Maui Surf 5

After more than a month, the trade winds are back in Maui.
And there's waves too out of the NE! Both Saturday and Sunday were fun wave sailing days. Here's a few pics from Sunday at Hookipa (sorry, I had the camera on the VGA setting...). Andres.

Now, look how the forecast for the next days beautifully matches my schedule.
I'm working Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning. This afternoon (Monday), right after work I'll go put the stuff in the container of the barge that will leave Tuesday morning. Then I'll wavesail the remnant of the NE swell with a backup quiver. BTW, the cost is $1 per cubic foot. I guess it's going to be $100... anyone else want to guess?
Tuedsday and Wednesday afternoon, I'll wavesail a new NW swell, forecasted to peak that day, before catching my flight on Wednesday at 5.51pm.
On Thursday morning, I will go collect my stuff at the Honolulu harbor and either wavesail or surf Diamond head in the afternoon.
There will be a big south swell that will be incredibly long lasting... at least 10 days.
"La fortuna aiuta gli audaci" is a italian saying that translates like "the luck helps the ones who dare"...

I just want to congratulate with Bart with his great performance and make sure that you guys don't miss the post he made to announce the end of his tour of Maui on a standup board.

PS. French Wind magazine published two photos of mine (that'll be taken by me). Stoked!

As I already stated, I prefer regular surfing (unless it's one to two feet, in which case, the SUP surfing is more fun).
BUT, SUP surfing is a great alternative when I surf too much and my lower back needs some rest. While standing up and paddling with a paddle, in fact, I use different muscles and that makes other parts of my body sore, but no so much the lower back... so that's good.

The thing is that the majority of the SUP boards on the market are shaped like over inflated longboards and in fact the feel is very similar to a regular longboard. With the difference that in order to support the weight of a standing up surfer even when not moving through the water, SUP boards clearly need to be bigger (more buoyant). More volume is a good (and necessary) thing in order to be able to paddle standing up, but it's not once you catch a wave.
At the end of every standup session, mo matter how good it was, I always have this unconscious feeling inside me like:"mmm, I wonder how much harder I could have snapped that turn if I was on my regular 8.6..."
No complains, super fun, thank god for SUP, but still always a bit disappointing because the feeling is the same of riding a regular longboard...
Nonetheless, I decided to take an SUP with me to Oahu, because my back won't allow me to only surf.

So I tried a few boards to see if I could find a magic one. Ran into an 8.0 that was pretty remarkable, but couldn't get my hands on it. For all the other ones I tried I had the same verdict: too much board once you catch the wave. I can't dig that rail the way I would like to. Again, even though I know it's SUP surfing, once on the wave it feels just like regular longboarding and my body would like to dig that rail like it's used to!
SO... my choice is not to buy a new board (thank god, I really don't need another one!), but to take with me the Sea Lion.

For the ones who don't know it, the Sea Lion is a very peculiar SUP board. Designed by Bruno Andre of AHD, it's a 7.6 SUP sailing fish.
Here's the subtle reason why I preferred it to all the other SUPs I tried.
It doesn't feel like a regular surfboard. It's a completely different animal.
I'm not saying it's better or worse. It's just completely different.
And so, when I am on it, my body doesn't expect to dig that rail the way it does when riding my 8.6. My body actually doesn't know what to expect! It's a hell lot of fun to try to find out different ways of making that thing work. And I know that thing works. I saw Bruno ripping on it. So it's a whole new experience and it's more fun - for me - than the other SUP boards.
And I can put a sail on it. And it's only 7.6: easy to ship it on the barge. And it's super stable on the white water so that I can try floaters and stuff.

But SUP boards can be used not only for surfing, but also for other things... like exploring. Kanaha Kai co-owner Bart, for example, is up to a big adventure: standup paddle around the island of Maui! Check his blog for updates.
I wish he asked me for advice since I have a limited but significant experience of "long distance" paddling in Maui. About four years ago, when the number of standup boards were on Maui were still less than 10, with a bunch of friends (they all were on kayaks) I paddled from Hanamanou to Maliko.