epic surfing

I know, I used this title already... how cool is that?

How else should I call this post? Here's the photos I took today in chronological order (believe it or not).

Actually, this lovely photographer was the reason because I took my camera out after my first session.

The point.

The light offshore wind offered some barrel opportunities.

Mini sequence photo 1.

Photo 2. Same wave.

Back hand bottom turn.

Girl's shorts should be illegal. Mmm.. let me take that back. Shorts on SOME girls should be illegal.

Michael flies.

Ladies: click on the photo and drool over the abs.

French lady drops.

American lady cuts back.

Mean turn at the Lane.

This guy (which I was able to cut the body in half) was throwing the most amazing rotations off the lip.

My sessions report (did I just lose all the readers here?):

I had two intense sessions at Lanes (a session at Lanes with overhead waves is ALWAYS intense) and loved both. A lot of stuff happened:
- I did some big beautiful late drops thanks to the rocker of my Gianfranco's carbon stringered 6.6 (sooner or later, I'll talk about it)
- I did some big beautiful late drops wipeouts (sometimes even a beautiful rocker can't compensate for the lack of skill)
- a guy wanted to go for an impossible late drop right in front of me and bailed at the last moment letting his board go... I clearly gave up the duck dive and bailed too. We ended up getting seriously pounded (hit the reef on my back, but the wetsuit saved my skin) and my board got a big fin cut on the bottom. Better the board than my face!!
BTW, the board is fixed already. Thank god for UV reacting resin.
- a wave ripped off my wetsuit top... completely! If it wasn't for the attachment to the shorts string in the front, it would be now completely gone. What a great feeling to suddenly being undressed by mother nature!
- around 4ish, waves turned from light offshore heaven to strong onshore hell in the matter of 15 minutes. People in the know, timed their sessions just fine... :)

Tomorrow is an exciting day. The NW buoy is at 18 feet, 14 seconds from NNW at 6pm.
I have to work at two. My plan is to surf and/or sail before that. Which might require some driving. Fortunately I have no problem with that. Let's see how that goes.

helmet stick on the SUP

Here's another clip with the helmet stick. It was shot at resolution 4, the one that offers more pixels in the height. It was a good idea and I think the camera should be oriented more down to show the board more.




That was a day in which the waves were big, stormy and weird (they look small and clean instead, don't they?).

Today instead, from 3.30 to 5is the waves were as good as they get at the usual spot. Then a light evil WNW picked up and ruined them. Still fun enough to surf till dark as usual. AM session was up the coast. I'm toasted. Good night.

PS. Glenn, we missed you. Well, at least I did!

the helmet stick

I bet you haven't seen this gopro angle yet, have you?

Please select a better resolution than the shitty default 240p that youtube now gives you by default (it's a the bottom, to the right of "youtube"). I'm uploading it to vimeo too.. I'll change it tomorrow morning.



The video was shot on Jan 20 and those are ALL the four "so and so" (for the Maui standards) waves I caught with the helmet. The idea was just to experiment only, but the result is so cool that I had to edit a little video anyway. Better than this, I think it will only take a little RC helicopter that follows the sailor.

I read on a GoPro brochure that there finally is a remote control available. Request email will be sent immediately after this post...

Yesterday I surfed 2 hours the morning and sup surfed 4 hours in the afternoon.
Today I surfed 3 hours in the morning and wavesailed 3 hours in the afternoon.
Not too shabby for an old man. BTW, does anyone know a good glue to reattach human arms?

This morning I took a few photos with the gopro.

Cheap seaweed entertainment. Hey, I look allright, don't I?!


Golden retriever.


Intense expression trying to drop in very late. I did drop in... but I rode the whole wave belly down laughing like an idiot.


Top turn.


100% natural and spontaneous comb over.


"I'm gonna tear this wave apart" face.


Two seconds later.


Two seconds later.


Two seconds later.


Two seconds later.


Two seconds later. The wave went on for 10 more seconds, but the photos are not as good.


Kanaha is a wave that is pretty damn easy (provided you can catch one with 100 standup surfers all around). One thing is very difficult though: the duck dive. The wave is soft and doesn't break top to bottom, yet it moves a hell lot of water.


I like this one. If my right arm was lower and pointed towards the water in direction of the west maui mountain I would like it even better.


One more.


Tonight's wave sailing session was bloody freaking phenomenal. For once, the early sesh was better than the late one (someone will be happy to read this...).
At the beginning, in fact, the wind was barely enough for a pure slog and surf action and the waves were clean logo high perfection. Later the wind got stronger and it got a bit choppier. Still fun though. The swell was pumping (you guys seen the action at the Volcom pro?) and those waves were sooooooo beautiful.

I am extremely grateful for how great my life is. I'm also exhausted. And I'm gonna go to sleep. Right now. Goodnight.

No wait!
I got one more video.

forza Napoli!

My home town football team (soccer for the americans) is doing good.

It's the best team we had since the glorious times in which Maradona played in Napoli. It's such a pleasure to watch them that I'm starting to put alarm clocks at 4am to watch the game online (when it's not on FSC, in which case I'll record it).
The are actually second in the rankings and I don't care if they'll win or not... they're making us dream, that's for sure!

That's why I thought about doing something to show my support from this remote island. So I drew their logo on my lovely white Superfreak (try do that with any other sail...).
I did it on the downwind side (when riding a wave), because that's the side that would show when Jimmie Hepp takes his photos from the rocks.

The plan worked beautifully!



BTW, sailing with a broken pinky is no big deal! I guess not all bones in the foot have the same importance...


The making of.


Here's the link to Jimmie's FB gallery of that day. These are the photos I took, instead.

Yet another bikini of the collection.


Brother Glenn is leaving today. I warmly wish him to be back soon.


Still some size in the sets. Luke.


Junko rips.


Kai K speedy bottom turn.


and powerful top turn.


Mark's contorsion.


Cookie is sailing sharp.


Headless loving hugging couple 1.


Headless loving hugging couple 2.


Not as glorious as the one in the previous post, but still a sick aerial from Luke.


Tiffany.


Sean.


Dunno this guy.


This is to thank the provider of the V.I.P. vantage point from where I shot yesterday. It was like shooting from a starship and I could keep my foot elevated...


Junko rips. There should be a bumper sticker that says that!


I'm on the waiting list to try that board.


Kai bailing out. Oh, I'm supposed to try a bunch of Simmer boards too...


Federico. I like this shot because it shows the reality of the conditions that my closeup radical moves don't really show. Waves are sectiony (very west). The wind is veeery offshore (check Elena's direction on the outside) and very gusty and patchy (she's in a gust and 10 yards in front of her there's a big lull). Not particularly easy and quite physically demanding, you guys.


Nonetheless, not having to go to a wedding today, someone is happy to go back to the usual 5 hours straight routine of sailing.


Allright, the good news is that I'm back in the water. The bad news is that I have to go back to work too! So no more extended photo shoots anymore. Fortunately Jimmie is on the rocks and Franky will be back soon.
Oh, I just finished editing my last gopro video. I'll let you guys know when it goes online.

PS. Volcom pro at Pipeline is live online.