surf-matic

Vote on the latest Make it or Break it, to win the prize!

This image is not part of the contest, but it was made.

Make it? OR Break it?

I am giving you this two photo sequence and I want you to decide: make it or break it? The test phase of Make it or Break it is over– the gloves are coming off! Now, anyone who guesses correctly will win a prize. This week’s prize will be an unreleased sailcloth sticker for the Panther Ltd and an Ezzy Panther Ltd Keychain– a highly coveted item!

Here are the instructions:
1) Check out the sequence below.
2) Put your decision in the comments.
3) Use your real email address, so that if you win, you can be contacted to have the prize sent to a mailing address.
4) The results will be released in one week– sometime on the 13th.

Only one question remains: make it or break it?

make it?

or break it?

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Maui wowie, still no waves on the north shore– but the south side was on fire. The waves were massive at La Perouse and the boys really ripped it up. Polakow seemed to steal the show– as is his MO. I decided not to make the trek across the island for the waves. Windsurfing La Perouse means a tricky launch and fighting with surfers for waves. I don’t care about the launch, but I don’t want to have to fight. For me, fighting on the water distracts too much from actually riding the waves. And given the sick trips I’ve got planned for the this winter, I think I’ll have an uncountable number of perfect waves all to myself– so I don’t regret missing this swell at all.

A perfect wave breaks on the south shore of Maui at La Perouse

The north shore also had some fun sailing. On Friday I got to the beach around 2pm and sailed till sunset at 7– it was so much fun. I’ve found a sweet rhythm with my backloops where I can really tweak by head back at the top and still land perfectly. The waves were small, but the wind was consistent enough for me to be fully powered on my new Panther Ltd 4.7. I must say, the setup I have right now– this 4.7 and my quatro fish quad– is magic. I can do whatever I want.

going into a back loop

turning it 'round

spotting the landing

I’m finally pulling shakes! I feel like it’s been years of trying them, but now I can whip them around at will (though I still get slammed sometimes!). Summer sailing on Maui is perfect for learning a freestyle move or two because there are no waves to distract.

And of course, there were little waves big enough to bust the fins loose. Love it!

Hitting the lip!

Throwing the fins loose

Letting the tail slide

Aside from all this windsurfing, Maui also had it’s own version of a fashion show: The Couture Hawaii Runway Show. I’m trying to start my own design label (think surf inspired casual chic), so the fashion show seemed like a good idea. A friend of mine’s wife turned me onto the show and I went with her. I’m not very keen on aloha prints, but the show was interesting and fun nonetheless. And I ran into Polakow in the back hanging out at the bar, which was a nice surprise. All in all, it was a fun evening (I must admit though that I was too hungry to stay for the entire 2 hour show and skipped out for tasty flatbread pizza in Paia). : )

At the couture hawaii show with a friend-- in the back of course.

on the runway at the Couture Hawaii Fashion Show

That’s Maui for this week! Hopefully the sailing continues. Until then! I’m signing off… but not without another picture (thanks again to the wonderful Jimmie Hepp).

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There will be no new posts this weekend because the weekend is for windsurfing, but feel free to read from the archives.
-G

1) I’m not one for tattoos, but I like this photo. La bella vita: the beautiful life. Windsurfers are definitely living it.

2) The Kevin Pritchard knows how to fly! Look at how bloody high that is. The shot was captured thanks to James Schmitt during the Pistol River AWT event.

3) I’m a sucker for clever puns.

4) Again, as I said… clever puns are my kryptonite (but only if accompanied with an illustration). Luckily the bowels of the internet are full of such genius.

5) This is REAL– no photoshop. Brendan Pyatt from umi turned me onto Jim Denevan’s massively impressive massive works of art.

6) Cool, colorful, and a little bit of sexy. Just the right combo for street art.

7) This is a reimagination of “The Treachery of Images” with a financial twist. The original painting by Rene Magritte was of a smoking pipe with “Ceci n’est pas une pipe.” written beneath the drawing. The french translates to: “This is not a pipe”. The point being that it was not a pipe but a drawing of a pipe. The image in my foto friday is done by Capital on Stage and is meant to provoke thought on financial bubbles markets. Ah! the wonders of human psychology. … What’s real anyway?

8 ) I don’t SUP so I feel a bit treacherous posting this photo. But no one can deny that the shot is beautiful and interesting.

9) I took this photo of the crater of Haleaka Mountain on Maui. It looks like another planet. It’s amazing that this scene sits just an hour from where I live, which is all Haiku jungle.

10) Keep your coins, I want change.

Why Octopuses Matter to Philosophy
by Peter Godfrey-Smith
For the “Academic Minute,” National Public Radio, 2010.

Why do octopuses matter to philosophy? They matter to the part of philosophy concerned with the mind. To see why, we step back and think about the evolutionary connections between all living things.

