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I discovered this mind blowin' - barrel haulin' clip today!
Check out the first barrel ride -- one of the longest in and out barrel rides that I've ever seen! I will die a very happy Maui surfer girl - if I ever experience a ride in the barrel like this one.
Check this out!!
Our warmest holiday wishes from all of us at Maui Surfer Girls!
Check this out: Surfing Santa Clip
FYI, Maui recently opened a standing wave park: Da Rush Maui
And Check this CLASSIC surfing santa footage out:** LIVE ALOHA IN '08! **
This is one of my most favorite tow surf clips that I've ever seen. It's mind blowing! The clip really gives you a birds eye view of the enormity at Jaws. Heli-footage is the way to capture Jaws.
A few years ago I had a unique opportunity to film Jaws from a helicoptor. While Jace Panebianco was filming The Windsurfing Movie, he randomly asked me a favor. He was stuck at a modelling gig and couldn't break free to film one of the most important shoots of the movie -- Naish, Levi, and all the pros were windsurfing Jaws that afternoon. He told me I had the steadiest hand without a tri-pod, so he trusted me to take the footage for him. I was completely honored. So, I dropped everything I was doing that day and ran over to his house to pick up his Panasonic cam. Off I went to the heli pad to meet one of my favorite photographers, Eric Aedar, and a mini-me version of the Magnum PI helicoptor. Only a week prior I surfed Jaws for the first time, and now I was about to get another ride of my life -- hanging out of a doorless helicopter shooting the 40+ foot waves of Jaws. I don't know what was more exciting - feeling my feet strapped to my little 6'0 tow board chattering down the face of Jaws or feeling the seatbelt tighten on my hips as the helicopter made dramatic bank turns racing out of the way of the spraying walls of water heaving towards us. Amazingly we landed safely at sunset, and my hair coated with sea spray looked like I just stuck my head in a commercial dryer. Ahhh, I felt invigorated like never before.
Heli footage tangent...sorry...here it is folks. BTW, 4 million people have viewed this on youtube, so you've probably already seen it.
Honolua Bay + Glassy 4-5 foot barrelling waves = Pure surf perfection!
I found my favorite little perch on the side of Honolua Bay's gorgeous cliffs and shot round 3 of the Billabong Pro Maui. I captured only an -inth of all that beauty oozing out this oceanic paradise. The ladies were scoring so many clean barrels -- it was making me sit so far on the edge of my seat - that I literally almost fell off the cliff. My photographer friend Nicole Sanchez, who had me sit next to her on a safer part of the cliff, captured these amazing photos of the afternoon. Sponsors, spectators, competitors -- please contact Nicole Sanchez if you'd like to purchase any of these stunning images: Behind The Lens Maui Photography
The big news concluding yesterday's event was that Stephanie Gilmore has indeed made womens surf history -- our 2007 World Champ as rookie! If that wasn't enough for the young gun, today she also won the Billabong Pro Maui contest! Big congrats to "Happy Stephanie Gilmore"! She just opened the door to all the other young guns like Carissa Moore, Lani Doherty, Katrina Petroni, etc that will surely follow in Stephanie's footsteps. You just wait...a new generation of young rippers are hitting the ASP scene!
Enjoy the images and footage from yesterday's competition compliments of Maui Surfer Girls & Behind the Lens Maui!
Thank you Nicole Sanchez of Behind the Lens Maui for these amazing images!!
As I was surfin' the internet tonight, I found this incredible footage on surfline.com. They claim that these are some of the biggest waves ridden at Mavericks during that last mondo swell.
The level of tow surfing is off the charts - See for yourself!
In the green spiralina shake waters of Honolua Bay, the Billabong Pro 2007 kicked off in 4-6 foot waves. Maui got pounded with storms last week, and the ocean has turned all shades of brown. It felt good to dry out on the sunny cliffs of Honolua Bay to watch another year of world class women's competion. Honolua Bay wanted to shut down during a few heats...long waits, mushy waves. But the contest prevailed, as did the konas.
