Watching Hawaii’s Carissa Moore surf beautifully at Cascais, Portugal this past week and now in the finals is very exciting. Its Rissa’s 1st Final all year, which is a totally unlike Hawaii’s 3 time World Champion. I really feel Rissa is excited about being in love and getting ready for her wedding in December. Carissa has been competing full on for some 15 plus years. In life we all need to be able to take some time out to enjoy other parts of life and allow some pressure to drift away for awhile. Well thats my personal take on why this is the first year Hawaii’s Carissa Moore has surfed really well, but dreaming with her heart and not maybe totally focused on winning heats.
Reading some of Hawaii’s Carissa Moore’s blogs I had no idea she can be so hard on herself with her surfing when she is in a comp. Carissa Moore is such a beautiful woman with so much Aloha, kindness, warmth and spirit of a true Hawaiian bringing Aloha to where ever she travels to.
If you are interested learning about different countries Hawaii’s Carissa Moore has a wonderful Blog you can follow and enjoy reading at www.carissamoore.com
Here is a portion of one of Carissa’s Blog she wrote a few days ago and you can see what a down to earth warm hearted gal Carissa is.
“Today, Dad and I decided to drive to Peniche about an hour away. I haven’t been to that town since my first year on tour when we had the RipCurl Search Event at Supertubes. We walked around for a little and I made Dad take photos of me. We found some great yellow walls. In contrast with the blue sky the walls popped. Yellow is my favorite color if you didn’t already know. We followed our noses to an Indian restaurant hidden on an unassuming side street. Our coconut and mango chicken curry came out in the cutest contraption. Imagine an individual metal soup bowl being warmed by the smallest candle beneath. I wanted to steal it and take it home with me but the waiter said he brought it here all the way from India and he didn’t have any more. Shucks… The cheese filled garlic naan bread as a side dish was to die for! I practically rolled out of the restaurant I stuffed myself so. In desperate need of shrinking my belly, I decided to paddle out to Supertubes and attempt to work it off. There were a few bodyboarders paddling circles around me. I just tried to laugh it off and paddle in the opposite direction. Managed to get a couple fun ones to end today’s adventure:)”
And Hawaii’s Carissa Moore was also recently was invited to Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch in Lemoore, outside of Fresno in California, has another excerpt from her Blog. The Test.
“We had a practice day before the contest. I was first up sharing an hour session with Adriano De Souza. Usually it is a fight for the first wave of the day because the pool is the stillest from the night before and that one wave is the most perfect. I was happy to let Adriano go first but he insisted on a coin flip to be fair. With luck on my side, I was first up! As cool as it is to catch that first wave, it’s also a bit nerve racking. There is a lot of pressure to not mess up. “Breathe, buddy, breathe…” I kept telling myself as I waited for the machine to start. “You got this. This is awesome. Let it all go.”
“One minute!” from the man in the control tower. This was it. Raimana sent his love from the ski and reminded me one last time to breathe and have fun. A wave of adrenaline came over me as the metal wire tightened and the sound of the machine began to crank. Slow and then faster. Out of nowhere a little mound of water started growing towards me. “Wait. Wait! Ok. Go babe. Go!” Raimana screamed.
The momentum of the wave picked me up and the rest of the world disappeared. The first section allowed for two to three turns then the wave steepened and hollowed out into a barrel. After that, there was room to do a few more turns and then there was one last barrel section. Can’t believe I made it to the end! Legs burning, heart racing. Forty five seconds of perfect bliss!
After my session was over, we stayed around the pool for awhile and watched the others warm up. I really enjoyed watching how everyone approached the wave and seeing their stoke after each ride. I don’t think I have ever seen my peers smile so much and be genuinely happy for the next person. The day came to a close with an epic dinner for everyone who came for the event. Legends of our sport, people of the industry, competitors, coaches, family, friends… The coolest part was sitting across from Shaun Thompson, Rabbit Bartholomew and Mark Richards! Are you kidding me?!
And then Carissa went on and Won the women’s part. And it was so sweet to heart, as Carissa says here. “I couldn’t believe it. It has been so long since I have won anything! The feeling felt foreign but so sweet. That day it worked out in my favor and I am so thankful. Crazy thing was I already felt like I was winning at life before I actually won the event. Getting to experience such a special few days with my good friends, the laughs, smiles, perfect waves, good food. I was just trying to soak in every minute of it. That’s probably why it all worked out. I didn’t need the result to make me happy but it sure was the cherry on top of a fantastic day. I will cherish it forever! ”
And watching live in the middle of the night the event in Portugal and sending positive vibes in the final to Rissa with pretty slow waves & Carissa coming in 2nd Place and moved up to 7th in the years tally with two events left in France, which started today and Maui’s Honolua Bay one of my fav home breaks growing up in my later teen years. Well stay tuned to www.worldsurfleague.com to watch the Women and Men’s live this week in France. Aloha for now. You can visit us in Hawaii check out http://www.surfclinics.com/maui-surf-school/ or email Nancy nancy@surfclinics.com