Biologists think of these relationships in terms of a tree of life. This is a huge tree-like pattern, marking which species are close relatives and which are distantly connected. The vertebrates form one branch of the tree, and that is where we find nearly all the animals with large and complex brains. These include ourselves, other mammals, and birds. In evolutionary terms, these are all cousins.

In the huge area of the tree containing other animals, invertebrates, there is only one small branch where we also find large brains. This branch contains the cephalopods – octopuses, cuttlefish, and squid. Large nervous systems evolved separately on these two branches, and nowhere else. Octopuses are a separate experiment in the evolution of the mind. Meeting an octopus is like meeting an intelligent alien.

So what did this experiment produce? Here is one thing. The nervous system of an octopus is less centralized than ours. In fact, more than half of the octopus’ neurons are not in the animal’s central “brain” at all, but in the eight arms. It is as if each arm has a mind of its own. Or perhaps in an octopus we see intelligence without a unified self.

A buddy of mine from Princeton, Joey Cheek, has started an all encompassing sports news site, Daily House at www.DailyHouse.com. I’m helping him with some writing, reporting, and editing. Check it out. The extreme section is full of good internet videos, so don’t skip it.

Baja part 3 is almost done. So expect that any day now. Also! the next Make it or Break it will have actual prizes for the people who guess correctly. Be excited!

Send some love out to Hatteras. They were hit hard by hurricane Irene.

And last but definitely not least, the film from my trip to Japan with umi in January is almost edited. It’s coming out pretty sick. Check out this push loop from the trip and hear the japanese cheers from the beach:

Of course, windsurfing is about BREAKING THE RULES. Hell, I hate rules of any kind and feel compelled to break them no matter what. Windsurfing to me is all about freedom from societal constraints. Freedom to fly on the water without rules. The ocean is the last refuge of freedom in the world.

Cycling, however, is perfectly suited for rules. I’ve recently fallen in love with road biking. Pushing your body with the bike– it feels amazing. I love to beat myself up, and cycling does that job perfectly. And pro cyclists are hardcore, like really hardcore. So it makes sense that they have a code of rules– or in this case mock rules. They are funny but also full of truth. Veluminati is an amazing cycling site, and if you’re even a little interested in cycling, you need to check it out. Frank the machine who runs the blog, was on Maui recently to challenge Haleakala’s 10k vertical feet (and to vacation…but saying that would be redundant). He did a ride with my dad out in Kaupo, and the ride was good enough to inspire a new rule (#86). Though, my personal favorite is #5.

The Rules:

RULE #1 / OBEY THE RULES.

RULE #4 / IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BIKE.
It is, absolutely, without question, unequivocally, about the bike. Anyone who says otherwise is obviously a twatwaffle.

RULE #5 / HARDEN THE FUCK UP.

…

RULE #86 / DON’T HALF-WHEEL.
Never half-wheel your riding partners; it’s terrible form – it is always the other guy who sets the pace. Unless, of course, you are on the rivet, in which case it’s an excellent intimidation technique.²²

22 Thanks to David Ezzy for this excellent contribution and fantastic ride out to Kaupo and back.

I like these–they are light and funny– and I want to do something similar for windsurfing on surf-matic. However, windsurfing and rules don’t mix. So, I’m thinking of starting with the Postulates and then building to the Theorems. In honor of Euclid, I think I’ll call it “The Elements”. So not rules but observations on windsurfing truths and truisms.

What are your favorite windsurfing postulates and theorems? Leave your suggestions in the comments and maybe they’ll be added as I build the new “The Elements” page.

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Here is the Ezzy Edit from the Cactus Cup AWT event. More of the story to follow shortly.

Even without waves, Maui is beautiful.

Another waveless week here on Maui, but everything is beautiful, so I can’t complain. And, the AWT contest in Hatteras next month could be good– judging from the hurricane hitting the east coast now.

At Kanaha with my dad testing the new FreeRide sail.

Without waves, I spent more time at Kanaha. I’m continuing to teach my friend to windsurf and I did some testing of the new FreeRide sails with my dad. They feel so fast! And I really love how they look. The visuals of the new sails keep blowing me away. Love it!

I've never seen Paia this busy in all my 22 years of being alive.

I was in Paia on Friday to have dinner with my good friend Alex (the same one that I’m teaching to windsurf), and it was the busiest I have ever seen it. From my birth on Maui 22 years ago till now, Paia has never been so busy. It was insane! People were playing music on the street, tourists were everywhere, and I had to park half a mile away. I love cities and people, but this scared me. It reminded me of Lahaina, which is totally infested by tourists. The swarms of people destroying the quiet atmosphere that was Paia. Luckily, I think this is a semi-singular occurrence spurred by an event put on by some of the shops. However, it marks a trend that is the evolution of Paia into a more touristy, more developed town. Fighting change is futile, but I do miss the Paia of old.

I really like this pattern

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