Episode 53 - Zane Kekoa Schweitzer

Episode Transcript: 

Luc Moore (00:00.694)
you

Luc Moore (00:06.254)
Welcome to the Wing Life podcast, where we talk about wing foiling and the lifestyles of those who enjoy this great sport. All right, man, thanks for joining. Thanks for having me, Luke. Appreciate it. Yeah, absolutely. So you are home in Maui, I take it? Yeah, just got back home to Napiele, actually, after doing a fun downwinder training for our Triple Crown race season in July. So got a nice Maliko run in this morning.

Sick. How was that? it was nice. You know, blowing about 20 to 25 knots and testing out some new starboard foils, which are really a big improvement from some of the past years. So it's been really fun to get familiar with some of this new gear and know that I have some nice weapons for battle this summer. Nice. Do you got quite a few races coming up? Yeah, we have the Triple Crown.

the biggest races in the near future for me personally, we'll have the paddle Emua, which is a Maliko run, about nine mile race from Maliko Gulch to Kahului Harbor. And then the following weekend, we're racing across the channel from Maui to Molokai, the Pailolo Channel race. And that's the Molokai Holokai, 27 miles that one. And the very next day, we're racing

a local Molokai race, which is about 11 miles. And then the very next day after that, doing Molokai to Oahu, 32 miles. And it's actually a little longer. I think it's up to 35 or 36 miles. They changed the course this year for the foilers. So yeah, it's going to be a big weekend of action.

Pretty much three races in two weeks. So it'll be a lot of fun. wow. Nice. So training, how does training look like for an event like that for you or for a series of races? I mean, well, you know, lately it seems like just getting familiar on the foils. You know, there's so much changes right now with foil development and the starboard team. you know, they're always trying to improve their equipment.

Luc Moore (02:26.926)
And we have a new team that's really pushing for new foil development. And so, you know, right now I am getting test foils from Starboard. They produce most of their stuff in Thailand and China. And so when I'm getting new gear, putting it on the water, trying to figure out what the best combo is, you know, I think there's a certain point when...

you become familiar with your environment and your race course and the activity being downwind foil or wing foil. If we're talking, you know, these upcoming races where foil choice and the foils you're riding starts to play a huge role. You know, you know, I've, I've logged a lot of time training on these runs and for the most part, like today,

testing a new foil, the MF820 by Starboard Foils paired with the SLX 160 tail wing and a 95 centimeter mast. Was able to finish the run today in 37 minutes with no falls or no mistakes. And that was my first time riding those new foils. So it was exciting to get a test on the new Martin Fisher Starboard Foils, the MF820.

felt comfortable, was able to get tops some nice speeds in the faster moving groundswell. And I guess what I'm trying to say is, I think it's all about dialing your equipment. This day and age, there's a lot of fast foils out there. And if you're not already super familiar with your course and the skill it takes, I guess, have a nice run, then it comes down to dialing in your equipment.

Well, you have to kind of pick stuff based on, I relate it to skiing, right? So it's like your ski racing and your mountain is so big and your course is such and such. It'll require you to pick the right tools and the right weapons to do that the most efficient. So is that kind of what you guys do like train on the flats and then train in the actual, cause the conditions are going to vary based on, based on the race conditions, right? They're never going to be the same.

Luc Moore (04:44.11)
Yeah, very true. You know, we do have a very consistent arena per se on Maui. The trade winds are very, very predictable. And almost any given day we could have a blast training downwind subfoil. And if the bumps aren't great or if the wind direction is not ideal and the swells aren't quite there to confidently get testing or training gun downwind subfoiling.

then wing foil is a great vessel to get testing in and to get familiar with gear. And so I live in Napili on the west side of Maui, about 45 minutes to an hour from Kahului Harbor. So for me to train a Maliko run, I'm driving a good hour and a half just to get there, not including the drive home. So.

If I don't have a chance to get into the bumps testing gear, sub foiling, then wing foiling is a really good opportunity. Close to home in Napele. I have the Pai Lolo channel, of course, which is an amazing run for downwind sub foil. But it runs out into the open ocean towards Molokai. So without a boat, it's not, you can't get long runs in.

