Anna win's Volcom competition !

Free surf report on the Maui Volcom contest. On Anna's winning wave, she caught a nice right and slammed a sick backside snap into tail slide. It was sweet and her victory earned her a slot in the Volcom VQS championships in Newport, California.

Latest pics from the NSSA

Chaz Kinoshita

Joao Marco Maffini

Kai Barger

Matt and the Kazuma team at the NSSA National Championships in California

6/20 Long day at the NSSA nationals, the Maui crew had a tough time in the 4 to 6 foot surf. during the Menehune Explorer division, Chaz, Joao Marco and Imai got caught in a crazy fog storm that almost stopped the competition. It was nearly impossible to see the competitors and The boys got caught inside during a uge set. All three were left a wave short to advance. Ian, Kai, Matt, Taylor, Kain and Monyca, Tanner Advanced. Matt Meola and Monyca both advanced to the finals setfor later this week. We have a few days off from the competition before the main event starts at Tresles on the 24th.

6/19 This was our first full day of competition. The Maui crew surfed well and ended the day with a 70%advance rate. The standout was Matt Meola in the Airshow division. Tomorrow will be a long day as we start at 6:15 am

6/18 1pm Bad News, Justice Laidman got a big cut on his foot that ended his session. Justice said he was just happy to surf with slater. The waves actually came up as we finished surfing, it was the biggest surf I have seen at Trestles in more than 10 years. What a score for the kids.

6/18 12am We are at epic 5 foot (Hawaiian size) Trestles. It is insane.... Chaz,Tosh,Ian,Joao Marco, and the rest of the Maui boys are having a great time surfing with Kelly Slater. Slater is tearing Trestles apart and is by far the most impressive surfer out. Other Hawaiian surfers that just paddled out, Megan Abubo and Rochelle Ballard are killing it. The kids are lucky to be able to practice with such high caliber surfers. Justis Laidman formally from Maui just showed up and is paddling out to join Chaz. What an exciting day, you just wouldn't believe the performance that Kelly Slater is putting on.

6/17 12am The waves at Salt Creek were the best yet. 3 to 4 feet and glassy. The lefts were 50 yards long ending in a pounding shorebreak barrel. The kids were killing it. At about 10:30 Matt Meola and Kai Barger paddled out and took over. In the last 3 days of practice, this was by far the best surfing I have seen. Matt was pulling off the impossible, slamming sections that even the locals would avoid. Kai was his usual powerful, polished self. Kai owns it everywhere he surfs. Dege, Albee and Billy were also on fire. I am glad to say that the Maui kids are the standout surfers.


6/16 10pm We had two epic sessions at Salt Creek today, the waves were crazy good and all the Hawaiians were killing it. I think the team is about ready for the contest to start, I say they are at 80 percent of their performance potential. Thursday is our first day of contest surfing so after tomorrow's practice, we should be able to give a 90 percent performance. In between practice heats, we had a hard core Guitar Hero session. Joao Marco smoked everyone. Naturally the kids were starving after the jam session so we found this sushi bar, Maki Maki and it had the best sushi. The kids ordered everything on the menu, I think we will go back tomorrow. Tomorrow we will surf early and do our usual video coaching and finish our contest preparations.

Aloha,
Matt Kinoshita

6/16 7am Good morning, again the waves are firing at Salt Creek. The Kazuma team is here with Rainos Hayes and the rest of the Hawaiian competitors. The waves are 3 to 4 feet and pure glass. All the Hawaiian kids are killing it, we are doing our usual video training and mock heats. The kids are stoked.

6/15 7pm We just finished our 2nd session at Salt Creek and the kids surfed a hundred percent better. They are fine with the full suits and cold water now but it Helps that the waves were so big. Ian Gentil just won the Rip Curl grom search contest at Hunting Beach. Another big win for the Maui boys. We are off to find a good restaurant to eat in. Tomorrow we will dawn patrol Salt Creek again.

