Perhaps The Best Ma'alaea Footage Ever...

Autoprax

Duke status
Jan 24, 2011
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Vagina Point
I'm guessing that "freight trains" refers also to the current :shrug:
It didn't look like it would be easy to shoot from.

Given the size you wouldn't want to use a fish eye lens.

IT looks like you could really get some good shots from the water.

That fact that it's hard makes in more precious.

Every wannabe can shot from the beach

There was a time I could paddle out there with fins but that time has passed.
 
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Boneroni

Tom Curren status
Mar 5, 2012
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Wow, what a beautiful wave. From Kai Lenny's POV shots, though, you can see these sizeable side ribs in the face. Looks hard to surf from that angle. Huge kudos to the goofyfoots giving it a go.
 

What_it_Do_Baybeeee

Gerry Lopez status
Mar 28, 2010
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Wow. That drone footage really shows how crowded it was. What a feeding frenzy.

I guess when you have a wave that hasn't broken in like 17 years, everybody is fitting to get their fair share.
 

hammies

Duke status
Apr 8, 2006
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I've never surfed it and surely never will but I have checked it a couple of times (flat) and always thought about how difficult it must be to drop in against that howling wind.
 

bruhdakine

Miki Dora status
Jul 7, 2003
5,002
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I'm guessing that "freight trains" refers also to the current :shrug:
I always thought it was called that as the image of a freight train at high speed chugging down the line so you better get out of the way seems fitting for it.
 

bruhdakine

Miki Dora status
Jul 7, 2003
5,002
753
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PNW
Surfed there and all around it quite a bit as a kid (my friends dad would take us out there on sponges when we were little groms - not very big but so fun), teen and college kid home for summers before I started living on the mainland full time. Have some halcyon memories of it and mudflats and McGregor's absolutely firing. I had a friend who kneeboarded and would be out there religiously and would get way deeper than anyone else and come out. So nuts. I remember it a few times as what seemed huge and unmakeable but those days were 25-40 years ago so it's probably memory embellishment. This has to be the biggest and best it's ever been. Unreal mesmerizing footage. Wish I could have been there to watch it in person. Wow. I can't get enough!
 

Muscles

Michael Peterson status
Jun 1, 2013
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bonzer5fin

Duke status
May 9, 2006
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your mom
bigger than life on mars ego and more perfect than the last blowjob i got. i surfed it small, and even a little overhead, but the wind and the reef and the locals made for a few semi decent moments. such is life as a non local out with the rulers of the place.
 
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sponge

Tom Curren status
Feb 10, 2002
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It didn't look like it would be easy to shoot from.

Given the size you wouldn't want to use a fish eye lens.

IT looks like you could really get some good shots from the water.

That fact that it's hard makes in more precious.

Every wannabe can shot from the beach

There was a time I could paddle out there with fins but that time has passed.
I feel the exact same way.
 

Kaser1

Tom Curren status
May 3, 2004
10,271
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Maine
Is it hard to film from the water there?

I didn't see anyone in the water.

Those would be great tube shots
There's only a couple serious dedicated water surf photogs on Maui, the @1more808 guy and @fishbowldiaries.

1.The current when it gets bigger than 4ft and consistent is an issue when trying to keep your position in the ideal spot.
2.It's very shallow where you need to be to get a tight barrel shot.
3.In order to get the tight barrel shot, you are flirting with getting caught inside when the bomb sets roll through.
4.When you do take one or 10 on the head, you are usually bouncing off of the very sharp reef.
5.It's sharky, I'd been chased outa there before. i remember many years ago, the Roberson brothers were out with their dad that had to beat off a shark with his board. shark left a bite in the board, nobody got hurt.

What you can't really experience in the video and photos is the water spray up the face when you drop in. You can't see anything when taking those last few strokes and getting to your feet. It's like someone shooting you with a waterhose right in your eyes.

What you don't hear in the POV footage is the guy taking off screaming "HOOOO!! " to let the next guy down the line know he's coming, cause he can't see him coming. That's why you usually see guys getting burned down the line, and also it's not usually makeable all the way through to the end.

I'd spent alot of time surfing Maalaea my 11 years on Maui. I'd ridden everything from a surf mat, boogie, longboard, midlength, 70's singlefin gun, prone foil, sup foil, and wingfoiled it. It's a fickle spot, swell has a small window to give a direct hit to the reef as it has to filter through Kaho'olawe island and south Maui's tip. AND, you have the wind. It sits on the leeward side of the valley and 99% of the time it's nuking wind side/offshore which makes the drop alittle more challenging.

My most memorable session there was on a windless day, waves were about shoulder hi at best, and very inconsistent. You could drive by and it would look like it was flat. That's why there was nobody out. Everyone was surfing Lahaina side as it was better over there. This was back at the peak of my prone foiling days, I would go foil spots by myself to get away from the other foilers packing guardrails. I paddle out on my little 4'10" KT prone board, get a couple small ones, waist hi nothing major. Then I figured out that i had to sit at the end of the reef, catch a little chip shot and then pump back outside, up the reef to get a good one, which I did once. Got lucky into an 8 wave set that gave me enough time to pump out to the biggest wave of the set that was about head high. I was about 3/4 way up the reef when I caught it, and was just screaming down the line on foil. Fastest I'd ever gone. Nobody around, no witnesses...so I thought.
A week later I was gearing up to foil Ukumehame and met an older guy, that was living in his NV200 (like mine) that was parked next to me. He said he saw a guy foiling Maalaea last week all by himself. Turned out it was me.
 

Truth

Phil Edwards status
Jul 18, 2002
5,896
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On the contrary, I've had many a ego death which is why I can spout off feelings on any subject without fear of judgement. Something an average dweeb like yourself would fail to comprehend. None of my typings come from an ego centric frame of reference, it's just how the surrounding world is interpreted from my POV.

Small waves are overhead for you, no need to clarify on this point :monkey:

Looks like an epic day at a tubing right hander, a dream or any regular foot :waving:

Still waiting for a clip of you surfing
but will get a hostile and insulting response
kook
 

casa_mugrienta

Duke status
Apr 13, 2008
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No need, DGAF what you think. I surf well enough that I'm satisfied , this is all that matters in life. I don't do or buy things to impress other people in real life or cyberspace.

Ask Mr. Kester what happens when you doxx yourself by even mentioning a few words about your personal life on the interwebs
Mr. Kester?
 
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BaliIdiot

Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Jan 9, 2008
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Republik Indonesia Serikat
Insane.
Does the harbor have anything to do with the shape of that wave? As in, did building it do anything to the bottom contours a la Sandspit?
Looks like the taper of the reef itself has not been affected by the harbor. That does not mean that the harbor and jetty are not contributing factors in what is clearly a singular phenomenon.


Maalaea.jpg
 
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