It was a great event here on Maui this past week as the 2012 Makani Classic, final stop of the 2012 AWT tour was blessed with outstanding conditions and many brilliant performances from the Simmer Squad. Nat Gill, in a calculated and deliberate display made the single elimination final with a super solid display, finally cashing in on his many years of chipping away in the heats here. He came here to sail, and he slayed, waited, baited, and fired through his rounds to much success in round 1 making the final 4. Just an awesome display from Natty. He placed 4th in the first final, and when the conditions had further deteriorated in the second round, he backed into 6th at the end, still an awesome showing and by far the top performer of the Simmer team in the clutch. He displayed a cool demeanor, and gouged his many turns down the line on his new Halo designs, 5.3 and 5.6. Francisco Porcella, next in line, ended in 9th place after many serious encounters with friend and foe, as there were as many as 3 Simmer riders in the same heat at one point, and in the end Francisco took his spot in the top 10 with critical riding, and in many cases too critical. Francisco has adjusted to his new Simmer boards and his Flywaves made waves of their own across the many epic rides he had during the course of the event.

Kai Katchadourian proudly ended up in the top 16 with a tooth and nail 13th place, after some close calls with the judges like many others. With 3 top results out of the 6 events counting on the AWT tour, Kai took 11th on the year, a solid showing for sure with so few events sailed in overall. Rudy Castorina also made headlines, as he hit the newstands with the cover of Maui News after his very huge air off the lip in round 1 which he was the standout. Although after his 25th place in the end may not seem like it, Rudy was one of the most talked about riders at this event and sailed with the potential to do much more. Key decisions like using the right sail size more often will be the rule for him. Nick Dudet also showed up in 25th, and seems to be gaining as much experience and exposure to the Hookipa arena as much as he can, and he took his shots. Katie McAnena developed some key strategical schemes to secure her a solid Hookipa result as she danced with the waves very gracefully into her well earned 5th place overall for the year on the AWT tour. Simmer was proud to help sponsor the tour and we'd like to thank the entire crew of the AWT for a great show all year !

Photos by Amorphia photography

Authors: SIMMER STYLE - world news

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