Had a great day at Hookipa. Got out early and must have had about 30 waves, and was totally a blast. It is so fun when there is nobody else out and you have the place all to yourself.. But I guess I am kinda greedy. I came in for a lunch break, when all the people went out, took some pics, and video, let my food digest and then went back out for an afternoon session. Was pretty fun.

Mark all contorted

Bernd has been charging lately

With Moves like this

Mo Mula going for the barrel

Ripper

I love this shot of Jesse Brown out ripping it up

Went down to Kanaha to meet up with the Captain today. He was out ripping around on his 8.8 and having a ball of a time. Almost made me want to get out there a go for a burn with him, but I dont think my Ezzy 5.2 would have cut the mustard. So I figured I would give him his private photoshoot. The Gregster is one of my crew, and we always have a good time together. I got a couple of nice shots, and thought I would share.

Too Many Trees?

Once I started with the trees, I couldn't get enough of them

The Captain

So I have been calling up Graham every day to take some shots. What do I get.. "hi it is Graham, cant come to the phone right now, leave a message" "Graham, its Kev, lets take some shots!" and this has been going on for quite a few days. Today, it was, David calls me up, hey can you get some shots of Graham.. Today!.. I was like ok.. boss is calling, we better get on this.. Graham, can you come down and take some photos.. pleeeeeaaaaseeeee..... " I got a meeting till 1 pm.." I was.. "shoots I have a meeting at 2 with the Powerex boss.." He was like, "I will meet you there at 1:30."

He shows up, I take out my camera, thirty minutes later, I have the shots of my life.. well almost. But man, not to pump him up or make his head too big, but the guy was ripping. I was a little bummed I was on a photo mission cause he did this goiter 360 thing that was just mind blowing.. totally sick and a pleasure to photograph.. Check out a couple of the shots.

This was the goiter, 360, I was talking about, and he nailed it.. super sick

Getting carried away with the photoshop!

Too much PS but look at the water ripples.. Loving it

Man, the wind has been cranking on Maui. I got down the beach and rigged up my 4.2 Panther Limited two days in a row. Pretty sweet to be out on such a small little sail at Hookipa.

Graham came out so and we have been trying to meet up to do some video and photos so I was like a couple more and I will go in for a photo session and then head back out if it stays as good. Anyhow, his session wasn't so great but I have to say I loved the clouds for the photos.

I still need some help on how to process the HDR photos like Franckie does over at http://www.berthuotvisuals.com/. I have to say I love his creativity. It must be his french accent that gets him all the beautiful models. I love the mix of beauty and ocean, and once my beauty Resi gets back I am going to have her out swimming all the time trying to get these cool photos. Just need time on the water, or underwater.

Here are a couple of my efforts.

Well if all the PWA races were like the race here in Saint Barth's, I would probably still be on tour! What a great event, although it wasn't super fun to be in 6th position nearly all the races, it still was an awesome experience. From the racing, to the organization, to meeting new friends, I really hope to come back to this magical island in the Caribbean. I have to say I was very spoiled by the organizers, who gave everyone a first class event. Thanks to everyone who has supported this event and made for a great time.

This photo is last but not least, and while I dont really like it, me being behind, I know Arnaud Daniel can put this one in his memory forever!! Good racing with you Arnaud!!

We had a great day of wind down here. Man this place is awesome for slalom sailing, and I am pretty sure the wife would like it here too. Sun, Fun, and such a charming little isle. I can see why some of the richest people in the world come down here. Today I probably walked by a billionaire.. ha ha.. wouldn't know it the sand, the sea, is just priceless.

As for the racing we did 2 15k races, and you could believe that I was pretty tired at the end. In the first one, I conserved my energy, but on the second one, my harness line broke right at the begining.. I was lucky cause I could just hold on cause it was the buckle that broke and not the entire rope, but it was not easy nor that much fun to sail with about a 40" harness line. I didn't win the race, but I sure had a lot of fun, out in the water, ripping around with some friends.. In the first race I was first in the non-touring professional division, but in the second one, I finished second. There actually isn't a non touring pro division, I just pick my guys that I am racing with and try and beat them. Sad to say that the 2 cam freeride sail isn't going to take down the World Champ. It is fast and beat a lot of full on race sails, but to battle with the worlds best, we are going to have to step it up a bit. But I also think that I won on having the most fun!

The wind down here is pretty nice, the water is so beautiful, I just cant stop taking photos of it.