SHAWNA CROPAS: WAVE JUNKIE
Pic Jerome Houyvet
For sure Shawna’s a windsurfing addict, but overall she’s a total wave junkie. When Maui’s north shore winds wind up and the waves run flat during the summer months, Shawna finds herself looking for other things to do like SUP or surfing on the south shore. The challenge, beauty, freedom of expression and the ever-changing nature of waves is what turns her on. Shawna enjoys the insane adrenaline that surges through her body as she enters big surf, knowing she’s challenging something much greater than herself. All of her senses come alive as she becomes acutely present reacting to any given situation with calm focus. Shawna enjoys the “in the moment” sensation of being in a perfect flow with her environment. Waves are enticing because they can be dangerous, yet so attractively fun! When the waves recede for any amount of time, Shawna feels a withdrawal like an itch that just can’t be scratched, but she is usually all the more stoked when the surf pops up again. There’s nothing like losing something for a while just to be reminded how much you love it! Waves are Shawna’s opiate and, whether surfing or windsurfing, they give her the feeling of walking on clouds hours after any session.
Shawna also spends a lot of time on Maui introducing waves to her Aloha Windsurfing Clinic guests. She feels that anyone interest in becoming a wave sailor should get more in tune with surfing. It’s important to understand the nature of the ocean and all her dangers. Before hitting the water, wave sailors take time to digest the conditions by watching the rhythm and sizes of sets. If you are a beginner to wave riding, make sure you know how to manage and be safe in swift moving currents, know how to duck-dive your equipment under waves to avoid snapping masts and most importantly know your limits. There’s lips that can punch and pin you to the bottom with moments of confusion and disorientation and it’s important not to panic. Being calm and relaxed is the safest way out of any precarious situation There’s a lot of swimming involved with wavesailing as it’s easy to get knocked off your equipment and find yourself at the mercy of turbulent waters. It’s best to be as fit as possible and be able to do sprint crawls and swim long distance. Which is why when Shawna is not in the waves she is doing laps in a pool to keep in shape for big wave days. Large surf is obviously the most dangerous but Shawna has seen some gnarly damage done by small shorebreaks. The most useful wave technique is to master waterstarts, where you get up almost as fast as you went down. Things you can work on in flat water if you are toying with the idea of sailing more open ocean this winter is to work on retrieving windsurfing equipment and getting up out of the water within a couple of heart beats. Perfect you upwind skills in both high and light winds. You can also perfect you bottom turn on flat water by practicing the entry to carve gybes. Make sure your back hand reaches as far down the boom as possible before you unhook, keep both feet in the footstraps, weight forward and onto the balls of the feet, hold the carve until you would normally flip the sail. At the point where you’d normally flip the sail, bring your back hand right back up next to the front hand and push hard on your heels – et voila!