After a successful videoshoot for our Tricktionary DVD in Dahab/Egypt in August/September 2007, we had to decide where to go to shoot the wave-part. Well - there weren't many places to shoot and several people highly recommended Maui. As we haven't been to Maui yet, it was time to visit the famous windsurfing spots of North Shore Maui Hawaii!

A long trip via Washington, Los Angeles to Kahului Airport, where we got our rental car delivered (an old, old, old Ford Ranger). All the windsurfing and technical equipment made it as well - so we were heading towards our house which we had for the month through a Tricktionary-F2-cooperation.

Passing by at Hookipa for the first time and there was wind and waves and quite some windsurfers out!!  What an arrival!

Our beautiful house was situated in Haiku, in the middle of the Jungle - approximately 15 minutes from Hookipa. John Skye and Nayra Alonso who also spent some time there helped us to find the right spot for our shoot every day...

First weeks we went to Hookipa almost every day and had pretty good conditions - varying wave-height from just one meter up to over masthigh - and let me tell you, Hookipa is one of the greatest spots for pictures!

It was a lot of fun to sail there too - just a bit crowded sometimes...

One minus point sometimes can be the so called "10 man rule" - if there're more than 10 surfers out, you're not allowed to go windsurfing in Hookipa! Most of the time this problem solves itself, because as the wind kicks in, the conditions become worse for the surfers, but luckily, better for the windsurfers. Since a few months, the police is quite strict in controlling this rule - we've heard that they even fined some windsurfers because of going out with more than 10 surfers. Anyway, somehow we managed to share the waves the ocean provided for our great sports!

One of the greatest days were, when we could see Jaws working! We were quite lucky with the conditions - it was awesome to see the place we knew from so many windsurfing movies - and to see it live was even more impressing! The way to Jaws is quite hard (on land and on sea probably the same). On land you have to drive through neverending sugar cane fields through rough dirt roads - on sea, you gotta have a Jetski, launching from a bay "near" Jaws and rig your sail on the water. There was not enough wind to plane, unless the guys catched a wave...check the pix...

"The wind is best in summer, but the waves are best in winter" - means that the time in between is best to get a good mix of wind and waves. So of course there were some days without wind - and then the wind turned a bit onshore (further north instead of east/northeast) - so it was just too onshore to sail Hookipa or the beaches...also there wasn't that much wind. So we headed to the south - to Kihei for some Freestyle. Incredible,...the 10 knots in the north get accelerated to 20-25knots in the south!! Totally flat water, beautiful beaches,... great for some freestyle sessions!

Ok, back to the shoot - Victor Fernandez from Spain came to Maui and joined our photoshoot - together with Nayra and John, he was ripping in front of our cameras. We went to Babybeach, a famous place where some photoshoots happen every year! A great place for pictures and actually it is really fun to sail there! Just the way in or out is a pain in the ass! You have to jump from the very slippery rocks directly in the real shallow and messy water...and hope that you don't hit a rock...

Then it was raining for a few days - after that, the forecast was saying Kona winds (Southwind) and good north-west-swell! And it was an awesome day! Even Robby Naish was coming to Lanes for a session - The waves were amazingly clean and powerfull - Superfast rides and crazy Aerials to see!

We had a great time during our stay in Maui. We had something of everything - Northwind, Southwind, big and small waves, strong and light winds,... all the different spots made it a great journey and the pictures speak for themselves...
Stay tuned for the Tricktionary DVD coming out Spring 2008!!

Aloha, Rossi
www.tricktionary.net
Photos: Sandra Schennach
Text: Michael Rossmeier