surf-matic

Letting the tail slide on a fun-sized cutback on a proper Hookipa swell.

The waves are here! This week marked the first arrival of decent surf. With sets over mast and perfectly smooth, peeling waves, the weekend was set for fun.

Thursday was the best and biggest of the days. But unfortunately the wind was a little strange, making for a tough time catching waves. I was tired from staying up the night before writing, but I still had a really fun session. In a lot of ways, riding in bigger waves is really relaxing compared to small waves. In small waves, one has to add energy to the wave in order to make it look and feel exciting– throwing the body and board around in tricks and tweaks. But in big waves, the energy is already there, so it is amazingly fun to just drop in and turn back up into it in arcing turns on the rail.

Getting lost in the foam!

Saturday looked insanely good, but I decided to take the day off. “Why would you take an amazing day off?!” You might be shouting at me. But I’ve found that windsurfing is quite different than other sports, like running for example, where it’s all about pushing oneself into doing it. If I don’t feel into sailing–for whatever reason– I try to listen to my proverbial gut and take the day off because it normally means that subconsciously I’m aware that I’m not operating at a high enough focus. I think most times that I’ve forced myself to go sailing after not feeling a session, I’ve ended the day in the hospital with either stitches pulling together cut flesh or plaster drying over broken bones. I’m all about pushing past fear and physical pain but never past a ‘gut’ feeling or instinct. Our minds seem to know so much more than we can consciously recall in any given moment.

Carving feels so good.

The Kevin Pritchard seemed to have some fun ones too. Here are a pic to prove that The Pritch ripped it up:

On Sunday, the sea of the sky opened up letting down a crashing of torrential downpour from its dark underbelly. All of Maui was drenched in this inescapable rain. With the rain came an end to the wind. And all was grey! See the pics below (and the shots were taken in a rain lull! whilst I was stuck at home, under siege by the rain).

Rain drops attack!

The dark clouds and pouring rain.

The beginning of this coming week looks windless, but by the end of the week the trades should be back to their usual blowing. Fingers crossed.