Welcome Summer!

Well after a few miserable months weather wise with no wind and heaps of rain we are finally starting to see some glimpses of summer! Swell has been the only consolation lately with plenty of that around.
Had some pretty epic SUP sessions in the last month at both Gunnamatta and Philip island scoring some nice swell for SUP riding..

Still waiting on the Fanatic 9”6 but can’t wait to go surfing on that when it comes in!!

Cup Weekend – Vic titles R2

Well Cup Weekend always feels like the start of the season, and the start of summer to me! It seems as though we just get home from Cup Weekend, then we are in Merimbula for the Mambo Classic and then before you know it it’s X-mas; so plenty of excitement in the build up!!

Cup Weekend down at Sandy Pt provided us with some nice jumping conditions on the Sunday waking up to Cross shore wind about 30knots and logo high waves. The first few runs were sick for jumping!
Unfortunately by the time the comp started the wind had swung more onshore and dropped off!
I made it through the expression session, and the heats to the 3 x man final where I went up against Andrew Hocking and Andy Ackland.
The wind dropped off and I struggled in the light wind getting beaten by Hock..






Unfortunately I was working so I missed the first round of the Vic tittles so I am out of the points for the championship..

Off to NZ to work this weekend, then next Fri myself, Al Mcleaod & Phil Chalko are driving up to Gerroa for a NSW wave comp. Then we head south to Merimbula for the 30th anniversary Merimbula Wave Classic – sponsored by Corona this year!

Next we shoot over west to Gerro & Margies for some practice over the X-mas break..
Then Feb back up to Gerroa for the Aussie titles, then April back to Maui! It’s a packed 6 months with hopefully lots of time on the water!

Lots of photos and videos to come
Stay tuned!

2011

For 2011 some exciting news..
I have recently done a deal with North Sails & Fanatic boards for the 2011 season!
The new Fanatic Quad fin boards are so good, and I am really excited to try out the new North sails – they look so cool! You will not miss me on the water on this bright new gear!








On the same topic I was approached by Monster Energy drink to become a sponsored Monster Athlete – their only Windsurfer on the team! Should be some cool for some cross branding coverage and some good film opportunities. Over recent years Monster have been putting huge support into different sports so it’s great to welcome them to Windsurfing!

The crashes!!

Everyone loves watching people land moves - but most people prefer to watch the crashes trying!
Well I can assure you we had plenty of those in our 5 weeks in Maui, some hilarious, some super painful!!!

Anyone who has crashed water skiing will know that water isn’t always soft!!

here are just a few we caught on camera
Enjoy!

The movie!

Our trip to Maui in 7:54 min!!!

Some footage

A little bit of jumping footage from Sprecks in the last week

http://www.vimeo.com/11940933

Backloop

A cool sequence shot taken of a backloop from the water by Franck Berthouot - http://photos.mauiwatershoot.com

Swell OUT

Lots of wind – no swell
As is normal for this time of year as Maui heads into summer - the northerly swells disappear completely and the wind turns up a notch!
I know what everyone who is back at work is thinking right now, here we are sitting under a palm tree, its blowing 30knots, its 30degrees air temp, and 25degrees water temp, and I am winging because it’s flat... Yes I sound like a spoilt douche when you put it like that!
But sailing in chop is really not what we came here for and it gets very frustrating!

However the thought of returning to Melbourne, probably about 10degrees air temp, about the same in the water and maybe 10knots onshore? Mmmmm better make the most of the next 4 days!!

Conditions wise we have got really lucky, for the past month, we have had 4 days in total that we didn’t sail! We scored some great swell early on; we scored an awesome house and have no major injuries or incidents so far!

We have got a bit of good footage so far, and Al has started putting it into a quick video of the trip so keep a look out for that soon...

Speaking of Movies, before I left Melbourne I organized the movie premiere for ‘Wizards of OZ’ and ‘Quickly Go Mad’ two Australian windsurfing movies, the response has been amazing, tickets sold out so quickly, so we moved to the next size up cinema and that sold out again almost instantly again!!!
Should be a great night!

So while we have been here in Maui Jace, Levi and Johnny the people who brought us one of the best windsurfing films ever - ‘The Windsurf Movie’ have been working flat out putting the finishing touches and editing ‘The Windsurf Movie 2’ the follow up film which will be released soon…
I have been speaking with Jace and we just finalized a deal yesterday to have an official premiere in Melbourne!!!! So stay tuned for details on that!! Going by this last premiere get ready to buy tickets as soon as they go on sale!

Water shoot

Last week we were lucky to be in the right place at the right time with a small swell coming into Hookipa we scored a fun little session, Franck Berthuot swam out with his water housing to capture some awesome shots from the water.
http://photos.mauiwatershoot.com/c/mauiwatershoot/gallery-list

Cliffs and Pools

Yesterday morning before sailing some friends took us to some natural rock pools at the base of some big cliffs at Jaws. As you can see from the pics – Jaws wasn’t its normal gear crunching self!
For those who haven’t seen what Jaws looks like when it works check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnKu4UklaPQ&feature=channel

Blowing Glass

So James friends from Snowbird Seth and Erin recently moved here to Maui. They blow glass, and the other night they taught James and I to do it and we both made some glass pendants! Even better – neither of us burnt ourselves!

