Ten of the best Photos - 60 Days of Summer Day 25

With my foot extremely sore and inflamed, totally my fault for sailing yesterday I had to sit out today. The conditions looked really fun at Ho’okipa and it was hard to resist but unfortunately I lost my 100% sailing record. I did manage a windy and cold run later in the day with a new PB! I am hopeful a day out of the water will do it but I may need two. For today’s post I decided to highlight one of the North Shore’s new personalities Jimmie Hepp who sprung onto the watersports scene this spring, not for his sailing, he doesn’t even windsurf but for his photos. His daily presence at Ho’okipa rivalled even the most die hard Baker brothers and his images have lit up Facebook and are starting to get wider recognition in the industry. I have chosen ten of my favourite Jimmie pictures to share with you today; so sit back click enlarge and enjoy.

Pic # 1: This picture was taken from the State Championships this past weekend. I love the confussion in the image. You can see how windy it was and getting round the marks was extremely difficult.

Pic # 2: Taken at Makena during the recent skimboard event. Jimmie has covered every water sport you can imaging in the last six months, if it has been on he has been there.

Pic # 3: This was taken at the North end of Front St by the old Chart house. While not a watersports one it does include a few boats so I guess that counts. WOW!

Pic # 4: This is the start of the MORMAI'I MOLOKAI PAILOLO SUP RACE. 

Pic # 5: 22nd May, Ho'okipa, Skyler Haywood and Bernd Roediger, maybe Tatiana and co should try to re-create this with her Butterflies?

Pic # 6: 22nd May, Ho'okipa, Bernd Roediger alone this time, perfect sailing and perfect shot!

Pic # 7: 4th May, Ho'okipa. Levi rocks whatever the conditions (OK onshore 35 knot Pozo isn't his fav!)

Pic # 8: 27th April, Ho'okipa, Diony Guadagnino testing his 2011 Bolt, love the colours, great action, love the shot!

Pic # 9: The Butteryfly Effect, created by Tatiana Howard

Pic # 10: Pavillions, Ho'okipa back in March. Love the shaddow on the wave.

It was really hard picting my 10 favourite shots, there are so many, I tried to look at non-windsurf pictures too so that I got a good balance. My favourite one is PIC # 7 (I think) what's yours? PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW SO WE CAN SEE WHICH ONE IS MOST POPULAR.

Jimmie's pictures have become extremely respected and popular in Maui and I am sure that before long we will be seeing some of his pictures in print. Keep up the great work. ALL of Jimmie's pictures are available in full res for sale so if you see anything that you like please contact him and he will sort you out. At the moment he is putting together a CD of all the pictures from the Maui Race Series and that is being sold for a very reasonable 50 bucks. So if you have not already done so make Jimmie your friend on FB and go from there.

 
Sailing record = 96% (23/24 days)
 
More to follow...

60: Day 11 – Waves at Ho'okipa!

The non summer-like weather continues and despite experiencing a little more cloud and less wind that normal we have been consistently treated to above trend surf for July. Today was the best day in July so far with waist to overhead surf at Ho’okipa out of the North East. The beach looked more like late spring than mid summer and with many of the travelling pros away wave selection was rather easier. I must give a shout out to Bernd Roediger and Graham Ezzy who were killing it today more than others especially considering the tradish nature of the swell. Sorry no GoPro video or pics today, I was concentrating on sailing today but was gutted that I missed a great shot when my buddy Phil and I were riding the same overhead wave, he went first, I followed and hit a nice vertical aerial and looking down all I could see was him in the bowl, was a super cool moment, just as I landed super vertical I caught the nose and wiped out inches from him (which was rather funny), would have been a nice piece of video or pics. I think that I have solved the fogging issue, after getting the stuff my friend Dave suggested I chatted to Bart who told me that the HD cameras were especially liable to fogging and GoPro have made special re-useable inserts that set me back $16 which soak up any moisture I will see how that works out.

I was testing another board today because I wasn’t convinced about the starboard, this time it was a 78ltr custom (ex Diony Guadagnino) logo’d as Mistral but made in the Nelson factory (they make super strong boards – which is good for me!). This board is a super short and wide nosed with twin fins, on this board the fins seem to be set further apart. This board is set up to turn and turn it does and while testing it was clear that it needs to be driven hard, extremely hard all the time. On the wave it great on the bottom turn but the wide and short nose without much lift made it rather sketchy when coming off the vertical lip and landing aerials in the pocket. I think that a board like this should be in my van and I think that it would be much better for the winter with smoother waves and more offshore wind with more loaded up top turn. As an all round wave machine this is not right for me at the moment (I am kinda disappointed because I do really like it but I must use my head not my heart). More breakages today as my rather old harness exploaded, (I thought that I had heard a few creaks earlier in the day) it is amazing how hard it is to sail without a harness.

You can clearly see how wide/short the nose is on this board.

The search goes on, I will be back on my Tabou tomorrow and look forward to the under foot comfort. I know that I am no spring chicken (33) and have been abusing my feet, ankles and knees for many years and the extra padding on the Tabou boards combined with my super soft and comfy Hot Sails straps are like my Nike Air Max which have reduced the pain in my knee although I hear that some feel that they are too soft. Given the saturation of Quads at Ho’okipa I must try a couple before I decide to stay with a Twin.

What’s up next? Waves are set to continue for another day. Keen to get back on my Tabou it was a funny sight last night at my house with me laminating in my back yard with my headlights on, I couldn’t see much and I will see in the morning how clean my glassing was. Got an email to say that my GPS unit has arrived so I will be able to post some speed tracks and it will be great for my slalom training over the coming days. I will be testing some new fins which are about to hit the market in the coming days which will be interesting and will let you know how that goes.

On review in the light it seems that I did an okay job in the dark, I guess I have had rather alot of practice! Time now for the sander so that it is fit for the water today then it'll be filler and paint tonight although the forecast is for rain so that might have to wait.

More to follow…