I have a four mile course I'll do right in front of my house where it stays close to shore. And that's really fun for getting testing in as well. But yeah, the wing really gives you a lot of opportunity to get powered up in the flat water, feel the speed of the foil, get an idea where that top end speed is, where it starts to lose control. And as well, you could put yourself right out into the bumps, put yourself a few miles offshore into the wind line of the Pai Lo Lo channel for me. And...

flag the wing practice downwind and have that wing to get back into Maui. So it's a good training tool then like, so you do a mixture of wing foiling and then paddling, to do this, then you find that's a good, good balance. It's not just one tool. Yeah, most definitely. Like even though most of my excitement is and training right now is focused around downwind, sub foil, still getting a lot of wing foiling in for those days that I still want to, you know, put some hours in testing and.

Luc Moore (07:01.902)
just, log in time on the channel. Can we talk, like go into a little bit of how's Lahaina doing on that side? Cause yeah. Yup. Yeah. That was a tough, tough go for them. Yeah. So being born and raised in Lahaina myself, it's been a really hard year. We're coming up on eight, nine months since the August the eight fires and,

You know, it's been tough for me to get back into the normal swing of things, regardless of my just daily routine, but also to get back into traveling and competing as much as I did pre -fire. You know, and priorities have shifted a lot in the last year for me. You know, I had a son, my son, my first son was born May 27th.

Yep, about two months before the fires. So I was already starting to prepare to, you know, for things to change a little bit. But, you know, my entire hometown burned down in the fires and my wife lost their family home. And I went, you know, I went from living in this three bedroom house with my wife and I and our tenants.

to then my tenants having to leave the island because they lost their business. And that was a fortunate situation because my wife's family was able to move in. And we had about 18 people in this three bedroom house for quite some time. And it's still a big challenge for a lot of our community. The housing issue is really tough because as many people know, the...

short -term rentals and the tourism kind of controls the majority of our economy. So when the largest residential neighborhood in Lahaina and town burned down, there just wasn't much else for residents to go. And so, you know, we're dealing, we're still dealing with a lot of things, especially for mental health, trying to keep people on island. A lot of people.

Luc Moore (09:24.014)
because of financial reasons and just no availability for housing or going homeless. And it's crazy to see how quick that can all happen. I mean, people I never would have imagined to be homeless, successful, smart individuals that I've known the majority of my life. So many of my friends and people I care for are homeless living out of their car right now, still nine months after the fire. So.

You know, but with all things considered, life's good. There's a lot of problems. Everywhere has their own problems. There's a lot of stuff going on around the world. It doesn't take away from the severity of our problems we have in our hometown. But my point is, you know, I don't want to go on, you know, talking about the doom and gloom. You know, there's a lot of good things happening from the likes of it all. You know, our community came together in an amazing way.

A lot of the water men and water women who do a lot of big wave surfing and fishing and boat activities on Maui came in to save the day for the short term emergency action plans that were in place. There's no internet or access to our side of the island for almost two months. So all the boats coming in, bringing water, food, medicine, gasoline for the generators.

The first two months were essential. My life was in many ways adrenaline filled and in that fight or flight state trying to provide comfort and security for our community. We fell into position dealing with a lot of supply distribution and communicating and setting up VHF radio systems that are powered by batteries to

communicate with the different shelters and shortly after the power came back on and access to the West Maui came on, we shifted focus to building tiny homes. And since then we've built over 30 tiny homes with Hui Homes. And so I've kind of been wearing many hats, a lot of different, I guess, routines than what I'm used to, to say the least.

Luc Moore (11:53.07)
Is there anything people listening in can still do to offer support and help? Is it just visit? Is it just come visit Maui? And is that something that that would greatly help? Cause I know there's people that tune in from every part of the world to this. So, just thought we'd ask. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's a great question, Luke. And I appreciate you asking, you know, it's, it's coming to the time where we do want to welcome back our demographic of, of conscious visitors.

You know, and my family and I, we've run Maui sports adventures. We do private lessons and surf camps and guided foil trips, you know, for many years here on West Maui. And we haven't had any business at all since the fires. And, you know, a lot of us families, whether we're, you know, in transitional housing or not, rely on, you know, tourism in one way or another.

And the first few months after the fire, a lot of our community were requesting, you know, space, a little break for people coming in as we were navigating the really tough transition. and there's still a lot of tough transitions happening right now, but I would say confidently that we're at the time now where we want to welcome back our, our conscious visitors that, that really do value our environment, our community, Hawaiian culture and history, and as well the ocean, you know,

I just released a few foil and wing camps for this summer, June and July. And so if you guys would like to come and stay local style with my family and be a part of some community resilience efforts with some volunteerism mixed in with foil camps, you know, where it was kind of pivoting a little bit from our normal retreats and camps and incorporating more community involvement for this summer. So.

