surf-matic

Hitting a cutback and letting the tail slide.

Maui lately: wind and waves. The season has begun! I’ve had some trouble trying to get in a good groove. But it seems that Kevin Pritchard has found a perfect rhythm in the newly arrived waves. Every time I watch him he throws something cool: sick air 360s, air takas, backside 360s, and everything else. I’m impressed.

Kevin throws an air. He has been on fire lately!

The Pritch is on fire!

I’ve got some more to report, but I’ve got to get to bed at the moment. I was on the water for 6 hours today! My session started bad but I wasn’t going to let it stay bad, so I forced it around and ended up with a really fun day.

A couple days ago, there was a post on Facebook advising Hookipa windsurfers to choose body before gear when in trouble. When going on the rocks or getting smashed in the waves, the post advised, save yourself and then worry about your gear. I think a bit differently on the topic. My thoughts:

First off, your board and sail are both a flotation device and a sailing craft, so in the event you get sucked out to sea, they could save your life. Full stop.

Second, one of the most important rules at Hookipa for NOT going on the rocks is to never let go. Holding onto the equipment, letting the current work its magic, and putting in some swimming effort will almost guarantee safety from the rocks as the channel carries you out to sea past the breaking waves.

Third, my bones and skin will heal themselves, but a good custom board is irreplaceable. Custom boards require so much handshaping and non-machine work that they are all unique in the sense that they are one-of-a-kind. So I could try to get copies of a favorite board, but the copies, while being similar to the original shape, will be slightly different and therefore act differently on the waves.

I dare not be arrogant enough to tell others what to do, but rather, those are my thoughts on the matter. Take it as you will.

I promised a look at windsurfing psychology, so here it goes:

The last week or so, I’ve been quite frustrated with my sailing. I guess I feel that I’m not doing everything on the water that I want to be doing in terms of landing tricks and connecting turns with a good flow. This leads to unhappiness on the water (and the massive crowds inhabiting Hookipa lately don’t help). Normally, landing a trick like a taka or a goiter or a 360 is an instant injection of dopamine providing happiness and excitement for the next 20min or so. But lately, I land a trick and because I expected to land it I don’t feel that instant rush. Clearly my perspective needs to change!

I thought about changing it by working on 2 new moves that I’m trying to invent. One of the moves I got really close to pulling down in Baja on one of the days where we weren’t competing. And the other move isn’t actually a new move (so I’m not inventing it, but bringing it back to life). Josh Angulo invented it years ago and called it the Gu Press. But then Nat Gill got into doing them too and called it the Hangover. But since the move seems forgotten by the windsurfing world. I like the name “Hangover” and hope it sticks. I worked on the Hangovers but even though I got really close, I didn’t make any.

I was unhappy with my sailing and even more unhappy with my attitude, so I just decided to force myself into a good mood and good sailing (as sailing is an expression of emotion). So I was on the water for 6 hours yesterday. At the start, I was unhappy, but I just wrestled with myself to focus on the sailing. I recited a mantra that I used to always say to myself when on the water: humble and flow, humble and flow, etc. And after about 4 hours, I was in an amazing groove. I was happy and sailing amazing.

Through a brute force breakdown of my bad emotions, I was able to turn my session around and have a great day on the water. And even better, I broke out of my rut. So now, once the wind comes back at the end of the week (it’s light konas right now), I’ll be more than happy to hit the waves.

And for now, here’s a pic:

I love carves off the lip like this.