Moritz Mauch: “I touched the rocks every time I sailed at Ho’okipa hahaha, but luckily I have escaped every time. The only good thing is a gas station in Paia that has Chinese chicken with rice for 3.50 or duck for 5$, that’s my lunch quite every day. I wouldn’t call it paradise, for that it’s just too crowded, but for sure it’s an amazing place.”
The Pozo boys have fun on Maui
Alessio Stillrich (19), Moritz Mauch (18) and Pablo Ramirez (18), the three young musketeers from Pozo Izquierdo, who are best friends, travelled to Maui. Moritz already knew the Hawaiian island, but for Alessio and Pablo it was the very first time. Knowing the windsurfing mecca from movies or magazines only, they were really excited how it will be in real. Sailing over a sharp reef, in between turtles, carving bottom turns on the other tack, jumping at Starboard tack and sharing waves with some of the world’s best wave riders.
Interview with great shots from the three boys by Fish Bowl Diaries from Maui, Hawaii
Continentseven: For the very first time in your windsurfing career you are on Maui. How is it?
Alessio Stillrich: It’s just awesome! The island is just wonderful. It looks like in paradise and every single thing you see is beautiful. People are very kind too.
Pablo Ramirez: It’s like one of my childhood dreams came true, it’s still unbelievable for me, hope to come back in the future again!
Moritz Mauch: Well, actually it’s my second time, I came here 3 years ago with my father. This time, I came here with friends and it’s just awesome windsurfing and surfing the whole day and exploring this wonderful island.
Pablo likes Ho’okipa (Pic: Fish Bowl Diaries)
Continentseven: Is it better than expected?
Alessio Stillrich: Yes, I never thought that it would be so lovely around here.
Pablo Ramirez: I was really impressed on how green the island is, I didn’t think it would be so green! About the conditions, I think we have watched so many videos, interviews, and things from Maui that it was more or less how we expected (moderated-light side-offshore winds, great waves, perfect water temperature, warm beautiful days, and quite a lot of rain?.
Moritz Mauch: The first time I came here I was pretty impressed, but actually I did expect it as it was. I watched so many clips from Maui that it felt like I visited this place already.
Continentseven: Is it a real paradise for windsurfing and surfing?
Alessio Stillrich: Definitely yes. The wave quality is incredible, the water color and clarity is awesome plus there is a quite different water wildlife too.
Pablo Ramirez: If we are talking about conditions, it is a real paradise! But then it is also too crowded most of the time (specially this time of the year with the photo shootings) but there are also other things to do like snorkeling, visiting the island, a lot of river-falls… So it is more than worth it to come here!
Moritz Mauch: I wouldn’t call it paradise, for that it’s just too crowded, but for sure it’s an amazing place to where I hopefully will come back for many more years.
Continentseven: How is the windsurfing for your, Starboard tack instead of Pozo Port tack conditions. A big shock or not that much change?
Alessio Stillrich: Well, honestly I thought that I would not enjoy the trip that much as other trips, because it is starboard tack windsurfing. But I really have to say I am getting the key points quite fast for every move except for the cutbacks and from day to day I feel more comfortable on the board and in the waves.
Pablo Ramirez: It really is a huge shock for me, as I only sailed maybe 6 times in my life Starboard tack conditions, but I’m also regular on surfing and I think it also helps a lot, but it’s still hard to get to sail really good here! Hope to come back to keep training
Moritz Mauch: It’s a shock for sure, but it’s also exciting as every day you learn something new. After each session you feel good because you improved something.
Moritz feels quite confident at Ho’okipa (Pic: Fishbowldiaries)
Continentseven: How many times did you touch the rocks, reef at Ho’okipa?
Alessio Stillrich: Hmmm… the first day I went out. I took my first wave here at Ho’okipa, lost my gear and ended straight on the rocks. The second day… exactly the same happened! But since then I never had the same problem not anymore and now I know how to do right: don’t stop to hold the top of my sail
Pablo Ramirez: I touched the rocks every time I sailed at Ho’okipa hahaha, but luckily I have escaped every time and I haven’t climbed them yet, so nothing broken so far. About the reef, just a few little scratches on the feet, nothing serious, so everything is perfect for the moment .
Moritz Mauch: I think until now I have been really lucky I haven’t gone out once over the rocks and I didn’t break anything. But I have a lot of small scratches on my feet from the shallow reef.
Pablo goes big with a huge Aerial off the lip at Ho’okipa (Pic:Fish Bowl Diaries)
Continentseven: How are the annual company photoshootings going so far?
Alessio Stillrich: Well my big shooting started on April 1st. But Jimmie Hepp and the guys from the Fish Bowl Diaries are there basically the whole time. It is good to see yourself on footage. This helps you a bit to see how you are executing the moves and all that stuff.
Pablo Ramirez: There are always a lot of great photographers at Ho’okipa, so normally they get some shots of everyone, so it is going good too!
Moritz Mauch: My shooting is over and it went pretty well, so now I can fully focus on improving my Starboardtack sailing.
Alessio unwraps the 2015 boards on Maui (Pic:Fanatic)
Continentseven: Who of the local windsurfers impresses you the most?
Alessio Stillrich: They sail awesome! Levi really rips and hits it perfect and Morgan sails really well, too.
Pablo Ramirez: They are sailing so good! It’s even a bit frustrating sometimes as for me it’s really hard to get used to starboard tack and they just kill it! But that is good as it pushes us to try better. Victor, Levi, Ricardo, Camille and Morgan are really impressive to watch. And there are a lot of locals that are sailing really good too!
Moritz Mauch: All the locals are ripping, I really like the style of a few guys out there. I think Levi Siver is for sure the guy that impresses me the most, but there are also a few other windsurfers that are just killing it.
Continentseven: Are more custom or more production boards on the water at Ho’okipa?
Alessio Stillrich: It depends. The pros and locals have customs, but there are also some other people that have production boards.
Pablo Ramirez: For sure there are more custom than production boards on the water! Almost every local and every big name rider has got custom boards for Ho’okipa.
Moritz Mauch: For sure there are more custom boards out there, almost everybody has one. I ride my Nuevo 80l in Ho’okipa and I really like it.
Moritz goes production (Pic: Fish Bowl Diaries).
Continentseven: What’s your favorite place to take a drink or dinner?
Alessio Stillrich: Honestly everything is really expensive, so till now I have never went to eat outwards. The only good thing is a gas station in Paia that has Chinese chicken with rice for 3.50 or duck for 5$. So thats my lunch quite every day.
Pablo Ramirez: At home! Everything is quite expensive here, so it’s better just to buy food at some cheaper supermarket and just cook at home.
Moritz Mauch: Most of the time we cook dinner at home as it is pretty expensive to go out. But my favorite one is the Café Mambo.
Alessio, Pablo and Moritz on their way to the water fall.
Continentseven: What’s going on, if you are not on the water?
Alessio Stillrich: Today was the first day that I was not on the water. I did not do too much. Some work on the computer, watched some chapters from the Walking Dead TV series, stretched a bit and cooked dinner.
Pablo Ramirez: Hang out with everyone on the beach, share some laughs. If there is no wind or waves we go to the twin falls or sight seeing a bit. And if we sailed or surfed all day long, we are just resting at home waiting for the photographers to upload the pictures of the day on FB hahaha. It’s also great to watch windsurfing clips from the bigger names at Ho’okipa to try to learn and to motivate for the next day!
Moritz Mauch: Sleeping or eating hahaha…
Alessio under the waterfall
©continentseven.com, Fish Bowl Diaries 2014, Fanatic, Alessio Stillrich,Pablo Ramirez, Moritz Mauch