The exciting news of this years contest is the three contenders for the 2007 WCT Championship title. The young dynamo from Brazil, Sylvana Lima, is currently 3rd on the tour. And another South American ripper - Peru's pride and joy, Sophia Mulanovich, is the former world champ and has a good shot at a second title. Last but not least, Stephanie Gilmore from Australia might make ASP history at this event. If she clinches the world title Stephanie will become the first to win the title on her rookie year. You go girl! All three have advanced through the first two rounds. They are fierce competitors, so it'll be awesome to see how the next day of competition will play out.
I love this contest because it's in my backyard. But even better is that it determines three winners of the tour: the Billabong Pro, Triple Crown, and the World Tour. The buzz is pretty thick on the heat scorched, red dirt of Honolua Bay.
Here's some of my favorite clips - I shot from the cliff today. Enjoy!
The latest buzz in Hawaii surf news this week is on our local superhero big wave chargers, Laird Hamiliton and Brett Lickle. In a couragous rescue mission, Laird Hamilton swam 1/2 a mile in historic sized 80 foot swells to their abandoned ski, after getting obliviated by a monster wall of whitewater. These are the stories Hollywood couldn't dream up, and Laird & Brett lived to tell the tale. Talk about superhero stunts: Laird swam for the ski, stripped off his board shorts, tourniqueted Bretts bleeding leg, and got to the beach with Brett savely, half naked...Apparently Brett was ripped off his ski by a huge wave and landed on the alumninum fins from the spare tow board straped to his rescue sled. Are you kidding me? Only in Hawaii does tow surfing get this extreme! These amazing watermen proved themselves in some of the sickest outer reef surf on record! Superhero bravery & humility in the face of 80 foot waves....
Read about it in today's Honolulu Advertiser December 5, 2007
Meanwhile, South Maui has been out of power since 9:30 this morning & torrential downpours along with 50 mph gusts are bumming out the tourists -- and cancelling all our scheduled surf lessons this week!
This is one of my favorite clips of Honolua Bay - simply in the moment - in my truck, "Falcor", listening to cool jazz (music in the background) and checkin' the surf through the trees from the scenic look out. I grab my video camera and film through my window - watching these surfers getting shacked wave after wave after hollow wave! I can't watch a second more...I'm hiking down the cliffs with my bikini half on, wax in my mouth, hair in my eyes, with one thing in mind: a turquoise barrel at the cave! Step aside boys - this Maui surfer girl's gonna get her mack on!
It's these little Honolua magic memories that make many of us fired up to save Honolua Bay from being destroyed forever by developers. To check out the latest on the Save Honolua Bay Coalition, view this link:
Thank you Jace from Poor Boyz Productions for this amazing clip of a rare day at Hookipa Beach Park! This weekend was off the hook at Hookipa -- 6-10 foot face hollow waves.
For those of you who are not familiar with Hookipa, Maui's northshore surf break, it's notably one of the best windsurfing spots in the world. Maui, a.k.a "the valley isle", acts like a funnel to all our tradewinds from the east, making Hookipa the perfect wavesailing spot. So when we hear about "kona winds", that is winds that come from Kona or from the south, all the surfers bolt to Hookipa to take advantage of the offshore winds on Maui's big northshore waves. As you can see from this clip the kona winds are holding up the wave, creating clean barrelling waves.
We are in the middle of high surf warnings all week long. All of us with jet ski's are firing them up and headin' to the outer reefs to tow surf those sky scrapin' mack daddy's!! Keep checkin' back with us for clips of outer reef action this week!
Thanks again Jace & Poor Boyz Productions for the rad clip!
If you have ever considered picking up the sport of windsurfing, then you have to get a copy of "The Windsurfing Movie". Jace Panebianco, a good friend and my favorite local pro windsurfer, has just launched his first movie. He has done a phenomenal job showcasing the sport of windsurfing. For any of you who are wanting to learn this amazing sport or inspired by windsurfers skying thirty feet in the air, doing sick aerial tricks off of massive outer reef waves, then this movie is for you. The Windsurfing Movie also has a great story line and tracks the history of the sport, which will undoubtedly inspire a new generation of windsurfers. And you gotta love the heli and water cinematography -- it's mindblowing! Check out their trailer and take advantage of their holiday gift special!
And here's one of my favorite sequence of photos of Jace and I tandem surfing Hookipa on an overhead day. This was one of my most exhilariting rides yet at Hookipa -- thanks Jace!!
