Thursday 28 April 2011

Back in the UK, Maui video, and Windsurf 4 Cancer!

Home now! We were sad to leave Maui but have the windsurf for Cancer and Wales and Ireland competitions to look forward to at least! Our last week was pretty uneventful, not much wind and not many waves, in fact pretty flat apart from our last day where we managed to squeeze in a head to logo session at Ho'okipa. Amazing trip though, we managed to sail or explore the island every day! Here are the last of the photos and a video I made of the trip. Enjoy!

Sunday I am windsurfing from 8 until 8 at Llandegfedd resevoir in Wales, and it is slowly dawning on me how hard and how cold it will be sailing for that long in an Easterly! If you can donate to cancer I would be so greatful, my page is: http://www.justgiving.com/sarah-bibby1


More Windsurfing Videos

2 Manta rays I saw whilst sailing at Kanaha. Pretty scary at first as they kept lifting their fins out of the water and I thought it was a big shark!

Mast cam whilst crashing a forward-thought the water looked cool!



Chris Duarte's photos from up the volcano and at Ho'okipa beach park-Thanks Chris!




Wednesday 20 April 2011

Snorkelling, windsurfing and Sunrise at 10,000 ft!

Busy week! We made the most of the no wind days by visiting Lahaina (a nice little surf town) and snorkelling at Molokini, a volcanic crater just off the coast. The snorkel trip was amazing, we saw so many tropical fish and at the second stop, 'Turtle Town', saw about 5 turtles! The day was perfect for it, no wind and such clear water-amazing! We also had a trip up Haleakala-the 10,000ft volcano. True american style you could drive the whole way up! But we were grateful as we left at 2.30 in the morning after 3 hours sleep! It was a full moon with a little cloud, perfect conditions. We returned from the volcano at about 7.30, so went back to bed and got up later for breakfast, very surreal! Here are some pictures from the trips:

Swimming out at Kuau, hair still dry!

Catching a few waves-this day was really gusty and I was pretty overpowered on the wave! Not the best day we have had at this spot...



Full moon up the volcano at about 4 on the morning.


This was still night time, but the longer exposure on my camera picked up quite a lot of light and some blue, even though we could only see darkness!

Wrapped up in a duvet watching the sunrise. It was way colder than I thought and I stupidly only brought flip flops. Was rocking the flip flops and stripy socks look but still had numb hands and feet!



Skating off the edge of the world!

Stef kick flipping

The massive tree in Lahaina!

A crab shot on the beach. It took me so long to get as the crab was so skittish every time I moved it would run back in its hole!

The snorkel trip to Molokini-again an early start, about 7 in the morning! Soooo glassy!

Drinks on the boat on the way home:

Some snorkelling shots from Molokini and Turtle Town:



You can just make out the turtle bottom left:

Thursday 14 April 2011

Sprecks, last of wind and Hana!

The last 2 days of wind we tried to sail really hard to make the most of it! Two days ago I had a session at sprecks on 3.4, but unfortunately it really wasn't 3.4 weather and I had a pretty frustrating session! It was definitely windy when we rigged but seemed to drop right off as we hit the water, classic. Despite that I had a few fun rides and some forwards. Yesterday we had a double session, Kanaha first then Kuau. Again it wasn't the best session as the wind direction was quite offshore, so super gusty 3.4 weather to wobbling! The Kuau session was fun but difficult as the swell was small, it was gusty and the sun was low. Anyway, I think I made the most of the wind, we now have a few days of adventures/surfing before it comes back.
First day of no wind: trip to Hana. This is a tiny town on the East side but the journey is through long, winding roads with plenty of waterfalls, caves to swim in, jungle and scenery! Amazing trip fuelled by banana bread and smoothies along the way!

A few shots from Sprecks:



American red cups!

A waterfall we found along the way. We were the only people there as you had to climb your way up some slippery, muddy rocks to get there. The water is pretty cold too.




Scenery along the way. This was a graveyard with loads of Japanese grave stones:

The worrying signs saying not to swim in the water! I haven't seen these on the North shore so I guess we are safe when we windsurf? This was before we swam in some caves, but they were freshwater.

Monday 11 April 2011

Windsurf for Cancer!

So the Annual windsurf for Cancer event is happening on Sunday 1st of May and this year I have set myself a challenge to raise as much money as possible for Cancer! The idea is to get as many people as possible to Llandegfedd reservoir in South Wales and windsurf from 8am to 8pm non-stop. We have set ourselves a challenge to compete within that time-to windsurf the distance of the London Marathon as a race-oldies against younguns! This will happen whatever the wind, on SUPs if there is no wind (which I am imagining is going to be extremely hard so I am praying for wind!). So this is a plea for any support anyone can give,

Please donate here

I would be so greatful for any donations to Cancer Research! This challenge will be hard, especially if it is cold with no wind! -hot chocolate in a Camelback maybe?? Anyone who wants to join the challenge is welcome, turn up at Llandegfedd early on Sunday morning with kit, the more the merrier and we can raise more money for a great cause!

THANK YOU!!

I need a tiny custom!

So today I had two sessions. The first was super maxed out on 3.4 Icon and my 68l Quatro Rhythm in mast high at Kuau; the second at Lowers, still on 3.4 but comfortable this time! I love my Rhythm, but as I have improved it has become more my 'big' board, being 10 litres more than my weight. I always thought I wasn't good enough to get a custom, as I would need to know all the details about what kind of board I want, but actually I am not sure thats the case and my main reason to get one is that 68l is the smallest production board I can find and its just too big!! The waves were epic at Kuau today, and I think I would have had so much more fun on a 55l ish board. Instead, any wave I got I was bouncing around so much I just couldn't control the board so I ended up sailing pretty badly! There are photos below from stills from video I got. The video shows how much I am bumping around!! I guess waves will always be choppy in 3.4 weather but it would be cool to be able to improve my riding by having a tiny board!
Anyway, enough ranting! It was a super fun session but I came in pretty early as my rides weren't all that great. I then sailed Kanaha for about head high waves to improve my riding and have a little jumping. We have 2 more days of wind until there is a spell for surfing only, so its full on for the next couple of days!
Aside from windsurfing, we have visited a blowhole on the West side of the island and the Twin falls, both amazing trips.

Fuelling up before windsurfing with a one man american size baguette (which we could barely finish between 3!)


Kuau session:













Blow hole:

Twin Falls mucking around!