DECADE WAVES

On the eve of a new decade, a XXL swell marched into Maui’s north shore to give 2 days of extreme windsurfing at Pe’ahi over the 30-31 December 2019 and a memorable end to the year for a lucky few. Robby Naish dusted off his big wave guns and showed he knows this wave like few others, Sarah Hauser caught what people are calling the biggest wave ever windsurfed by a woman and Marcilio Browne banged out a crazy top to bottom aerial that is being hailed as one of the best windsurfing rides at Jaws ever. Read on as the talented trio tell us more about their sessions.

- Marcilio Browne, Sarah Hauser, Robby Naish

“HITTING THAT AERIAL AT JAWS WAS JUST A SPUR OF THE MOMENT DECISION.”

MARCILIO BROWNE

The conditions were really good for both days of the swell. On the 30th I went to check it on the cliff and it was still tiny. At about 2 p.m., a friend and I decided to go anyways to make sure the ski was running well and do a practice run as we thought the main day would be the 31st. Turned out we got there at about 4 p.m. when it was still very inconsistent, but at about 4:30 p.m. it started pulsing very quickly and some bomb sets rolled in. We sailed until about 5:45 p.m. as it was almost dark and we still had to pack up and ride the ski back to the launch site at Maliko Gulch. That day actually turned out to be the best one - super clean waves, not crazy windy and only a handful of people.

I was riding a 5.0 Banzai sail and a special Jaws board that is about 88 litres. My Jaws board is a bit longer/narrower than my traditional Ho’okipa board; it’s 8’0” by 56 cm wide, instead of 7’7” by 57.5 cm wide, which is what I ride on over mast high Ho’okipa days. For safety I wore an inflatable vest. Hitting that aerial at Jaws was just a spur of the moment decision. I always imagined it would need to be done that way at Jaws in order to make it - when the wave kind of pushes you down instead of up. As there is so much wind going up the face, the moment you get above the lip everything goes out of control.