Aloha,
Matt Kinoshita


6/15 12pm Salt Creek is firing, the team had an awesome warm up session. We ran 3 practice heats in perfect 3 to 4 foot, glassy surf. It took the kids some time to adjust to the cold water and full wetsuits. Kain and Taylor Daily were killing it when we left. Earlier we checked Trestles and it was perfect 4 feet but the Sunday crowd was too much. The room we have at the San Clemente Inn is quite nice and comfortable, we may test the restaurant tonight. Once I figure out how to upload the pictures, you will see some cool shots.

Aloha,
Matt Kinoshita

6/14 9:30pm We arrived safely at LAX. The service at American Airlines was awesome. Now we are off to our accomidations at the San Clamente Inn. Tomorrow morning it's dawn patroll at Trestles. Update and pictures then.

Here we go, we are on our way to California for the NSSA Nationals. if it is like all the years past, my All-Star team is sure to dominate the contest. Chaz, Imai, Tanner, Joao Marco, Kai, Makana,Monyca, Matt and the rest of the Kazuma team are ready for action. Starting tomorrow, I will be adding to this blog as the action happens. I will get into detail with my coaching secrets so all of you out there can see what it takes to compete at the championship level.If I can figure out how to upload my video's, you will get some near live action. Stay tuned, I have lots to share.

Aloha for today,
Matt Kinoshita

Anna Fry

Really cool shots from Anna at Rocky point.

And Pools, Maui South Side...

Matt Meola makes NSSA airshow final!

Matt Meola advances to the finals in the Nssa Nationals Airshow division. Matt had some of the highest scores of the competition.

Makana Eleogram warm up session before the contest..

Makana Eleogram was on fire this morning at Salt Creek. Makana was pulling some crazy tail slides on the end bowl closeout. Makana surfs his first heat Thursday the 19th.

Kazuma with Matt Meola, 1 on 1 coaching session at the Nationals

One thing for sure, Matt is the surfer to watch. He actually pulled this turn, Matt and Kai were the most impressive surfers we watched over the last 3 days. Matt looked right at home from his very 1st wave. Matt Kinoshita and Matt Meola are pictured below going over some positioning strategies and were doing some last minute video coaching to fine tune his performance. Matt is Ready to win.

More from Anna, in Surfer's Path this time.

Stand up paddle review - standupzone

9'4" x 27.5" x 4.375" Custom Kazuma Board EPS / Epoxy


Me: Beginner to surfing and SUP. Based out of Paia, Maui

I hope it's not cognitive dissonance but I'll go out on a limb and say it: this board is the greatest. We like it so much that we are on our way to ordering a second one with a
few tweaks, but more on that later. I was not going to be a SUP, even after seeing Rand and the folks at Kanaha the first week of April 2007, maybe you've seen the videos? I
was going to try to focus on long boarding and get better. That has all changed. I'm now a SUP convert. And I have seen the magic when the first go around of the season
happened about two weeks ago at Kanaha. No wind, and head high+plus on from the North. Pure magic! This was really the first time I caught head high waves on my new baby. Unreal. There had been some head high softies a few times on the West, South facing side of Lahaina, and I may have caught a few but two weeks ago was the real deal. Turn into the wind -- to the right, power stroke on my best side (left), half way through the turn, drop in, takeoff and then all the way around 270 degrees and you are off on a right hand shoulder that is to die for. Yeah hah. Singing all the way.

The board forces you to be late, but this is a real plus. OK, not late by shortboard metrics, but later. I'm 155 and it's a challenge to stand on in chop or wind, or get anything done like go up wind or make quick turns when the weather isn't cooperating. The board is something for me to grow into. It gives up a bit paddling in, at least for me vs a 9 foot prone longboard, but it takes back on steeper takeoffs and getting around white water. Call me lazy but I've stopped trying to get it up to speed, I'm letting the wave do it. So it requires more timing than the longboard. This is the challenge. The flip side is that it's got giddy up once it's on the wave, it turns like a sports car and the lower volume and shorter length is less to deal with when you are trying to get back out or in a wipe out.

