myusernam said...
does anyone know him? Looks like a pretty wild kind of dude. Wonder if he has a job or if he just kites everyday on maui?
Tophat hangs around at "Mokes" (Mokuleia) on North Shore of Ohau in Hawaii. He kites most days and is often first out on the water. He is quietly spoken quite small guy riding old style gear. He is indeed in the next pirates movie and had some terrific stories about being on set. btw: he also rides a harly with his tophot on...
His dad is some sort of motivational speaker.
The wind comes up at Mokes usually around lunchtime with a combination of Trade winds and sea breeze and 12 to 25knots depending on the day. The reef is about 1/2 km off the beach and allows you to stay on the same wave for quite a long ride. There can be up to 30 kites out but usually there is a bunch of about 10-15 of us.
www.google.com.au:443/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode&q=north+shore+hawaii&aq&sll=-33.621506,151.052311&sspn=0.017386,0.033023&ie=UTF8&hq&hnear=North+Shore,+Hauula,+Honolulu,+Hawaii,+United+States&ll=21.582882,-158.191946&spn=0.004854,0.008256&t=h&z=18It is not a very forgiving place, shallow reef and if you screw up you wind up in a channel where if the waves are big has a wicked rip out to see.
On my last trip, Tophat had an equipment failure. One guy kited in with his kite under his arm and another gave him a tow in. Tophat actually was standing up on his board riding in, hanging on to the guys harness.
I Live in Sydney and go to Seattle 3-4 times a year and have worked out the best way to do it is buy a return ticket to Honolulu then a cheap domestic return ticket . I then hang out for a few days either side of my trip on the North Shore and kite with Tophat and the gang.
Grant
