Winters Review

It's been awhile...
    To Start we had the KiteSurfPro at the end of December.  This was the only Kite surf competition of the Year, held at Maui local spot, Ho'okipa.  I was asked to help out by Kristen Bosse, and I was happy to help.  I ended up setting the speaker system and soundboard up at the pre-party, and ended up DJing the whole event.  I rocked my favorite Music at Ho'okipa for almost a week, and I was beach announcer, with my friend Rick D.  Got to say that alone was fun.

     As for the contest, I had been riding lanes in all conditions the month before, and was rocking a 5'10 Rusty Surftec,  I felt on my game.  My first two heats I won with high scores and many waves!  Even though I was only kiting 15 minutes a day, I was having a blast!  The last day, I was in a Quater Final against last years winner, Keahe DeAboitz,.  The waves were bigger, and I hooked into my first wave off the back, getting two nice backside hacks.  On the landing of the second turn, my quick release blew open releasing my kite.  I tried to duck the wave and use the safety, but the kite ripped the saftey out and flew away.  I swam in from the surf, hustled, and Pete Cabrinha helped me out with his kite.  I was able to get a few more minutes.  I ended up with a 12 out of 20, not enough to beat Keahe, but i didn't really get to play the Heat right.  Kinda killed my buzz for the Contest, but everyone said I did great, and tied for 5th.
      After a full beach week I was ready to Fly.  I dedicated the end of the Month to my HangGlider, and scored a few good 6k flights and a couple odd SeaCliff days.  Then the wind shut down, I decided that I would have to give up the Glider for the winter, and dedicate life to Surf and Kitesurf.
      This was a great choice, Surf is Great!  I have been surfing more every year for about 5 years now.  I am happy to say that I don't completely suck anymore!  My winter surf spots include Lanes, Ho'okipa, and River mouth.  Then the series of Giant swells came.  A kiter friend Brad Price recruited me to be his tow surf partner, which I have been lucky enough to have a lot of experiences from previous seasons.  We towed Outer Sprecks on a few big days, and I got to get a share of Bombing Surf experiences!

      Then Life go really nice, I was in the habits of waking up, drinking Coffee, Surfing Big Lanes, working at Maui Tectonics for a few hours, and getting another Surf or an Epic Kitesurf Session!
So many day of large surfing, and finally making turns and big sections. Surfing the Best of my life!  We had a series of Kona winds that let me work on kitesurfing front-side, off shores at Lanes.  It sounds epic, but I haven't spent enough time at it to love it.  As of recently, I have had a few Mind Blowing sessions on my 10m at Ho'okipa.  I have spent up to 10 hours there, nearly by myself on solid 5-8  10-15ft faces, feeling more comfortable than ever and hitting sections harder than ever!
     The run of large swells seems to have slowed now, and I have been putting my hang glider back on my car.  I have had a few minor thermal sled rides, and a real nice South East, non-recommended, Seacliffs flight, but it turned out to be real nice!  I am up to date, and I predict a lot of fun days ahead.