Another day in the Office...

The last week or so has been pretty damn busy around here!!  We've had some pumping swell and killer wind so there's nothing to complain about!  I think it's fair to say i got my fair share of waves and my fair share of wipeouts too!!
This is a funky little shot of me in the washing machine!! from one of those waves...
Today we had the helicopter up again for the JP shoot, we were freeriding on the north shore... it started with the All rides and then swifty on his supersports, antxon doing his freestyle heli stuff and a whole bunch more activity!
After that it was filming from the beach of lot's of gybing and various shenanigans.... after lunch it was back up to baby beach for jumping shots before Morgan took out Thorsten (the Photog) and we had to call it off...  not to finish too early the boss made us have a final session at sprecks, filming some jumping...
All in all, a busy day in the office..
Not a bad office though ;)

Maui Action

Or Follow the link here....  Hookipa Vid

More Maui

A couple of  great days on the water the last few days, we've had a decent swell hitting the north shore and Hookipa's been firing!  Yesterday had the biggest waves, some mast high or bigger sets made it really quite fun, but today was of a similar size but perhaps more infrequently?
As far as the shooting goes things have run pretty smoothly, we've got everything done we intended so far, we've hard to work hard to get it all, it seems like every time the helicopter comes out it creates havoc with the conditions, yesterday's heli shooting was all going well for the first 20 mins and then it kinda of clouded over and we had a few showers.  A jumping session in Kuau followed for some of us and then another few hours of land shooting until the light eventually got too low..
Today was 10.30 at upper Kanaha for the team shoot and then straight to hookipa, it was firing, overpowered 4.5 and logo to mast surf..  i sailed for a couple of hours before the heli arrived and then in typical fashin the wind switched lighter and the waves became more tricky...  It was really good though when you did get a nice wave, i had a few good ones today which was nice.  We shot for an hour or so before finally having some lunch around 3 ish, then the call was made to hit the water for a third session, this time filming from the water and some land shots in the evening light... a long day on the water!!!  All good though, you can't complain about being forced to go windsurfing in pretty amazing conditions :)
This is another shot from the mighty whitey again, who, by the way threw himself into a two scoop yesterday, fair play to the chap...

Maui Latest

It's been a few days of cloud out and about but things have switched around.  We've started the JP photoshoot good and proper now...  Yesterday involved a freeride session over in Kihei and i think we pretty much got the job done... Half a mile out to see we we're shooting in dark blue waters that contrast the boards really well, still, a little spooky if you fell in!

Today the trades kicked in along the north shore and Hookipa was the place with the action, it was actually pretty damn hectic out there! we had fanatic/north, JP/Pryde and a bunch of starboard riders out there all mixing it up, add to that it was weekend and every man and his dog was afloat...

I got some good waves but found it tough going with the crowds, the sets were rolling in around mast high towards the end, and with 4 photog's in the water picking your lines was hard not to run 'em over!!

The forecast is looking like it's going to be epic the next few days, i imagine there'll be choppers circling and everyone trying to go bigger than everyone else so it should be pretty entertaining!

This shot was taken by Dave White/Boards, i found it on Dave White's site, there's a ton more pix on their too, go check it out if you have time..... I like this shot as it shows just how clear the water is...

Cloudy Maui

The last few days have delivered little in the way of action, it's been really clouded over and a few rain clouds about, luckily living in Sprecks we miss most of the rain, the boys in Haiku have been getting a constant downpour!! 

Being uncharacteristically onshore too meant chances to get out have been few.  I managed an side onshore session at hookipa for an hour or so before it clouded over and got too light, then a session at sprecks but that too didn't deliver as it was just too onshore and light.  

Fortunately it looks to be settling down to a more normal pattern and the trades are back from tomorrow, it's about time, we're two days into the JP photoshoot and there's not too many shots in the can yet, a few freestyle and a few freeride but that's about it.  I'm sure when the big swells arrive and the trades are back this week we'll get some sick stuff!!

The new Windsurfer International Magazine is out..

The new issue of Windsurfer International is out with a few shots of me in their...

you might need to open the link in a new window or copy and paste the link to your browser so you can view the mag properly...

Tune your wave gear right! - Footstraps

Click to - Tune YOUR wave gear RIGHT!! - Footstraps

Maui Update

Had a fun session on the water this morning, up at Hookipa, it wasn't classic by any means but i really enjoyed it!

It was unusually cloudy and there wasn't too much waves around so there was a huge amount of mincing around going on at the beach...

I decided just to get out there as it's bound to be better than nothing, and certainly greater than anything else i'd be getting if i was at home!

It's always better than it looks i reminded myself.....

I rigged my 5.0 on my 74 Twinser and it's a perfect combo, just big enough for me to wobble out with the 5.0 and really nice to ride on the wave, the wind was gusting around and changing direction slightly all the time, add to that a few rain showers and the water was pretty well deserted.
I sailed with 4 or 5 other people, planing occasionally and collecting wave after wave after wave... Good practice before the photo's begin..

Some of my favourite sessions at Hookipa come when the conditions aren't to everyones tastes, i don't mind if the swells a bit "peaky" or the wind a bit wafty.... you just get out there and make the most of it...

Well, the wind eventually gave up totally so i've come back to the house, i just realised it's been a while since i uploaded any pix to my website so i decided to do that this afternoon, most of them are from SA but some really good ones none the less... check 'em out...

here's an example.......

Wowee! Maui!!

Some killer stuff in this Video

Boujmaa wins it for me!

forget the gps thing there doing the action's mental....

This was all just before i arrived, since i got here i've now had 1 and a half days sailing of 5.0 head high waves at hookipa, i'm not complaining! i'd have been schooled on that day!! today was good actually, some fun waves and i started to get a bit of a feel for the old starboard tack again, 100% on my backloops today... well, 2 tiny ones, better than none!!

The forecast looks pretty ideal for the week ahead, plenty of wind and the waves getting bigger after the weekend...

All good.....

Ireland Video

Northwest Ireland from umi pictures on Vimeo.

lots of the mullens, some of me, and a bit of the kings.

It was quite a long time ago but there's some sick conditions in there!!!

Makes me want to go back big time!! how sick are those waves around the 1 minute mark?