JC: What is the craziest manoeuvre you have ever done?
AM: Until I tried the triple push loop, it was the push forward. Anything with a double rotation or more is crazy and can hurt, such as the push forward, big stalled double forwards and now the double or even triple push loop. My worst crash was one of my biggest ever stalled forwards, I reckon I was twelve metres up, it was massive, and I was at Hanstholm near Klitmoller in Cold Hawaii, Denmark. When I was at the apex the wind caught my board so I let go of the gear and ended up hitting the water face first. I could not protect my head and the impact was so hard that I blacked out. I was unconscious for about ten seconds, and then I could not swim and I was just crying. It was pretty scary; I did the same thing in Maui with another big stalled forward. I don’t know if I just have bad luck with these. The one in Maui was only four or five metres high on starboard tack and I just hit the mast and blacked out. For sure I get scared when I go big. Every jump is different and the conditions change. For a small jump you might get a big gust and go higher than you planned. Sometimes you just know you are going to go high so there is no fear there. So you may get scared for a small jump but then not for a big one. I always push to go as high as I can. There is no limit you know! There is no barrier there, it is just the sky! All I want to do is go higher and higher!
JC: What about new moves in the waves?
AM: In wave riding the no handed air is pretty out there! That is ‘my move’, you know; I think I am the only one doing it. I started doing them two years ago for the first PWA event in Maui. I tried it and had a really bad wipe out. I ended up hitting into my mast; I was pissed off because I had landed a few during training. But during the contest I crashed the only one I wanted to show to everyone. I have been trying them more and now I have landed quite a few pretty big ones. I have landed a couple which have been real proper airs on big waves. They are not just a jump with the hands off, they are proper airs with no hands. They are not so hard but if you fall then it is a disaster (laughs). You are hooked in, it is all easy until you land, and if you crash then it will be a pretty painful landing I can tell you. I’ve been in some pretty bad predicaments, I have been hooked in and under the lip, and that was a big crash.