Sometimes Ya Got To Lower Yourself

You don't see many pictures of windsurfing at Lowers, despite it's great popularity. Many reasons for that. The break and therefore the action is far away. The light can be very glarish, especially in the late afternoon. There's no well situated spot to take pictures, like a convenient overlook or bluff. Most pro sailors don't bother to go to Lowers unless the waves are really big and Hookipa is closing out.

Well today Hookipa was in fact closing out (making Jaws the other Hookipa alternative). The very big swell we're now getting has enough west in it that Kanaha, and especially Lowers, was still getting large to very large sets coming through, but was very manageable. Julia and I were down there for several hours in the afternoon and had a great time. Last year, especially in late February and March, we windsurfed several days with larger waves than what we were seeing today. That experience definitely helps on these bigger days. You learn what size waves you can get over. You figure out when to chicken jibe and when to go for it. You judge the incoming sets better. You don't get taken down so much and when you do you don't freak out so bad. Actually I had no take downs in the zone today. Don't know whether that's good or not. I didn't avoid any waves no matter what the size and I got over everything I had to. I was on my 92 lt Goya quad wave (with a 5.3 sail) and the extra volume definitely came in very handy yet again (there were big wind lulls all day).  Nothing like being able to get moving fast when a big set is coming in!

After our session I took my trusty Panasonic P&S down to Lowers to capture some action. The quality isn't quite as nice as a typical Hookipa photo shoot - see all the reasons I listed above. Still some pros were out and can be seen in several shots (I'll try to add names later), an amphibious mammal put on a surprise appearance in a frame or two, and there were some pretty decent waves and moves.  Enjoy!