PWA Maui-The Aloha Classic!

I have been here in Maui for about two weeks now, and we have had pretty amazing conditions for the last stop of the World Tour! I had about a week before the event to practise at Ho'okipa, with small waves mostly, a good warm-up for cross-off starboard tack, something I don't get to practise all that often. I will let the pictures do the talking, as there are loads! Here are some shots from the very Hawaiian, amazing opening ceremony, all from talented photographers: Fishbowl diaries, John Carter from the PWA and of course local Jimmie Hepp. Thanks so much for all the pictures!

Everyone was blessed in the circle with a good sprinkling of I guess seawater from a nice palm leaf, very refreshing in the hot sun!

Contemplating my heat plan!!

So into the heats! A nice swell came for the start of the PWA heats, in which they ran the men on the first day, something I was slightly glad of, not because of the size of the waves, but more the flukey wind that day which meant even the best guys were making it look hard to get out! The second day still had some nice logo to mast sets coming through, some even bigger, fantastic conditions for the competition! The wind was still really light and I narrowly escaped the rocks twice during launching, with some good swimming and maybe a little help from the jet ski guys too-my gear savers!!

Once out though, I loved it!

So in summary, heat 1 in the single was against Maria Andres, Iballa Moreno and Jessica Crisp. I played it safe, perhaps too much so, getting some nice waves but nothing too radical and perhaps only one bigger set wave, making sure I didn't end up on the inside with a set coming. I didn't pass through this heat unfortunately, with Jessica and Iballa going through. In the double, I had Daida, Sarah Quita Offringa and local ripper Ingrid Larouche. I made a mistake on my first wave costing me a lot of time swimming, then got a few waves afterwards but I think I panicked with the time left and didn't wait long enough to get back up wind and catch a good set wave! I also realised only yesterday that my last wave was outside the heat time, so didn't count at all-I definitely need a heat timer watch rather than a stopwatch!! Anyway, it was all a learning curve and there were so many talented girls here ripping and spending a lot of tme at Ho'okipa that I didn't really expect to do that well. I am privileged that I entered, was able to sail with only 3 other girls on the water and have learnt what I need to improve here (powerful top turns especially!). Huge congratulations to Iballa Moreno for winning the single elimination proving she is a master of both tacks! The double is yet to finish so we will see if she can hold onto the win against local Fiona Wylde!

The men here were amazing to watch and such an inspiration. The single final with Thomas, Victor, Marcillo and Morgan was unbelievable! The double final is yet to come! It was also great to meet all the AWT and PWA girls here which hadn't made it to Europe. There are a lot of talented windsurf girls, Junko and Sarah Hauser to name a couple, so it was great to meet them and share a tea party with them organised by the one and only Sam Bittner! Thanks!

In between windsurfing, we have been seeing the amazing scenery, waterfalls and re-visiting where Stef and I got engaged back in March, Haleakala volcano! LOVE MAUI!

Lastly, here are a few shots from the competition in Tiree from Richard Whitton, another talented photographer! Thank you!

So the competition is over for me and I can enjoy my last week here. For the lucky few left in, the double may finish tomorrow so check out pwaworldtour.com to see the live heats, it will be epic!