I've paddled it a handful of times from Hookipa to a takeout in Paia Bay, 2 blocks from where I live (I walk through town with it on my shoulder). The days I've been out
through Hookipa have been flat, and the waves I've caught on the outer reefs have been brief. Like I said, I've only had the board two months, I've counted about 25 days riding, in all sorts of stuff. The short 'downwinders' are a challenge on the tippy board, at least tippy for me, but doable. I can't say enough praise about the ability of this board to turn. Just think turn and it turns. Only today (after having the board for 2 months) am realizing how much rocker
it has nose and tail. The back of the board is low volume. I've been playing with white water takeoffs in waist high and it just pops out, even when you are late you are
surfing, not pearling. I'm playing with standing forward during takeoff and delaying weighting the tail. Yup, sure enough, you're about to sound the diving alarm -- aruggh-ahh, aruggh-ahh and bernt, the nose pops out, no pearling here.

I 'usually' surf the South Side with my wife. The waves have less power, they are in the best sense a long board wave, in the worst sense a mush burger. But when I get this
board on any type of steep, I think turn it, turns and I'm on the shoulder and surfing. I love this board. Back to what's wrong with it. I need to use it inside, because I
don't have the balance to be a power stroker yet. I've given up some of the SUP advantage of go anywhere, or go outside of where the surfers are not. If it has any faults it has what I would call 'broad shoulders'. Alot of the volume is 2 feet from the nose. I think Matt did this to get the stability when paddling without giving up any turniness in
the tail. Our next board is on order momentarily. It's for my wife (I'm sure you've heard that before), who like me is a newbie. She has been surfing an 11' X 25.75 NSP
longbard, it's a whale in the tail. I think we are going 10" for her board, she would like to keep the glide an have a South Side board. We are going to keep the rocker and go a
little thinner. She has better balance than me and is a bit lighter so we are going to 116 liters, which is going to give up nearly 20 lbs of buoyancy. The biggest improvement
I think will be a very very modest (can you say less than 2%) reduction in the the 'shoulders'. We are going to keep the rocker so hopefully it will have the same turniness. I don't think Matt will allow any boards out of his shop which don't turn. In some senses the only reason we are going longer is just for the sake of change, why have two boards in the quiver which are identical, why not mix it up?

Did I mention the workmanship? I think these boards are incredibly durable. I have accidentally bumped the board when stacking it and unstacking it for the daily run to
wherever. I like how there was epoxy build up on the edges in the tail. The thing does not scratch. We've rented a few boards here and there and they all had pressure dings.
The rails on the NSP my wife uses as a SUP were dinged on the first outing. The Kazuma has been holding up really well. I've been remarkably and happily surprised.

Kai Barger, NSSA nationals warm up session

Kai Barger was simply the most dominate surfer in the lineup at Salt Creek. His warm up session for the 2008 NSSA Nationals was nearly flawless and if he surfs anywhere like this in the contest, he is sure to win.

Top secret Kazuma training session.

This is Chaz and Joao Marco caught in top a secret Kazuma training session. Our preparation for the NSSA Nationals has no limits. Joao Marco was on fire and smoked Chaz.

This is what we did between our practice heats at Salt Creek.

First pics at Salt Creek - NSSA

Chaz Kinoshita and Joao Marco Maffini


Looks good from here !


Joao Marco


Chaz



Briefing with the boss


Nice boards man !

Artist design, Nano's transform a Super fish !.

Our designer Nano is doing some really cool art works.

His job is beautiful and will transform your kazuma board into a piece of heart !.

you can order design from the order form for any board selected on our website.

Below a superfish getting customized !.

By the way, this is our Batman design.

"Down the line" custom paint, yeah Nano !.

This one is ready for Peahi...

Nano design, designing the Domino custom paint