HELICOPTER SESSION|
11.30am: Just as Kevin Pritchard and Graham Ezzy head out on the water savouring a relatively uncrowded early session, a helicopter appears from down the coast signalling for twelve NeilPryde riders to head into the water for the next frenzied hour. Photographer Jerome Houyvet and Elliot Laboe on video duties are strapped in with the doors off ready to shoot their prey. Within minutes the team are all going nuts on the water beneath the whirring blades of the chopper. It’s a great spectacle for the crowds watching from the hill while everyone raises their game and goes hell bent to score the big shots. New signing Leon Jamaer cranks a huge aerial but can’t hold on and his gear is swept onto the rocks. Jamaer is the first of many who will come to blows with the infamous boulders off the point at Ho’okipa. Right in front is a very heavy rip sweeping down towards Lanes and if you ever lose your gear at Ho’okipa and end up anywhere near the rocks the best advice is to swim like hell with the current and chances are you’ll be swept clear and save a nasty experience and possible broken equipment.