfreaks out at sunset.


What a great day it was!

Friday, April 24, 2009

short Kauli interview

Just received a FB message about the Freak Meet event that says:
WE ARE STILL ON!!!
Rain or shine, wind or no wind let's meet at Kanaha at 10 AM!
Then it's all up to weather... but we will have fun regardless.
Aloha,
Hot Sails Maui Crew

PS. Talking about Facebook, I'd like to celebrate the 100th unaccepted request of my friendship. Mr. Carlo Buono was the fortunate winner of.. absolutely nothing.
Sorry to all of the people that requested my FB friendship, but I already have too many friends (thinking about deleting a few...) and FB is becoming unusable and quite uninteresting.
Knowing that someone that I don't even know is getting ready to go the gym on the other side of the world, is not a particularly exciting thing for me.
Jesus, am I snob or what?
Ops, 101...
PPS. Good looking women are welcome exceptions.

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The other day I parked behind Kauli's truck.


Here's a de-tail of his quad.


Today I met him at Mana food's and I asked him a few questions.
GP. Hey, what's up with these quads now?
Kauli. I like them: as loose as a twin fin, but more drive in the turns.
GP. What's the downside?
Kauli: Haven't find it yet.
GP. Did you sit together with Keith in front of his computer and designed it with him?
Kauli. Yes.
Then a couple of hot chicks passed by and we both completely lost our focus...

Thursday, April 23, 2009

GoPro

A blog reader sent me the link to these two incredible GoPro Wide clips.
The first one shows John John Florence getting a 5 seconds barrel at Backdoor Pipe.
The second one shows Jamie Sterling going left at Pipe. Enjoy.





Here's the text of the first email I sent to the GoPro guys. The subject was:"I'm not a dealer..."
...but I could almost be one! I already had three people buy it in 10 days that I have it.

I'd like you to let know whoever thought about such a killer product, that I really enjoy it and I think that you guys are going to make some major money out of it. Once it's out in the market (in the water), it will basically sell by itself.
I also told a couple of surf shop owners in Maui that they should order a few.
If you feel, have a look at my blog. I posted a good number of pics and videos.
And also let me know if you need some help of some kind in Maui.
Cheers,


It was September 27 2006 and the little camera was not wide angle, had no SD card, and could only record 15 seconds mini clips. Still, it showed (at least to me) how extraordinary it was (going to be) compared to those ridicolous backpacks with heavy batter packs, water proof cased camcorder and (hopefully) water proof connection cables...

Thanks to the GoPro guys for having supported me since then and good luck for an even more brilliant future. Don't stop the development and make it even better!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

awesome superlight wind session

Never planed once. Shoulder high waves. 4.7 Superfreak UL absolute perfection in light wind. Blog author never stuck so many aerials in one single session before. Blog author happy.

Monday, April 20, 2009

blog author in Hana

Blog author shows that it's possible to bodyboard even with an amputated leg.
He just got to figure out a better way of wearing the fin.


Blog author knows how to look sexy.


Blog author decides that bodyboards are not as fun as surfboards and grabs an old 9.2.
Notice the remarkable depth of field of this photo. You can see the canoe paddles lined up on the beach at Hana bay.


Blog author goes right.


Blog author made sure not to drop in this guy.


Blog author and blog author's buddy on a hike.


Blog author met fellow countryman Dario a few days ago. He looked like a nice guy and blog author invited him in Hana. Little he knew he would have turned into Jesus.



Blog author catches a left at Koki beach.


Blog author rides a left at Koki beach.


Blog author wonders if he's ever going to be as confortable on a shortboard as he is on a longboard.


Blog author will find out this summer.

Before saying goodbye, blog author links Sharon's Hana post.

Blog author says goodbye.

Friday, April 17, 2009

A couple of memorable sessions

Here are some photos from Wednesday late afternoon session.

Andres, when the wind was still cranking.


Me and Kauli (it's a thrill just to write that...)


Carbon copy of the previous turn. Way too early, way too downwind of the peak... and there's not even Kauli on the background!


Levi shows me how to do it.


And Eyal too.


6.05 The conditions are improving (and my turns too).


6.13 This is the last photo my friend took, before a squall came and he had to leave.
After that there were four sailors left in the water (me, Levi and two others) and for twenty more minutes we had consistent logo high superclean sets. Surfers were out at green trees, so we only had the last bowl, but it was a freaking blast.
Levi was screaming "sooo good" and that should give you an idea of how really good it was. Luck, somebody said. The power of knowledge, I replied...


Thursday was another phenomenal session, with light offshore wind and clean big waves. Hookipa supercrowded (I guess I was wrong, assuming that the photoshoots were over), I sailed down the coast and had another magnificent session.
Now the wind is going to really get light (maybe another scholg and surf sesh this afternoon?) and I'm off to Hana for the weekend. But first to surfing this morning before work.
Stoked.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

non pro sailors post

Strong and gusty wind yesterday at Hookipa. This is the iWindsurf.com graph.


Way too windy for me, I got in the water at 5.20 and sailed till 6.20. Clearly the last 20 minutes were my favorite. Just schlog and surf on a 72l board and a brightly colored 4.0... I'm definitely becoming a dusk sailor.


