PWA aloha classic

Maui: Rainbow capital of the world & the PWA aloha classic

My 6 week trip to Maui (Combined with one week in New Caledonia) was absolutely a blast. Went to Maui for the last wave event of the year and decided to stay longer to practice a bit in the waves as well. For the Aloha Classic I finished in 8th place and overall in the waves I finished 6th for the year!
The forecast for the contest was amazing. Even Robby Naish decided to enter the event 😉 It’s quite evident that I lack experience in the waves. And definitely at a spot like Ho’okipa. But going to a contest like this and getting Ho’okipa all to myself during the heats was the best classroom for me!

PWA Aloha classic
In the single elimination I got kicked out in the first round. The wind was really light and I was barely floating on my 80l board. Resulting in me swimming a lot and ending up on the rocks. Have to say my first encounter with the rocks wasn’t too bad though! I was a bit dissapointed because I didn’t even have the chance to ride some waves.
This was good for my motivation though. In the double elimination I didn’t want to go out like that. I was up in the first heat against Carolina Butrich. This time I wasn’t taking any chances and rigged big! 5,2 and 80l. I was planing and could catch all the waves I wanted. With every heat I felt more confident. I understood how the wave worked and how I needed to position myself. To the point that I was throwing mini aerials and started freestyling in between a bit. There were a bunch of people on the beach giving me much appreciated pointers.

The heats were long though. 20 minutes every time. They ran 4 women’s heats and the top 2 would advance. I won my first 2 heats. But slowly my energy level was deteriorating. In total you don’t sail THAT much but the heats combined with the nerves, not eating etc. sap your energy. By the 4th heat against Alice Arutkin, Maria Andres & Ingrid Larouche -We all fought our way back from the bottom- I was struggling to stay focused and to give it all I got.

The waves were smaller and I couldn’t find the good ones. On top of that I interfered on a wave that Alice was riding. Not my intention! In the end Maria Andres and Alice went through to fight for 5th place. So happy to see how happy they were. Then the biggest surprise was Alice finishing in 5th, which propelled her to 3rd place overall in the world !! Massive congrats to Alice for that!
Congrats to the top 3 girls at the event as well: Iballa, Fiona (only 17 and riippiing!!) & Local girl Tiffany Ward.

What I enjoyed most about this event is how happy, motivated and excited all the girls were. The maui girls made us feel right at home organizing a bunch of get togethers for the girls. We even pulled up at the prizegiving in limousines! Great times ! So finally I finished 6th overall in the world in waves. Gotta say I’m pretty quite happy! Now I have a good idea of what and where I need to improve. Besides that a whole new world of windsurfing opened up to me and I’m so excited about it !

Maui rainbow capital of the world
The wind was quite light for the rest of my stay so I went freestyling most of the time on my big set. My goal for that trip was to land a pushloop. I only really got a chance to start practicing 4 days before I left. (not much wind after the event and 10 days in new caledonia). I got to the point where I rotated around but landed on my rig. Thanks to Arnon & robby for the tips. Gonna get those soon!
Besides that I saw “Jaws” breaking for the first time. Goosebumps.
Also did quite some sightseeing with my lovely roommates and just overall had such a good time with everybody. Can’t explain how cool it is to spend time with such an international group of people. Fun and laughs guaranteed :).

Sailing in Maui is such a cool experience. The conditions are great, but it’s the scenery that makes it special to me. Looking back to shore you see the Haleakala crater and rainbows always seem to appear out of nowhere. Hopefully going back there in March! Now It’s down time in Aruba. Spending christmas and new years with my family!

Thank you: Starboard, Mystic, Maui Ultra fins for having my back
Kanaha Kai Maui for providing me with a board especially for this contest
Big Thank you to Phil, Jen and the boys for having me over at their place!