Maui
Here I put the rest of the pics from our mini trip to Maui this time. Xisco and I went there for a couple of days after spending 2 weeks in Oahu…
We got picked up by Jesse Richman, he took us at Cameron Dietrich’s house in Paia and we spent the time with them, it was quite cool to hang out there and get to know the place. The higlights was the beers in the Jacuzzi after a each kite session, so good.
It was early morning when we got there, and we had to wait until 11am before riding, because of the fishermen… It’s a rule that must be respected all year long. A good deal for the lazy riders who wants to sleep longer.
Once we made it to the beach the spot was smaller than we expected, however the place is stunning, a perfect flat water spot behind the rocks for throwing out some good tricks and the wind was cross onshore and not gusty at all. We were lucky as it wasn’t the normal direction for summer… However on our second day we had the chance, or not, to ride the cross offshore direction and powered on our 7m, not as orgasmic as it was on our first day I’d say, but we must ride it all to improve, so no complains. 
Leeshai Miller from Israel was by coincidende on the island for a week, I once did a trip to Cuba with him 6 years ago and since we never met again so it was a good opportunity to go for a beer and a delicious fresh tuna burger at the fish market of Paia. He told us it was a must when staying in Maui, so we were pleased to go after a good session.
Then we got back to Oahu and had almost 48h of travel back home… We visited New York city and some friends in Barcelona and I finally ended in my bed with a broken back from 2 nights of sleeping in planes.
Now I’m traveling around France for 2 weeks in order to attend a couple of events around the country…
A day in Oahu!!
“The alarm has been ringing for 5 minutes now, but I can’t move as I’m exhausted and asleep from a crazy day of sport yesterday. Xisco finally makes it and throws a pillow at my head… I’m so tired, it’s 4h30 am.
The swell got in and it was announced just for 3-4 days, so we decided to make the most of it as we are apparently very lucky to get these waves in summer time. Yesterday we woke up at 5h30 but we soon found out that we were not the only ones to be overmotivated on the island… in fact it was Saturday, fully sunny day and the whole island seemed to be surfing out there. So today, we made it at 4h30, well let’s say 5am after asking ourselves if we had enough power to go… it’s rainy and kind of cold out of bed, but I rather sleep on my surfboard watching the sunrise.
20 minutes later we are sitting in the car in the dark, barely seeing the foam of the waves breaking far out and raindrops pour down the window. Once again we are not the first ready for a session, people keep arriving in their Pickups filled with surfboards in the trunk. OK Buddie, we can actually see the waves now, it’s time to enjoy!
After a 2 hours surf session we’re going to make our first ever skydive jump down onto Mokuleia, the wave spot up north of Oahu. This experience is very hard to beat, Reo warned us, the rest of the day will simply feel boring after doing it… In fact, the feeling of watching the world beneath yourself, on the edge of a plane at 14000 ft and about to jump, is ridiculously exciting. Xisco is going ahead of me, I can’t stop laughing as the situation is hilarious. He tells me: Man we are jumping from a freaking plane!!! And as soon as he finishes his phrase he disappears through the door and I can feel the plane go up. It’s time to put my head out of the plane, and I ask myself what the hell am I doing!!?? But there is no time to think twice, the 3 first seconds of fall are absoluuuuuuutely nuts, then I feel like floating in the air and I enjoy my minute of fall watching the kites and waves under myself, the channels, reefs, I try to find a shark but unfortunately, nothing…”
Afterwards we obviously had a big brunch at Café Haleiwa, one of the preferred places of Reo… I went for the 7th time for eggs and Bacon combined with two huge pancakes and litters of maple Sirup, a proper American breakfast… I know I could try something else but I keep loving it and can’t make the change. After the 3 coffees and the adrenaline we still had in our bodies we obviously had to finish the day with a 4 hours session of strapless wave riding in a proper Hawaiian wave with all the locals and friendly riders of Mokuleia, among them Reo Stevens, Felix Pivec, John Amundson, Chuck, Adriana and friends…
After staying on the island of Oahu for almost 3 weeks I can definitely say it’s one of these places I could perfectly be living in. No wonder so many people go there and never come back… The North of the island is remote from touristic mainstream with stunningly beautiful beaches, landscapes, turtles everywhere… Just 45min down south, Honolulu, the main city and capital of the Hawaiian state, is surrounded by nice bays with little waves braking everywhere… It was my first time surfing in front of skyscrapers in a paradisaical place with turquoise water, a hard combination to find in the world.
The surf culture is all over the island, and Stand Up Paddle (SUP) has conquered the spots. You see people from all ages on their SUP having a little ride on the sea.
Reo Stevens was cool and helped us a lot by showing the spots and introducing us to the kite crew of the island. We had our first sessions with all of them at Mokuleia but it was the first time that Xisco and I were feeling weird riding our twintips when everyone was riding wave boards. But we didn’t care, the good kickers were coming in and we enjoyed the Freestyle so far. However we didn’t wait long to get some strapless boards to enjoy the wave park!!!
Here some pics of our trip, and in a few days I will put some more of our staying in famous Kitebeach, Maui, where all kiteboarding tendencies start.
Aloha