I like the symmetry of the sails in this photo.


Lil backwind ride.


Thanks to my buddy Maurizio who is visiting from Italy and took the photos (and cooked a delicious dinner last night). He's using a very old 4.7 of mine and he says that the sail works great! One more advantage of the Superfreaks: they last much longer than monofilm/xply sails.


Talking about Superfreaks, here's again the page with the description of the Freak and Meet event that will take place Sunday April 26th.
(Please let me know if everyone can open that page no problem). If you have a Superfreak, make sure you don't miss out and please tell the other fellow superfreakers at the beach. Should be fun.

This below is blog reader Matt from Oregon who hired me to film him while sailing. Unfortunately it was cloudy, but there were waves at Lowers...
Every time I film someone down the line, I learn something. Videos like this will get better and better... keep me busy you guys!



This blog had a great start of the week: 1,140 unique visitors on Monday and 1,377 on Tuesday. Thanks to everyone for tuning in.
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Forecast.
This afternoon (Wednesday) the forerunners of a new NW swell will arrive.
The NW buoy is showing 2 feet at 17 seconds from 330 at 6am. Only half foot at the Waimea buoy. I can foresee another dusk session.
The really big news though, is that after Thursday the wind will die for quite a few days. That will be the end of an incredibly long stretch of wind and (some kind of) waves. Can't be bothered to go check the archives, but I'd say at least one month of consistently decent wave sailing conditions. Whoever chose to come in vacation in the last month should be stoked, just like all the windsurfing brands that successfully had their photoshoot in Maui.
To both, see you guys next year.
Oh, almost forgot. No wind but long lasting N swell this weekend...

Monday, April 13, 2009

Mark Angulo's Mutant

Last week I asked Mark Angulo a few questions:
GP: "Mark, how many times have you tried your Mutant?"
Mark: "Thousands..."
GP: "How many times have you landed it?"
Mark: "Five, two of which perfectly clean"
GP: "Has anyone caught one of them on video?"
Mark: "No, not yet."

Well, unless something changed in the meantime, here's the first video ever of a successful Mutant.
PS: Well, clearly not after seen the one in the comments.


As you can see also from the photo below, it's definitely a peculiar move, in which Mark gets pretty much vertical upside down.
As you can also see from the slideshow below, the new generation of acrobatic sailors are not afraid of throwing rotations off the lip, but so far I've never seen anyone else trying a Mutant. Who knows, it might be forever a Mark Angulo's unique signature move...


Many thanks to Nico Drasimino who filmed it and sent it to me. Here he is in a shot of his own new personal move. Nico, what's the name of that one?
I also feel like linking once again Nico's mega backloop youtube clip. Respect.


Here's the slideshow from yesterday. Beautiful sunny day, waves, 45 sailors in the water, helicopters, four water photographers, way too crowded for me, but a hell lot of fun taking photos. Victor was all about forwards off the lip and just about everyone was going off big time. Enjoy the show.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

The butterfly effect downwind

Here's a very appreciated contribution by Tim in the comments.

Tatiana and Juliana's Butterfly Effects are non-profit events bringing together water-women, of all skills levels, for a fun non-competitive gathering, with the aim of instilling self-confidence in girls from many different water-sports and encouraging them to experience and do something that they haven't done before (e.g. launching from Ho'okipa, doing a down winder etc). Many girls who are now regularly ripping at Ho'okipa launched there for the first time during a Butterfly effect.


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Post update: here's websites with photos of the event:
- Tatiana
- KP
- mystery bob
- Bart's blog
- Dan Rayburn

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Never seen so many women all together in Maui.

These must be ALL the women of the north shore. The situation went back to normal at the evening party at Jaques when the guys largely outnumbered the girls again. Oh well...


I clearly couldn't miss the opportunity of snapping some portraits.


Somebody really didn't want to miss out.


A one man canoe race launched from Maliko a few minutes BEFORE the girls got in the water... the other way around would have been interesting.


The stretching session was my favorite.


'Zactly.


KP too enjoyed taking photos of the ladies.


Elena Pompei was showing off a butterfly bikini of her creation. Warning, checking the models on her website can cause headache.


The wind was light and most girls were on standup boards. Kitesurfers had no problem, windsurfers probably had one of their longest schlogs of their life...
Oh, talking about Olukai slippers, they're organizing a double OC-1 and SUP race on May 16-17. Here's more info.


A few months ago I promised to take a photo of a couple of incredible Irish eyes. Finally they are back in Maui. Ladies and gentlemen: Katie the cutie.


Got to love today's fashion.


Jeff Henderson. Sorry Jeff, a little out of focus.


Mo' better now.


Need a hand?


Late in the afternoon I went to Kanaha where a Gaastra photoshoot was taking place.


Classic shot.


This is me instead on my ex Bjiorn Dunkerback 15 years old slalom board custom shaped by Peter Thommen. Still going fast.


Also thanks to my 6.0 Hot Sails Speed demon.


Sunday morning the NW buoy shows a new swell hitting at 4 feet, 15 sec from 330 (still only 2 feet at the Waimea buoy). Not a big one, but still a fun one. Should be better than this.