Monday, March 16, 2009

Kanaha with the Kona shots



Big thanks to Alex who sent me these photos. Here's the text of his email:

Weather was not the best for shooting and the distance to the waves made it tough to get good shots (also without a tripod). I wish I had the camera out a bit earlier I would have caught you on some Big sets even though you said you made no turns (I saw you turn) not everyone is as comfortable as Pascal or Kauli... any of those sets could've made you swim for a looong time if you got a bit cocky, anyway this is what turned out and sorry if the files are to big.

Pascal was out for 3.5hrs and had some incredible rides including a few on weird wave, Kauli was out for 45min. and as you see it was raining while he was at the beach, so as soon as he hit the water the wind got super lite until it stopped completely while he was still at the reef. So he started swimming (Pascal pretty much sailed to within 15m. of the beach on the lightest of gusts 10min before it went to zero), the lifeguard jet ski happened to rescue a french sailor from uppers when they saw Kauli, so he got a ride while his friend and everyone else swam all the way in.


And here's the other photos he attached.
















In the meantime, I put together a few clips I shot at the harbor on Friday.


And I still have to edit the gopro clips of my session, so stay tuned.

Glenn sent this (sick table top at min. 4), Graham Ezzy sent this, Norm and Bernd Roediger sent this and Pietro Porcella sent this.

Today I surfed almost 3 hours and can barely move my arms. Life is great, despite the poor wave forecast for this week.

-----------------------------------

I'm updating this post with something I wrote after having read the first comment from Ben:

Yes, what I was trying to explain with words is much better rendered by a photo.
Here's what I said in a previous comment:
"If you never sailed there, be very careful. It's waaay more difficult than it looks because of the extreme offshoreness and gustiness of the wind. And the wave is not the usual mushy Lowers wave... it's a beast that breaks top to bottom.
Again, way more difficult/dangerous than the usual Lowers."


I guess that picture tells everything (do click on it, it's the one above the jet ski one).
The peak you see breaking is the (in)famous bowl. Here's what happens: there's a shallow spot that sticks out in the ocean more than the rest of the reef. When the wave starts feeling it, it slows down and peaks right in front of the shallow spot. At the same time, the two shoulders keep travelling faster, they bend around the peak and that's when the bowl forms. It only happens with big waves though and, in my very personal scale of values, it's one of the most beautiful thing I've seen in this world. Being in the right spot on the bowl going left on any kind of board for me is better than sex.

That's why I was so stoked to have been out there for two hours without getting worked even if I didn't do any radical turn...
As Alex said I'm definitely not as comfortable on port tack also because I feel like I could get hurt more easily, since I have less experience not only in riding waves, but also in falling and wiping out on that tack.

Technical note: both me and Pascal were out on 90l boards. No idea about Kauli. Being out there with my 81l would have been a lot more difficult for me if not impossible.
Think about this: the wind was so fluky that I had to uphaul three times! One of which in emergency mode in the impact zone with a big set looming on the horizon...

7 comments:

benjaminpink said...

Omg! those shots of the wave with Pascal and Kauli are amazing! that one where it looks like Pascal is on the wave and Kauli is heading out, so intense. Wow.

cammar said...

Ben,
I update the post with the reply to your comment...

Waterturtle said...

Great pics and post!

pushingtide said...

You never see windsurfin' pics like these. Cool shit.

Anonymous said...

Superb piccies but I also love the differing colours of the sea.
Fantastic.

Anne

Anonymous said...

I've seen that bowl show up several times, sometimes on overhead sets in Low-low tides to nearly mast high sets with lite onshore breeze(ie. the previous Sat/Sun.) but, when the wind is Kona they truly become fearsome beautiful waves, as Pascal described: "in all the years at Ho'okipa I've never experienced anything like the pounding these deliver... serious respect" the afternoon before (when the Harbor went off) they were almost double this size, freakishly cool... no one dared go out.
Though I did not get any good action pics of GP or Pascal, I saw GP avoid some real bombs on his way out while making some good cautious turns on some nearly mast high faces, after his session, Pascal ruled it with some incredibly vertical hits.. at one point he was racing along a 1/4 mile long wall of water when he carved up to the lip, floating at least 12+ft. above it and traveling for what seemed 30-40yds. down the line safely landing behind the pounding wall of water below... adrenaline rush from just watching!

cammar said...

Mac and Anne, thanks for the comments.

Pushingtide, I really like your style.

Alex, thanks again for the shots and the insides.
The afternoon before noone was out, but the morning of that day a couple of standuppers and of regular surfers tried it. I talked to a surfer and he said it was a bit hairy, with no really good rides. Good exercise though...

I also met Kauli the other day. He was out on a about 70l board.
"That's my big board, but it wasn't big enough"... I bet!