Man it gets busy when a contest comes around. Anyhow we are having fun trying to run the media from Maui Nerd Productions headquarters. It is pretty cool to have so many people working with us. Johannes is here, Ruben flew over to help out with the photos, Ben came over from Seattle, and myself running around sailing filming, swimming, just trying to get it all done. The County of Maui has been working with us trying to spread the good news from the event with the Mayor and some of the other sporting divisions helping out getting it in the media. The Maui News has been covering it as well so it has been pretty successful so far.

You can check out all the photos and happenings at the AWT Facebook page.

Anyhow, another sick edit by the Newms! Nice work!

AWT Maui Makani Classic – Day Two from American Windsurfing Tour on Vimeo.

Maui is finally having a wave event at Hookipa Beach Park. Come down and check out the action!! Here is a preview to the event! Hope you enjoy it!

AWT Maui Makani Classic - The Pre-Show from American Windsurfing Tour on Vimeo.

I read a great article this morning and wanted to share the closing paragraph- it sums up a lot of things.....

"Be grateful and cherish every moment. Get your ass out of bed and greet the sunrise with your fists clenched and your heart in the right place. Take more time to enjoy the little miracles that surround us every day. And if you attend or compete in a sporting event or race, bow your head and close your eyes during the prayer. Do it for appreciation and gratitude of the moment. Moreover, take the time to do it right with everything you do. Give more substance and respect to every moment we are allowed to compete in the race of life."

Big Monday is here and after a great weekend sailing session I thought i would share some insight on handling chop..... Hope you learn something from it!

Sometimes hitting chop at full speed can be pretty scary. We have all heard the saying “speed is your friend” and most of the time it is. When most people see chop coming at them, their first reaction is to slow down. When that happens, they straighten the legs and head up into the wind and usually end up hitting the steepest part of the chop and get bucked off! Sound familiar?

When I see chop coming at me, I hit the gas! I usually bear off the wind, bend my knees and stick my butt out so that I can absorb the bumps. My “SEVEN 7” stance turns into a “SIX 6”. Bearing off the wind also takes some of the edge off the wind chop and won’t send me flying. This is where those LONGER harness lines really help out! You are able to get further away from your rig and stay in control. Bend those knees and absorb that chop.

If things are really out of hand and you are getting bounced all over the place, get out of your harness lines, drop your butt down into the water and hang downward on your boom. This stance forces you to bend those knees and get low..... It isn’t the prettiest looking stance but it will do the job and save you from getting flicked over the front. The name of the game is being in control and having fun!

Equipment setup for choppy conditions has a couple rules I like to go by-

• Having the mastrack forward helps keep the nose of the board low and down- this equals less tail walking.
• Putting your foot straps further inboard will give you more control, especially in the turns.
• Make sure you have enough downhaul in your sail- too little and you will be getting thrown all over the place.
• If you are spinning out a lot, move your fin further back or your foot straps forward if your using a powerbox or tuttle box board.
• The more overpowered you are, the more outhaul you can pull on- This kills some of the power in your rig and makes it easier to control.

Now all you need is some wind and water- get out there and GAS IT! See you on the water-

MP

The new Ezzy Panther Limiteds are out for the winter swells.

Panther Limited from Ezzy Sails on Vimeo.

Well since Matt is getting into the blog again, which I am loving, nice work by the brother. It seems like he has more stuff to blog about when he goes away rather than what you guys have been reading about when I am doing my blogging. "woke up and went windsurfing. Waves were great, wind was up. I mean after 5 years of writing this, how much more can you guys handle? Anyhow, hope you guys are liking what Matt has to write about.

I have been busy working on some web stuff, and working with David on some sails and that has been fun. I really enjoy testing when I can put in some of my creative thoughts. Maui has had it's first swell, and that was fun, not too many people out and that was fun.

If you are interested in how to launch at Hookipa check out the Windsurfing 101 article here.

If you want to know what Graham is thinking about the Hookipa contest check out this video.

Graham Ezzy ripping it up in Baja, gives us some insight to the Hookipa AWT Event from American Windsurfing Tour on Vimeo.

If you want to check out how to rig a sail with David Ezzy you can watch this video.

Rigging the new Panther Limited from Ezzy Sails on Vimeo.

Also there are a couple of other videos on the Ezzy Vimeo that could be of interest to you.

Sunset Wave from Pritchard Windsurfing on Vimeo.