First Mast High Wave

9/11/09

    Today was an amazing day on the north shore of Maui! Mast high waves in early September! I started the day off watching all the pros at Hookipa. There were so many great windsurfers, so much inspiration. Just to name a few were Jake Miller, Dave Wissink, Deigo Femenias, Jason Polakow, Kai Katchadorian, Kai Lenny, Levi Siver, Luke Siver, Keith Taboul, David Ezzy, Pete Ross, Mark Angelou, his wife, and tons of other amazing women, I'm afraid to say I do not know all their names. It seams all these amazing women come out on big days but I don't see them on a regular basis, and they do not get the coverage like men do. For three hours I sat on the hill filming with my injured boyfriend, Russ. Some highlights of the day included Mark's "mutant," the Siver brothers sharing huge waves together, and Diego's salvage from near destruction as a "rock star." It was so amazing to watch so many good sailors all together, riding in such amazing conditions.

    I could have stayed all day until there was no more wind, but lucky for me a girlfriend of mine, Anna, came and reminded me we also need to sail. So off we went to Kuau, just down wind, to try our luck at this monster waves.  I couldn't believe my luck! I had in my mind all the amazing riding I had been watching all day and rode my first mast high wave! I turned down the line and saw the beast right off my shoulder. I rode it all the way down nearly to Tavarez before it closed with such force, I could feel it in my bones. My adrenalin was pumping so much I was exhausted after only 45 min. When I came back in, to my surprise, a friend was there with a camera, and caught the most amazing ride of my life. 

Shortly after, Russ and a few other friends showed up and I wanted to show them what I could do. There was still wind and a few people were still charging, despite that it was 5:30pm.  I was too stoked to care it was late and went out again.

    My second session was great for the first two waves I caught. This time I really tried to turn on the waves more. After catching the second wave down wind, suddenly there was no power in my sail and a big set was coming in with me on the inside. I patiently waited on the inside for the set to finish and was barley able to water start with the little wind there was to get back up wind and to the channel to call it a day. Bobbing slowly along, it was quickly apparent I wasn't going to make it through the break before the next set came rolling through, and I was right. Getting pounded for a second time with no wind in between sets, watching the sun go down, I knew I was in for a good swim. needless to say, lots of swimming, and the help of a friend, I was on the rocks at upper Tavarez beach, and had hitched back to Kuau by the time it was dark.

What an amazing day! I am so stoked on riding the waves I caught and watching all the pros at Hookipa. Even though I should be totally exhausted, I cant sleep because all the rides of the day keep going through my head and I cant wait for the wind to come up tomorrow so I can rig up and give it another go!