Volcano's & Waterfalls

Haleakala Volcano
When you think Maui you don’t usually think mountains… but Maui’s famous Haleakala Volcano sits over 3,000m above sea level! Tempratures at the top are freezing, but well worth putting on a hoodie for the amazing views down into the valley below.




Extreme SUP
The wind has been light in the last few days so we have been doing a few touristy things! We checked out Twin Falls which is a chain of waterfalls in this cool jungle, just inland from Jaws.







going for a SUP at Lanes

After the falls we decided to go for a bit of a SUP so we went and grabbed 3 from the shop and went down to Kanaha beach. The swell was really small, the wind was about 10knots onshore so it was quite a solid paddle out to the break! Kanaha is sort of like a massive lagoon with the surf breaking on the outer reef almost 1km from the shore.

James and I got to the break and paddled around for a bit, while Phil who had already demonstrated his awesome paddling skills at Merimbula back in Nov, took a while longer. Finally Phil joined us at the break and promptly fell off his board and broke his leg rope…
He yelled out to me and James to come and get him so we went over, I grabbed Phil and James went to get his board. We reunited the two and were sitting there waiting for Phil to get back on his board...

James said “Oh shit look how massive that turtle is”, I replied “James are you sure that’s a turtle” as James had dropped to his knees and started paddling backwards while Phil levitated out of the water and up onto his board…. We all looked across about 2m from us where a large Tiger shark fin broke the surface “Ohhhhhhhhh f**k” James yelled out to me as he paddled past me!

The tail popped up and the shark did a 180 degree turn on the spot and started coming right towards us… we rafted all 3 SUPs together and freaked out for a sec until we decided to paddle our asses off like never before and make it to the beach! The shark followed us for a few nerve racking moments then decided we didn’t look as tasty as the box of Krispy Cream doughnuts we had just eaten and decided not to attack!

We didn’t spend much time to take in the scenery and paddled our arms off until we hit dry land!

Cracked a cold beer and had a good laugh on the beach about it!

Andrew McFarlane

On a sad note I was shocked to receive a call from Bernie yesterday to tell me that good friend Andrew McFarlane was killed in a bad crash at the Australian Motocross Championships back home in Broadford.

Andrew will be deeply missed and I pass on my sympathy to Nat and the kids. Gone but never forgotten

Ride in Peace Andrew
30/05/77 – 02/05/10

Me, Andrew and Bernie the Sunday before I flew over here

On the web

So the quick video I made with my GoPro has been popping up on all sorts of websites!

http://www.mauiwindsurfing.net

and also

http://www.windsurfmoves.com/

I was actually just learning how to use the editing software so I didn't even put much good footage in it! Oh well the next one should have a lot better sailing action in it...

Trade winds and Karaoke

Wind
This place is different to any other place I have sailed...
In Australia, you wake up, its calm you can surf and hang out until lunchtime when the sea breeze kicks in then sail the afternoon…. Not over here though! These trade winds are different! You wake up, and it’s windy – and it stays that strength until about 10pm at night!

They have a thing called the 10man rule where if there are 10 or more surfers in the water still – the windsurfers can’t go out, there is also a rule that you are not allowed to windsurf before 11am... works out well for us!

Party time
During the week it was James birthday so we went down south for dinner and drinks... And ended up singing Karaoke!


Me and Al; Billy Idols - White wedding.... I would be lying if I said it sounded good!




So far we haven’t had a windless day yet – we have sailed 10 days straight. Amazingly everyone is holding up pretty well apart from a lot of reef cuts and grazes and blisters and some sore muscles…

We have a whole heap of activities lined up for when it does finally stop... there is an awesome looking golf course up the road, the coral out the front needs to be checked out with snorkels and the fishing is pretty awesome about 20mins away… But that will all have to wait because it’s cranking again today.

American TV
So American TV is even worse that you could imagine... there is one of the funniest TV shows I have ever seen... Paris Hilton has a reality show called 'Paris Hilton's My new BFF' where she is actually auditioning girls to become her friend!

Windsurfing!
Yesterday was really good; we had solid wind with Al on a 3.6 Phil and James on 4.2 and me on a 4.7... It was a solid 30+ at times... The swell was small but was some good lips to be smacked!

Some pics from yesterday

Me


Me and James Party wave!


Phil


James


Me


Me

First video and first Hookipa working

Spent a bit of time out yesterday with the GoPro HD camera on..
came up with a little bit of footage

http://www.vimeo.com/11183291

So the day after our last attempt at sailing Hookipa, we had another shot in much more favourable conditions the wind was up about 23 knots and the waves were actually pretty solid probably about mast high, but so powerful! It’s a really fast wave that throws the lip so hard.


So even when the wind is that strong, the inside along the rocks is so sheltered and light! You will see from the video of me swimming how strong the current rips you along the reef edge it makes it hard just swimming!


So Myself and Phil ventured out while James found his skiing skills not so useful in the surf and struggled to get out of the break!


