With a fairly big northwest swell rolling in and the return of light to moderate trade winds to Maui, competition kicked off today, starting with the pro heats. I arrived around 11am to an already packed Hookipa Beach Park that would just get more and more crowded as the day wore on.

Official heats kicked off around noon, with warm ups starting about the time I got there. I shot a bit of video and some photos too until my camera battery died on my. Photos below are from the warm up and the first few heats – action from about 11:30 to 1:30.

My take on the action while I was there; wind was pretty light and sketchy, waves were very large at times and they looked pretty bumpy to me. I’ve certainly seen better conditions at Hookipa but the riders were going all out and providing a great show for the crowds on the bluff. The light wind and big sets made for a lot of visits to the famous Hookipa rocks, which you can see in some of the photos.