You guys are welcome to come join us and I would love to hear from you guys. Send me a DM on Instagram or check us out, maui sports adventures .com. And, you know, I have my foundation as well. We've been established in West Maui since 2009. And since the fires, we've really ramped up our programs from three to six events a year to, you know, since the fires, we've done 32 events, just, you know, in the last few months. And so being able to accommodate the.

Luc Moore (14:16.398)
the lack of programs available for youth and as well the real frightening status of mental health, you know, for our kids and families. Yeah, so getting kids swimming safely, getting kids doing beach cleanups and all sorts of mentorship and ocean immersion programs, it's been really rewarding. And that's been my position that I've been comfortable falling into in the wake of the fires and how I could most...

benefit my community, you know, is being able to provide these events consistently. We do two a month at this point and just average about 40 to 60 kids per event. And, you know, just seeing a few kids have a sense of normalcy and have it getting a big warm hug from guardians or parents at the end of it. It's that's the battle that I've chose to kind of take on in the wake of all this and.

It's also given me time to focus on my family again and my sport and my career because those first six months after the fire, it was just nonstop trying to provide comfort for others. And in the meantime, you know, my life was kind of starting to my home and my wife and my baby was missing me, you know, so getting back into the normal swing of things and feeling really proud of our involvement altogether.

and starting to see hope at the end of the tunnel for Lahaina growing in the right direction, hopefully. Well, thanks for sharing, man. And I'm happy to hear that you're starting to see that because that's not an easy thing for any community anywhere to go to, especially given its remoteness on the planet makes it even harder and how long that community had been there and the historicness of it. So we really do appreciate that.

Your community involvement, like we were looking up a little bit, like you've been doing community involvement stuff since you were pretty young, eh? Yeah, we started our foundation unofficially in 2009. And I was 13 years old, 13, 13 or 15 years old when we started doing them consistently. And, you know, we did events here on Maui throughout the islands in Hawaii when I'm competing and...

Luc Moore (16:40.398)
Once I started traveling globally, we brought the events global to, you know, hosting kids clinics and beach cleanups before and after competition. You know, you talked to Tristan Boxford and I've been famously notorious for almost missing heats because I'm running a kids clinic in between competition, you know, and so, you know, for me, I really, I really appreciate the community that I'm involved with and the operative.

the fortunate lifestyle and opportunity, career path and passions I have. And realizing that early on, it made me really want to make the most out of each experience, each travel, each competition. And my parents were also professional athletes, world champion windsurfers. And so they would always encourage me to not just be stuck in the beach, you know, where the competition was and to go out and meet people and to, you know,

experience the culture and the food and to make new friends and to, you know, not take competition so serious because I've seen so many people over the 18 years or so that I've been competing on a world level that a lot of people have gone to many amazing places for many years and never leave the area they're competing at and barely make an effort to meet any locals and see how the life is there. And, and,

You know, for me, even though I've maybe overwhelmed myself at times, pushing the envelope for what I could fit in in a short trip travel, I look back on my experiences with the world and its people. And the times that stand out to me are those times teaching kids how to swim and pushing them in on their first wave on a surfboard and making friends and...

culture shock countries, you know, and you know, that running off that universal language of just a smile and locking eyes and trying to communicate with someone who doesn't speak your language and share their food and put yourself in their shoes is really what makes my life feel so rich at the age I am today, being 30 years old. And, you know, I'm grateful for the many successes I've had as a competitor, but, you know, I really...

Luc Moore (19:05.102)
try and remind a lot of the kids I coach as well that, you know, it's important to live life to the fullest and along our journey of personal goals and gains to uplift others along the way and invite that inspiration from others as well. Yeah, very, very well put. Not everybody chooses to do that, but it's a very honorable thing to do. And I think...

What it will do is it just brings you more and more and more of those kinds of experiences, right? It enhances your life and then you're able to, cause push, like some of those moments for those kids, like they're going to remember that forever. Like that could completely change their life path. You know what I mean? And it did for me, Luke, you know, I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for the amazing water men and water women in my community that put me on their canoe, that taught me how to sail.

that brought me out fishing, that enhanced my connection with the natural environment around me. And, you know, growing up in Hawaii, a lot of people see the beauty and the fortune attached to it, but, you know, there's a lot going on as a resident of Hawaii and local families often don't even have the time to take their kids to the beach.