It was super busy with the JP & Neilpryde shoot with pro sailors throwing moves I have only ever seen on videos - on every wave! All the current pro sailors like Victor, Kauli, Swift, Levi, JP, Campello but also all the old local guys who were going even bigger! Guys like Mark Angulo were so amazing to watch!
I got some really good waves and even shared a sick wave with Jason Polakow with the chopper right down in front of us filming him!


I started getting a little more confident and started hitting the critical section..
I took off on a nice wave about ¾ mast, got a few nice turns on it and then lined up a big smack on the close out section… I left it too late and as the lip threw over it caught the tip of my mast and snapped all my gear around me before I even hit the water!


It’s so powerful!


I swam in, it wasn’t too bad of a swim and the rocks are actually big round volcanic boulders so they are pretty gentle on the feet! I re-rigged with another mast and went back out and had an awesome arvo session!




The end result of a solid working at Hookipa.. the lip hit me as I top turned too late and broke my mast just from the impact from the lip! Had a fun swim in over the rocks



Forward loop bailshot


We have had a few sessions at Sprecks which is the majority of the video, its right in front of our house and is really fun jumping and side shore wave riding. It has been good to practice starboard tack jumping – and giving James a chance to find his windsurfing feet again!
This arvo looks great for Hookipa so keep posted for more photos!

Maui

Well the journey has officially begun!
We packed up the gear and loaded my UTE for the airport.



We got so lucky with an awesome chick at the check in at Qantas Melbourne she checked us all the way through to Honolulu and charged us no excess! In Honolulu after all our gear turned up Phil got caught out (he blames lack of sleep!) and referred to our gear (and in particular mine!) as ‘windsurf gear’ which comes with an automatic $100 USD per piece charge! Common knowledge among traveling windsurfers is that you always refer to your gear as surfboards and never windsurf gear!!! After he checked through and left me & Al to argue with the check in guy, we managed to convince him that all we had with us was in fact ‘surf boards’ and clothes! He bought it and we were only charged $30USD – Thanks Phil!



We flew into Maui greeted by sun and lots of white caps! All our gear made it, and in one piece! We checked into our house. By lunchtime we were unpacked, settled into our house and ready to sail! We walked through some houses in front of ours, and their backyards opened up to Sprecks beach were Kauli and the Neilpryde guys were doing some freestyle.

Good fun sail with the 5.0 pretty maxed out at times.
By 9pm we were all fast asleep on the couch after a huge pizza from Josh Stones organic pizza shop!

We slept in on Tues to 11am – and realized James was coming into Kahalui airport at 11! We rushed down there to greet him just as he walked out of the terminal with enough ski and windsurf gear to start a rental shop.

He was dazed and confused still wearing a beanie and looking a little white for Hawaii. We got him into gear and rigged in our yard to sail Sprecks. Today was already much windier than the day before so we were all on 3.6, 4.2 & 4.7..





On the first run we noticed there was a huge black figure in the water.. As I got closer I realized it was a turtle.. but it didnt look right. It was struggling to swim and didnt look healthy - then I got closer and realized it was two turtles mating! We sailed right up to them!

It took a few runs and James was already starting to get back his balance, although he is fitter than most after hiking up hills, sailing is very different to skiing and he was feeling it in his arms straight away!!


Al was doing some huge running man throw away jumps, while Phil and I were working on our kook tack forwards. Sprecks is a great place for jumping; it’s just like Coronation beach in WA except the other tack.
Long smooth flat section into the break, with side shore wind.



After a few hours there, Al and I decided to tackle the famous Hookipa break..
We had watched the pros rip it apart the night before and were pretty keen to sail the hallowed waves – the birth place of modern windsurfing.

We headed out there late about 3pm. We were late as the wind was turning offshore and getting super light; the swell was sucking up and was pushing hard up into the famous rocks.. Some solid mast high sets were coming though – maybe not the best day to try for the first time?

We got talking to Jason Polakow on the beach who had just come in, and after a while he just said get out there and have a crack – when JP tells you to go out, you go out!

So James and Phil made a wise decision to sit up on the cliffs with all the pro photographers – while Al and I rigged.


It was dropping as we rigged and people were still coming in. I rigged a 5.0 Al a 4.2..
We left the small beach with a good puff and made it past the first set of rocks.. Before the first set cleaned us both out!

With no wind and huge swell, deep water starting was a mission. After about 15mins of drifting along the rocks down towards Lanes, we both managed to get out the back!


An awesome feeling of exhaustion and accomplishment! It was pretty cool dogging around out the back with guys like Levi Siver, Robby Swift etc..

Al got a good wave, got a few turns out of it then I did the same on a nice head high wave..
I got back out the back and called it a day managing to ride a nice wave all the way back to the small beach.. Al dogged around for another 30mins to get upwind enough to come in, as downwind is only reef!




We felt pretty happy to have survived Hookipa day 1, even though it might not have been spectacular – we did it!

Today the wind is up again, and we are feeling more confident. Phil and James are going to sail Sprecks now and Al and I will go to Hookipa soon. Today we will have it wired!

We got home and cooked a feast of local Tuna



Stay tuned for stories of broken gear!!!