Meet Noah Makena Hill

Noah is 7 yrs young. I met him at Launiapoko Beach Park last week and he really impressed me. A waterman at such young age, with a natural talent for surfing and SUP, Noah rides with passion.

I also had the pleasure to meet and hang out with Noah's Dad Blake Hill. A very tranquil and soft spoken gentleman indeed, that understands and supports his Son's passion for the ocean and the sport. We talked about family and life with kids, how compensating it is, but most importantly how to respect their decisions and how to empower them to be and do what makes them happy. Blake also told me that he never had to push Noah to get out there and spend time in the water, it's always happened spontaneoulsy. I believe that growing up between the LA beach breaks and the perfect waves on Maui have absolutely helped to spark the fire, and the kid is hooked. Given almost everytime he is out surfing the waves are overhead (for him anyways). I asked Blake if Noah ever takes a break..."Quick ones for some fruit, but that's about it" he replied. I watched Noah ride three boards in one single morning and that shows how versatile his surfing will be. Judging by the amount of time he spends in the water, I can assure you that Dad and everyone else that have been watching him surf the last couple of years have probably seen huge progression.

I saw Slater Trout's head turn as Noah rode by a few times, and Slater needs no introduction. As we all know he is one of the youngest and most promissing SUP surfers to come around and revolutionize the sport in the last year or so. To me that's huge and that's why I have decided to write this blog.

To all the business enterprenours and head hunters in the surfing and SUP industries out there, I hope you realize that Noah is the future. He has a very important factor in his favor that can make him a very successful athlete, and that is the support he gets at home. Whether it will be on competition or freesurfing, it is guaranteed kids his age will be looking at him in the future and try to follow his exact same path to success.

I would love to look back ten yrs from now and remember that one day I made a positive change in somebody's life and for me that will be the best compensation.

Aloha to all, and a big thanks to Blake Hill for allowing me to do this.

You are a great Dad and I really respect you for that.

It was a great pleasure to meet you and Noah and like you said, maybe our ways were meant to be crossed.
I'm looking forward to seeing you back on Maui soon.

Click on the title up top and check out some of Noah's pictures from last weekend.
He rips, and I have proof

Sergiorio.

First Season Swell

We've been blessed for the last couple of days with the first oficial NW swell of the Season. Reports from all over the island called for anything between macking surf on the North Shore to perfect glassy waves on Maui's West Side as well. I've opted for convenience and closeness when it came to make a decision on where to go shoot and the North East seemed to be the best call especially with the light SE winds . Add the fact that I can park right there and maybe even squeeze in a little session of my own felt like the perfect day to me.

I pulled up to the "lot" yesterday at 6:30 and the waves where nothing short from perfect. There must have been ten guys out and glassy 2 to 4 perfect lines were rolling in. I surfed for a couple of hours and then...well, I had to check in to the office. Besides the usual Kihei transplants that pretty much surf there everytime there's waves, I was very surprised when I saw my long time friend and professional kiteboarder Mauricio Abreu just take over the line up and give everyone a lesson on style. Also killing out there the last couple of days, Daniel Rice, Zee Habib, Dan Debeer, Yuri Soledad, Suque Masler, Danny Lauer and a handful of guys that unfortunatelly I don't know their names. Great waves, great people, made it for a perfect day.

Hope you got some good ones!

Enjoy the photos,

Aloha,

Sergio

Skimboarding Pros

I got to Makena at 11:00 am today. To my surprise, the surf was unreal. Perfect, glassy lefts rolling off the point. I picked up my phone and called Brent Edwards, shaper and owner of Maui Skimmers.

About 45 min later, Kyle "Little Man" Olson and Keith "Party" Fowler showed up and just killed it. They skimmed and they surfed, they switch stanced, they launched, they landed, reversed, got barreled, shoved it, nose blunted it, threesixtied it, etc, etc, etc!

I've had the pleasure to surf with both of these guys, and their surfing is a pure reflection of their skimming. As we all sit around and complain that there are no waves on Maui, Keith & Kyle just keep on skimming, and when the surf hits...well, that's when you should sit around and watch.

You might end up learning a thing or two!

Click on the Skimboard Pros title up top and enjoy the show!

Aloha,

Sergiorio

Maui Boys Flying High

Aloha all,

Check out these insane airs from Third Entrance last week...these guys know how to put up a show!!! Match that with some powerful turns and lip-bashes and you may have an open discussion on how fun bodyboarding can be.

I would like to know what the guys that practice the sport call it.

To me it looks like a cross between skimboarding, bodyboarding and surfing.

It is for sure very acrobatic and pretty much everyone at the beach took at least five minutes to watch it!

Hope you enjoy the photos!

Sergiorio