rockstar again!

Here's how day 17,641 of my life went.

Woke up pretty tired not having slept well.
Did a couple of hours of computer work:
- blog post
- article for Windnews
- reply to emails of people inquiring about accomodation, cars and gear (I do a lot of that)
Went to Hookipa around 11, sailed with not many people out and loved it till ended up on the rocks.
Took photos for 15 minutes.
Went to work and worked my ass off (where's so freaking busy these days) standing for four hours and moving an unbelievable amount of boards and gear around.
Went to Mana after work to get food and saw the usual entertaining mix of humanity.
Went home, had dinner and realized that that bruise of the hip was hurting a lot...

I'll tell about the bruise at the end, here's the photo of the day. I think it's the first time it goes to a sailor I don't know.





Here's the other ones.
Levi let me try his board. Guess what? I didn't sail like him...



I think these are: Alex in the foreground, Glenn in the background, Diony on the left and Mark on the third wave. Just to compensate a little the lack of knowledge of the first photo.


This kid's name is Moritz. He's German and lives in Gran Canaria. I like the way he sails and the fact that he knows and respects the priority rules. He and his dad came to help me getting out of the rocks... thanks a lot. Ah, he's 15.



Levi did some unbelievable sailing today. I saw a turn from the channel that was just soooo sick. What a privilege to sail with such talented guys!

Rock story.
Usually I never get hurt when I go on the rocks. My policy is to completely disregard the gear as soon as I realize that I'm on the rocks.
I believe that in this way (I do have some knowledge of the matter), I minimize the damage to my body and even to the gear.
But this time, I thought I could come out of it and I kept hanging on the gear and fighting the adverse elements in order to pull back out. That's when you risk to get hurt (or cut), because you don't go with the flow...
As a result I have a bruise on the muscle below my hip and a little ding on my board, but overall it's still nothing really.
Hey, I went on the rocks at the end of April. In a couple of months I'd be stoked to end up on the rocks, but unfortunately that won't even be an option (because of the lack of waves)... but with my skills, never say never!!!

PS. Chris of Black Project fins just emailed me that:
Just had the first person email me saying that they saw the fins on your blog and want to order.
Stoked! Please if you end up contacting any of the advertisers of this blog, make sure to let them know that you saw the banner/text link here. That's an easy way of supporting this blog. Thanks.

Hookipa jumping session

Yesterday morning there was a JP/NP jumping photoshoot at Lanes while at Hookipa the jumping session with the height measurement devices was on. They told me it was quite a show and I believe it.
I had a morning work shift and I got there at 2.30 when the wind wasn't the strongest on the inside, so I didn't see any crazy high jump. Still way too windy for my taste to go sailing, so I took some pics.
Photo of the day goes to Ben Profitt. And yes, those look like the new Simmer boards but I actually have no idea if that is how the production will look like.



Rest of the photos in chronological order.
Francisco Porcella allegedly went pretty high in the morning.



Ricardo.


I believe this is Ben Severne.


Browzinho.


Dunno this guy.


Yeah, Grif!


Kauli.


Kauli.


I like this shot because it shows three sailors lined up on three different waves. Wave period is 10 seconds, something that Pat Caldwell would call a quasi-windswell.


Andres digging his arm in the water in the top turn. Love this move.


Ricardo.





Keep an eye on this kid. His name is Casey.


Kauli.


Love the foam bath in the background.

Session report.
I got in the water at 4.45 with a 4.7. Middles was very windy and extremely choppy. Hated it and sailed like shit. Then around 5.30 the wind got lighter and turned a bit offshore and the conditions went from shit to heaven in a very short time frame, also because most sailors went back in. I had an absolute blast from 5.30 to 6. Could have kept sailing till 7, but too many surfers out. That's how it is in spring time. The enjoyable wave sailing time window shrinks more and more, but small is better than none (that'll be sumer time), so no complains.
BTW, yesterday I pretty much decided never to wave sail again in more than 20 knots.
But don't take me too seriously on that... abstinence is a powerful thing.

Last but not least, Mauisurfreport would like to welcome a new sponsor. Black project fins has bought a banner space. Thanks a lot.

April is not over yet and it already is a record month for the traffic. Pretty much 1500 unique visitors a day. Thanks everyone for tuning in.

Current prices for a banner: $50/month, or $45/month if you order 3 to 5 months upfront, or $40/month if you order 6 months or more upfront.

Current prices for a one line text link: $25/month or $20/month if you order 6 months or more upfront.

Lots of stuff

Lots of photos and stuff in this post.

Let's start from the photo of the day that goes to Diony.



Then I usually go in chronological order, but I'm happy to make an exception and post this shot of Mark Angulo (who only sailed briefly yesterday) and announce his new website. Check it out: markangulo.com



And now the rest of the shots. These are from Monday. Simmer was shooting and Francisco had this interesting gopro mount.



The stick looked a bit wobbly, but the angle seemed perfect.


Just like this one.



Francisco in action.


This is my helmet stick mount instead. Many readers asked me to post a photo of it after having seen my video of the previous post. Very, very simple to make: make some holes in your helmet so that two hose clamps can go through and then find a light stick where to attach the gopro handle bar mount. How long is the stick? That depends on the length of your arm if you want to put it in a place where you can start and stop the video. If you don't care about that, than you can make it as long as you want. The longer you do it, the better the angle, but the more stress on the your neck muscles. Have fun!
BTW, that's the ghetto looking hood of my car. When I bought it I almost had it painted for $400. Then I thought:"wait a moment, that's a new surfboard! What the hell am I thinking?!". That's an example of Maui values... love my ghetto hood, love my surfboard!


Ben Profitt.


Ben did a video in which you can check some footage from that harness mount above. The video is funny and creative. I'll give him two thumbs up and I feel like embedding it here.





We're changing the A/C at the shop and we had to move a bunch of old stuff. I guess the owner wants to keep some windsurfing history. Check those tails and that fin!


This one instead is a 2011 74l Starboard Quad IQ carbon construction and I'm selling it for $1200. Great board, but a bit small for the always light on the inside wind at Hookipa... Five times in the water, pretty much like new! It comes with 6 fins, so you can ride it as a quad or as a twin.

And now the photos from yesterday: Jason Diffin.



Browsinho.


JD.


Horrocks (I think).


Glenn.



Timo.



Timo.


Camille.

Camille.



Bernd.



Jake.



Skyler.


Pio.


Jake asked me:"are you taking some nice group shots?"
At one point, I counted 44 sailors in the water...


Peter Bijel (sorry, no idea how to spell the last name and no time to look it up).


Diony.


Diony.


Levi showed up late.


Bernd.



One passing by.


El pipe Martinez buries the whole board in the turn.


Kauli.


Port Elizabeth southafrican sailor Dave Wyatt is leaving tonight and he's hoping to catch the leftovers of this swell.... how's that 7.5 meters reading?
Apparently there's breaks in the proximity of Jeffrey's bay that are sailable. Good luck Dave, nice meeting you and thanks for respecting the priority rules!

Got to go to work!!!! Aaarrghhhh!!!!

PS. The jumping contest has been canceled, but there will be a live webcast of a "jumping session" this afternoon. Here's the link.