MARCILIO BROWNE: SURPRISE SWELL

The south shore of Maui unexpectedly lit up for Marcilio Browne earlier this year, he recounts the lucky session.

The forecast wasn’t that special at all; we knew there was some south swell, but nothing too crazy. During summer on Maui we always go around the point behind La Perouse to do port tack jumping, so that was our initial plan.

It was super windy once we got there and the waves looked pretty average, so we decided to go for some jumping. About 2 hours later we came back to the parking lot and had a look at the waves again. It looked like a different place, it was unbelievable how much the waves had picked up and how good they were!

NO CROWDS

We quickly rigged back up and sailed upwind to the point. We were kind of rushing to get out before it got too crowded with surfers, which usually happens there. At that time there were only 2 guys and they were both super friendly. Once out there it was all fun and Jason Polakow, Morgan Noireaux, Robby Swift and Sarah Hauser joined me. Unluckily for Robby he wiped out on his first wave and broke his mast.

SETS

I got 4 or 5 really good waves; the sets were amazing but there were long waits between them for sure. Every wave felt like such a bonus as there was zero expectation and we had already been jumping for 2 hours. I ended up riding my 4.5 on my 84-litre quad, using MFC KS 14.5 and 9 fins. It was nice to sail back to the beach at the end of the session as the week before the wind died on us and we had a really long swim back all the way from the outside.

PORT TACK

We definitely sail lots of port tack on Maui these days, but 80% of it is jumping, so it definitely helps to get some port tack riding days in every once in a while. I am a regular foot surfer, so I definitely prefer starboard tack as far as my ability goes, but I have equal fun on both tacks.

ROCKS

Dealing with the rocks on the inside in La Perouse is hard and there is not much you can do to make it less of a problem! I just always try to ride a few waves before really going for it, and if possible I try and avoid the first waves of the set.