dec 29 sesh

Well, Hookipa was beautiful but 100,000 people out.
Kanaha was small.
This place was empty, but many closeouts.
I had fun and took some pics from the front of the 8.6.

Hey, my thumb is in the barrel!


Lil' right.


As I said, plenty closeouts.


But also some doable sections.


Not this one.


Sorry about that snot.


No need for comment for this sequence...




Hey, I I just realized I have more Honolua bay pics. Stay tuned for those. Got to go work! Oh well...

Honolua bay + more SUP shots

Ladies and gentlemen, Maui's most beautiful wave.






Plenty drop-ins as usual.




Glenn.


Someone's legs. Don't look like Glenn's.


This guy did the monster drop of the day. Catching a bomb like that on a shortboard is for me way more impressive than being towed into a 50 feet wave.


Same guy, same wave.


Still him.


He's already thanking his god for the magnificent wave he sent him.


Well, after such a display of great surfing, I have to be very bold to post these photos of me on the standup taken on the 26th... specially starting with this one:


For the beginner standuppers, a couple of tips and a request:
- notice how I constantly use the paddle
- notice how I move the back foot on the rails to achieve the turns
- please, if you're in Maui and learning SUP surfing, go to the south shore. It's going to be extreeeemely easier/better for you and you won't be a danger for the other surfers as much as you will be on a north shore break.
When I learned it, I spent three months on the south shore before feeling ready to challenge the north shore. These days, every single day I see beginners in the lineup totally unaware of how dangerous they are.












Nothing, I just feel like spending a couple of words about the amazing weather we are experiencing. Here's the 5 days surfline forecast.


And I just checked the 7 days weather map models and there's even bigger surf ahead.
The jet stream is running pretty low and the storms get close to the island.
What's unbelievable is that we get this constant supply of NW swell, but this year in particular, most of the times we don't get to experience much of the weather associated with the storm. No wind, no rain, no cold air...
I mean, check the sky in those standup photos above... it's been like that for most of the time!
It might not be good for the plants or for our water supply, but I'm absolutely loving it.
I understand how the visiting windsurfers can be bummed about the lack of wind. A Maui trip is always an expensive one (well, actually they should stop bitching about it, considering that most people can't even afford it)...
But the local windsurfers... please gimme a break. Learn how to surf, go snorkeling, get a beach chair a book and a beer and enjoy the freaking sunshine!

Let's have a look at tomorrow's forecasted temperatures in some of the major world cities:
New York 17 34 (-8 1) cloudy
London 37 41 (3 5) heavy rain
Milan 36 43 (2 6) rain
Paia 67 81 (20 27) sunny and high surf advisory.

Today I surfed a total of 5 hours. Tomorrow it's going to be light kona and epic. It's 9pm. Even if I knew for sure that all those chicks of the previous post were waiting for me at Charley's, I would still go to bed right now and get some sleep.
That's how much I'm loving it.

Ok ok, maybe I would go there, get the numbers and call them when it's flat...

Goodnight!

what a lineup!

Till yesterday afternoon I had a terrible problem: I had too many good photos to post and didn't know from which ones to start.

But then I swung by Hookipa and ran into this kind of lineup...





And I even missed the group shower shot! I sincerely apologize for that.

In the meantime, french sailor Jean-Claude tried to sail, but the wind was way too light.


Forget about windsurfing, you guys. Maui these days is ALL about surfing. And what surfing!
Gosh, now I have again the problem of where to start from...

Let me use the usual chronological order.
December 25th, yet another gorgeous day. Yet another massive NW swell hit the islands. Blog reader Paolo went to Jaws and sent me these two pics. An unknown tow surfer and Kai Lenny. I'm sure there's plenty more pics on the net...



I instead, went the opposite way and scored a couple of fun surf sessions.
First one at 1000 peaks on the standup. I finally put the GoPro mount on the board and tried the "photo every 2 seconds" feature. The result was way beyond my expectations. I just have to figure out a way of keeping the droplets off the lens. So far, I tried Rain-x and sunscreen and neither one really seem to work.
Any water-photographer secrets to share out there?

It might be particularly hard for the ladies, but if you can actually take you eyes off my spectacular 47 years old body, please admire also the beauty of the sky and of the West Maui Mountain. It might not be the most high performance wave in Maui, but the background is classic Hawaii.


Just a few seconds later, such a display of strength, power, self confidence and balance is put into ridicule by the relentless shutter of the camera...


A photo every two seconds means no privacy whatsoever.


And now a few shots on the wave.




After that, I had a lovely two hour shortboard session in Lahaina. Clean belly to chest high and two people out. Me included.
After a lovely lunch, the plan was to go take photos at Honolua Bay, but a couple of excited windsurfers called me saying that it was kind of windy and people were getting ready to go sail.
Plans are done to be changed and I drove from Lahaina to Kanaha to find out that it was too light.
Mildly disappointed, I got back in my car and said:"oh well, it's only 3pm. I'll be at Honolua at 4 and shoot till sunset". One of the excited (not so much anymore) windsurfers joined me and between a chat and some good music, the drive went by pretty quickly.

But I have to interrupt the story now. Today I surfed 3.5 hours in the morning and worked 4 in the afternoon. I need rest.
Also because the buoy readings from 12 seconds just went back to 17 seconds. Yet another NW swell is on the way. Yet another sunny, no wind, glassy, surfing day... I'm loving it.

I'll try to finish the post tomorrow, don't forget to come back and check the pictures from Maui's most famous surfing spot.