VICKEY ABBOTT
I am so glad we did not succumb to the seduction of procrastination and pulled our shit together for what was a super fun sneaker Jaws session! April is a super busy month at work, so I didn’t really have much of a thought on the possible conditions. We were busy looking for potential photoshoot days which was really difficult this winter. It was such a wet and stormy winter I was 70% sure the day would be a washout and it rained so hard the night before I was almost not going to check it. But my obsession got the better of me and I awoke at 5:00 a.m. with too much energy and excitement to sleep, so I figured I might as well check Pe’ahi. I was the first down the sketchy muddy track through the cane fields, probably because I was one of the few to have 4WD, which was a must unless you wanted to slide backwards, as I later witnessed from a spectacular attempt by a tourist in a rental!
I actually spent the whole morning procrastinating and trying to convince Kai Katchadourian and Rudy Castorina that it was worth it. I’d almost given up when suddenly they decided to give it the green light. I had taken my jet ski out a few days before to run it and make sure it was good to go and I had my gear ready, so throwing it all in my truck and heading to Maliko Gulch was much easier than trying to make the call itself. I have a Quatro Jaws ‘gun’ shaped by Keith Teboul specifically for big days. It’s much like a surf ‘gun’, more drawn out on the rail for longer bottom turns, extra weight to cut through chop and a quad setup for grip and speed. Jason Diffin our sail designer at Goya suggested I ride a Banzai which is the Goya 4 batten wave sail and is steadier in gusty conditions. I had a 4.5 which was actually a little big on the wave. I felt like ‘He-Man’ trying to hold onto my sail on the face!
I feel I am still being a shoulder solider. It was really tricky to work out where to be. It was a weird swell with some frequent rogue west sets and pretty gusty and offshore. I was having a hard time working out where to position myself and to go fast enough to keep up with the wave. I’m usually known for throwing balls to the wall and ‘backdooring’ the section, going way too deep and eating it. I was pretty anxious not to do that, but now I regret not just throwing caution to the wind and getting pitted!
Finally I caught a big one, the size of the set didn’t really register, I was just trying to catch a wave in each set. I caught a good one at the beginning but then was struggling to get enough speed to catch any more. When I finally caught that one I was a bit worried it might have a west bowl and started tracking for the channel, but as I saw it bend back round I tried to cut back into it. I just remember looking up and thinking, wow, that’s got some size and then a split second later the wind from the spray was chasing me as it exploded right behind me. It was so exhilarating. They say there’s a fine line between madness and genius, personally I like to think I’m a genius, but I think there’s many out there, and some of them my closest friends, that actually say I’m certifiable. I do like that adrenaline stuff though, do you know if you can purchase it on the black market yet? I always go out with a small team at Jaws. The whole thing is a bit of a mission and just launching at the Maliko gulch and getting up to Jaws on the jet ski in one piece is a challenge. So I always go with at least one other jet ski for support. I also wear a Patagonia impact suit and a Rip Curl inflation suit for body protection. On this day I had a safety ski with a driver ready to run in and rescue me if needed.
I have had a bit of a tradition since arriving on Maui, whenever I come in from a big tow or windsurf session, I like to have a Portobello mushroom burger and glass of red wine at Colleen’s restaurant in Haiku…..not exactly wild but it’s Maui! It was pretty special because the north shore had been so crazy busy during the photoshoots and there was a mass exodus just days before. Also it had been a crazy stormy winter, lots of rain and not really any big swells. So for the skies to clear and to sail with just a small crew, it was a dream. It definitely helped with my confidence and sussing out the lineup, so hopefully next winter I’ll be able to get that Brawzinho style cutback under the lip!
I felt like ‘He-Man’ trying to hold onto my sail on the face!