There are no other places like Hawaii to look forward for the winter. At least if the ocean is your playground.
There has been some massive swells hitting the Northshore of Maui lately. And some massive nut guys to go out and paddle the mythical wave known as Jaws. Until just recently, people would "tow-in" Jaws, meaning a jet-ski would tow the surfer into the wave. That's how most surfers started ripping huge monster waves such as Jaws on Maui, Teahupoo in Tahiti, Belharra in Portugal (..). Quite an elitist way of surfing though. But for the past few years, surfers have started to drive right down to Jaws park on top of the cliff, jump out of their truck, grab their board, wax it right there on the red dusty dirt and off they go running down the hill, stretching while analyzing the power and the speed of the waves, counting how many waves per set, getting into the rhythm of the ocean, probably trying to control their speeding heartbeat before launching in a rough white water, hoping their wave's count was right and no massive set will brake as they paddle out. INHALE. Those men and women have taken the big wave surfing movement to another level. Back to a much deeper connection with the natural element. Challenging their limits every day out there. And when at the end of the day my friend sends me a text "I did it..!!!!", I get chicken skin, shout out a loud "Hell Yeahhh" and thank whoever for keeping them safe. Respect. And even though some make it look almost easy, it does take a lot of training to get where they're at now. I have seen surfers, visitors to the island, wanting to get their wave too, bragging about it and not making it past the launching area's white water. Luckily they would eventually make it back safely to shore and funnily enough try to explain themselves : my board was too short, too light, too heavy, I had a cramp in my toe, broke a nail, my board short was too tight. I am slightly exaggerating but these guys just do not realize that it is dangerous out there, that without a proper training not only they will put their life in danger but also other people's life in danger. There are a bunch of guys doing the safety with their jet-ski. Volunteering. They are there in case one of the surfers need to be rescued but they shouldn't have to go and jeopardize their lives because of some untrained wanna-be-big-wave-surfer. It's a good thing to dream big, someone said "If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough". I relate to this but it doesn't mean all dreams should be taken to reality right at the second we dream about them! We should all work our way to live our dreams.
Meanwhile, let's them take us on their dream journey with what I believe is the best footage of last week's monster swell.
Hands down to Paige Alms, the only girl in the barrel that day, ripping at least as good as any other guy!
There has been some massive swells hitting the Northshore of Maui lately. And some massive nut guys to go out and paddle the mythical wave known as Jaws. Until just recently, people would "tow-in" Jaws, meaning a jet-ski would tow the surfer into the wave. That's how most surfers started ripping huge monster waves such as Jaws on Maui, Teahupoo in Tahiti, Belharra in Portugal (..). Quite an elitist way of surfing though. But for the past few years, surfers have started to drive right down to Jaws park on top of the cliff, jump out of their truck, grab their board, wax it right there on the red dusty dirt and off they go running down the hill, stretching while analyzing the power and the speed of the waves, counting how many waves per set, getting into the rhythm of the ocean, probably trying to control their speeding heartbeat before launching in a rough white water, hoping their wave's count was right and no massive set will brake as they paddle out. INHALE. Those men and women have taken the big wave surfing movement to another level. Back to a much deeper connection with the natural element. Challenging their limits every day out there. And when at the end of the day my friend sends me a text "I did it..!!!!", I get chicken skin, shout out a loud "Hell Yeahhh" and thank whoever for keeping them safe. Respect. And even though some make it look almost easy, it does take a lot of training to get where they're at now. I have seen surfers, visitors to the island, wanting to get their wave too, bragging about it and not making it past the launching area's white water. Luckily they would eventually make it back safely to shore and funnily enough try to explain themselves : my board was too short, too light, too heavy, I had a cramp in my toe, broke a nail, my board short was too tight. I am slightly exaggerating but these guys just do not realize that it is dangerous out there, that without a proper training not only they will put their life in danger but also other people's life in danger. There are a bunch of guys doing the safety with their jet-ski. Volunteering. They are there in case one of the surfers need to be rescued but they shouldn't have to go and jeopardize their lives because of some untrained wanna-be-big-wave-surfer. It's a good thing to dream big, someone said "If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough". I relate to this but it doesn't mean all dreams should be taken to reality right at the second we dream about them! We should all work our way to live our dreams.
Meanwhile, let's them take us on their dream journey with what I believe is the best footage of last week's monster swell.
Hands down to Paige Alms, the only girl in the barrel that day, ripping at least as good as any other guy!
BENDING JAWS from TAKE SHELTER PRODUCTIONS on Vimeo.
