ALEKSY GAYDA - THE JAWS JOURNEY

From Canvey Island in Essex to Pe’ahi / Jaws on Maui is a journey only one windsurfer has made. Aleksy Gayda tells his unique tale from young gun on the BWA circuit to sailing one of the world’s most famous waves.

“My name is Aleksy Gayda; I am 22 years old and live in a place called Canvey Island in Essex, England. I went to Appleton school in Benfleet. It was very challenging as I was dyslexic, and I came out without any qualifications. When I left, I attended a building college for eight months to do a bricklaying course as well as some work experience with a builder whilst still trying to fit in as much sailing as possible.

Words Aleksy Gayda – Photos John Carter

Early days

My dad was a keen windsurfer, so when I was little my mum always used to take me down to the beach to watch him sail. One day I managed to escape from my mum in the middle of the winter and ran down the beach and straight into the water. After that they decided to buy me a kid’s winter wetsuit and let me try out body boarding and I loved it. From then they managed to acquire me a little kid’s rig and I used my dad’s wave board to learn on. My mum works in a school as a receptionist and my dad used to be a fireman but has now retired and is a marine wave artist.

Work and play
While I’m at home my job is a fibreglass roofer which works out well for sailing as when it rains or it’s too windy we can’t work because it is not safe on the roofs. I am heading over to the Dingle peninsula, Ireland for the summer to work in ‘Spillane’s Pub’ washing dishes. This allows me to be able to sail and surf loads in my favourite location I have travelled to so far. I did this a couple of summers ago and scored some brilliant conditions; so am hoping for a good season ahead of me. People normally travel to Ireland in the spring and autumn but Dingle being so exposed can often have good wind and waves in the summer too.

Support

I have just started a new deal with GA and Tabou through Boardwise, which I am super happy about. I think the kit is amazing! I am using the IQ sails and the Da Curve boards which really suit my style. My favourite set up is 4.5m IQ with my 80 litre board. I love a sail that is light and powerful in the hands but still manoeuvrable, which I found the IQ does perfectly. I like the boards as they feel loose with a bit more tail rocker instead of a flat rocked board. I am using it as a tri fin with three degree K4 Ezzy fins in the front and 15 or 16 K4 flexi in the back and find that the best combination for me!

Competition

I find competing at the BWA events pushes me with my sailing as I am the youngest in the Pro fleet so it is quite a challenge. I am up against some of the top guys in the UK (and the world for that matter) but it makes me want to go bigger and better! I am trying to gain more knowledge and experience of competitions, so hopefully they will help me fair well in PWA comps when I start doing them. The BWA also has a cool social scene and is run superbly by great people, that’s why I enjoy going to the events and it’s the perfect stepping stone to the PWA. I still have tons of new moves to learn, both in the waves and in the air. I hope by the end of the year I will be sticking some doubles and dialling in my tweaked pushies. I also want to improve my wave 360’s and be more consistent with takas. I just started landing some goiters on the wave but to perfect them is going to be a big mission.

Maui
This season I came to Maui on the 15th March and was meant to be here for a month but ended up making my trip a bit longer as the conditions were sick! We had loads of solid swell and wind and I also scored a ‘Kona’ port tack day at Lanes and two good sessions on the west of Maui. I also helped out a bit with the GA and Tabou photo shoot this year and was lucky enough to take part in my first helicopter shoot, which was a major tick off the bucket list!

Jaws

Before I came to Maui this year I saw that Jaws had been breaking loads. It has always been a dream of mine to sail there but I knew I would have to be very lucky as it was late in the season to catch it. We ended up scoring a big swell in the photo shoot. We went down to Ho’okipa after lunch one day and saw it was massive and just closing out, so Thomas and JC decided that it might be a good idea to go check Jaws, which turned out to be a fortunate call! I launched off the rocks at the bottom of the cliff with all the GA and Tabou guys and Timo Mullen. It sucked that Jamie Hancock had to film as it was for the photo shoot and Ross was off the water with a bad ankle. I was nervous about launching off the rocks as I didn’t want to destroy all my kit and not catch a wave. I watched Thomas launch first and after seeing him launch it gave me a lot of confidence as he made it look deceptively easy, so I went next and managed to make it out fine too. When I dropped into my first wave I pretty much straight lined it as I had never been on a wave like it before and it was a nerve-racking experience. Everyone seemed to be buzzing and dropping into some huge waves. We were all slowly becoming a bit more confident and I decided to drop in a bit deeper which was a huge mistake as I ended up with a wave on my head and breaking my sail. I finally made it back to my kit after the sets died off but was on the upwind side of the wave. I tried to de-rig so I could swim back in, but after taking my boom off another set came through and I ended up losing everything again. I eventually managed to make it in to the rocks with most of my kit. I was gutted I wasn’t still sailing as it looked like it was getting better. It was still exciting to watch Thomas Traversa nail some insane airs and Graham Ezzy carve some unbelievable turns. We drove back up to Ho’okipa while the others sailed back down and then had a few beers. It was definitely a day that I won’t forget and can’t wait to sail there again. Maui is a dream windsurfing location with some super inspiring people. It was incredible to see how hard and late the top guys were hitting sections on the wave. The standard of sailing was ridiculously high and motivated me to improve. I had some fun surfing out there too, which I find very helpful for my wave riding. I had some epic sessions at Ho’okipa, Sprecks and Kanaha but by the end of the trip I was getting a bit over the crowds which made me want to come back to Brandon Bay, Ireland.

Cape Town

I’ve spent a few winters in Cape Town South Africa, but didn’t enjoy the sailing as much as Maui! I find Cape Town is gusty and very crowded, but it is good because it is very consistent so you are guaranteed a lot of water time. There is always a great social scene out there too so it’s a fun place to be. But overall, my favourite place to sail so far has been Ireland!

Home breaks

When I’m at home my local spot is called Canvey, which doesn’t have many waves but can occasionally cop a fair sized rolling swell out in the shipping channel which can be fun for jumping; although this only happens in rare Easterly wind directions! When I want to score waves near home, I head down to Dover, which is about an hour and half drive from Essex. I sail at a place called St. Margaret’s at Cliffe, it has a reef break that on its day can be side off with some decent size waves. You need a strong south westerly wind, which normally brings in a chunky swell. I also enjoy sailing at Camber sands which delivers fun waves on a South Westerly wind as well; perfect for jumping. After all my travelling, still nothing beats a good day in the UK and especially at your home spot!”