THE SAILING
Ideally, it’s good to hit the first peak of whichever section of the wave you are riding. Whether it be a big aerial, solid turn or a 360, that first move starts off the wave. Then timing is everything. Depending whether the swell is N or NW or W, you either have to slow yourself down and try to keep hitting the lip or race down the line and boost aerials to make it past sections. You have to pick the better waves of the sets, not always the biggest ones. Sometimes the medium ones are the cleanest, so you have to be on your game with wave selection.
You have to be courteous and respect the rules. Despite the fact that it’s one of the busiest breaks in the world, people do stick to the rules and that makes it fun to sail, in spite of the crowds. There are days when the photoshoots are on that are just not worth sailing unless you are part of the shoot, but for the most part, if you sail all the way out to sea and pick off a good wave, nobody will gybe on your wave and steal it. There are many other places in the world where you can be coming in on a wave and a local sailor will just gybe or tack on your wave because they are from there and that is rarer on Maui. The local people will be pretty quick to tell you off if you do that to one of them, or if you are coming in on a wave and drop out the back of it and try to take the next wave which already has someone on it, so just be aware of the rules and use them to your advantage.
