MARCILIO BROWNE
It was a random day for sure, usually by April my jet ski is already all packed up, so when that swell came up so late in the season we were all very surprised and excited. My preparation was as usual, but all on the morning before we headed out as we were still not sure if the swell would be big enough the night before. After checking at Ho’okipa around 7:00 a.m. we decided it was big enough to give it a try. So the first job was to fill up the jet ski with fuel, then double check the gear, buy CO2 canisters for the inflatable vests and pack up loads of energy bars and water.
Normally for Jaws I take my 88 litre ‘Jaws board’, which is just a longer, more parallel outline board; for sails I typically use 4.7m and 5.0m. It is usually a bit lighter up the coast compared to Ho’okipa or Kanaha, so I ended up riding 5.0 that day. For safety we had our friend Maxi watching over us on a second jet ski. My jet ski was anchored with backup masts, booms and food so Maxi was ready to rush in and rescue if one of us were to get in trouble.
Even on a smaller day, Jaws is still a really big wave and I have a lot of respect for it! Especially after being in trouble a few times in recent years on big wipeouts. I try not to make any plans or have expectations on what to do on waves, on top of that we were in the middle of our photoshoot and I was riding my brand new photoshoot sail, so I wanted to come back with that intact.
It was very quiet up at Jaws! I think many people had to sail other places because of their photoshoots! I know some guys like Jason Polakow and Robby Swift had that situation. And also because the swell was right on the edge for Jaws, I don’t think a lot of people fully believed in it and committed to booking a ski! It’s a mission getting to Jaws and if you are serious about sailing there you need to be prepared the night before. It turned out to be really great for us as the swell wasn’t super consistent, so it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun if it was crowded.
It wasn’t an epic Jaws day that’s for sure, but considering we were in April and sailing at Pe’ahi with no crowds, rare in this day and age, I was amazed. I was so stoked to score that session and would do it again a 1000 times over. For me it was the first time sailing there in pretty much two years, so I was just getting dialled into the wave again. It normally takes me one or two days per season to feel a bit more comfortable at Jaws. It was awesome going there with Ross, I have never been up to Jaws with him, he is so funny and a nice guy to hang out with. It was also cool that Kevin Pritchard came. I was stoked that Ross got to use his 1000 US dollars inflatable vest that I kind of pushed him into buying in January before he headed back to the UK!