We have one of the highest costs of living in the whole world, let alone the country of the U .S. And so the lifestyle of a Hawaiian waterman and a Hawaiian water woman is slowly fading away in many ways. And I realized that at a young age, seeing that I was surrounded by the beach and these amazing people and fortunate, feeling fortunate that my parents would bring me and surround myself with that influence. And,

Really, it's my driving purpose in my life with my platform as a professional athlete is to be able to give other kids a similar opportunity that I had, you know, and it's what keeps it exciting for me, you know. There's a lot of athletes that I've seen that focus really hard on competition and championships and they burn out cyclically. And, you know, because of the...

Luc Moore (21:22.062)
my driving purpose behind my platform and my competition, careers and athlete being to uplift those around me in my environment and give kids similar opportunity that I had. It keeps things fresh and it keeps things super exciting for me, you know, and when I'm training and when I'm competing, you know, it's, it's that driving motivator for me to know that I could bring it home to my team of junior Grom's and be able to.

inspire them and to further have open hearts, ears and minds to the impacts that I want to make on my community and the world around me. And yeah, so I just feel super grateful to have be a part of this community and I want more people to be a part of this community and experience the world of the ocean and to immerse yourself in a natural environment like.

like the wind and the waves because it's a sense of freedom. I mean, for those listening who are wing foilers and downwind foilers, there's not much of a sense of freedom more in my eyes. Out of all the things I've ever experienced and sports I've done in my life, then locking in to that meditation in the open ocean, just downwind foiling or harnessing the wind and having the freedom to just go wherever your heart desires. And it's a...

It's a unique thing. And I think it taps into a primitive thing in our unconscious mind that opens up. Yeah. Yeah. No, I just, you know, I think it's a unique, a unique thing that we all have the opportunity to hopefully learn one day and, foiling and wing foiling is pretty. Extreme in most people's eyes, but it really is amazing to see the folks who have gotten into this sport, you know,

early on when we were first testing foils with Alex Aguera here on Maui. And he had this wild vision of evolving the sport of foiling from a toe sport locked in with boots going high speed to just. Yeah. And all of a sudden, Alex Aguera had this vision of, you know, riding downwind bumps and being able to catch waves with a paddle and be able to.

Luc Moore (23:40.398)
You know, I have a different evolution of the sport of foiling. And since then, you know, I would have thought it would be like extreme windsurfers and kite surfers and surfers who are maybe getting a little bored. But it's not just that, you know, it's like it's amazing to see the people getting into these foil sports and these wings, the new evolution of wind sports. And in many ways, the technology that's

progressing so fast, it's exciting. It's an exciting time to be a part of this sport. It really is. Especially if you have the money to play around with different equipment. That's the one piece that we've been talking to a little bit about is the cost of getting into foiling. It's almost like, well, yeah, like my first, one of my first civics was like 3000 bucks Canadian and my foil setup that I got,

with my board and my wing was about 6 ,000 Canadian. So like - That's steep, man. That's pricey, man. And like - And imagine all the kids that could be world champions and enhancing their life, but they'll just never have that money or their parents won't be able to get them equipment or get them a lesson on it. Or maybe they're shy to even get them introduced to it, because then their kid's going to be asking for that expensive stuff for Christmas. You know?

And so it's a, it's, it's, it is a double edged sword because it's an exciting time. And it is full circle too, because listening to the pros and cons that the evolution of windsurfing went through, you know, my grandfather invented the sport of windsurfing with Jim Drake. and so hearing stories from my father as an 18 time world champion, who is the first world champion in the sport of windsurfing. When I went from.

original regatta racing on big boards that were user friendly. You could do it in three knots of wind and up. And it went really quickly all of a sudden from a very open friendly thing that was cost effective and available to a broad majority of the public to then carbon fiber performance based expensive as hell. If you don't have the top line shit, then you're not going to get a good result in the race.

Luc Moore (26:07.374)
And very quickly you saw, you saw parts of the sport skyrocketing and other parts of the sport just falling. And the spark, the parts of the sport that tank is that, that new user to the sport, the everyday weekend warrior that enjoys the sport and maybe getting out and riding their weekend regattas. But now they're losing interest because they're just back of the pack and they, they need a new set up every season to.

to feel competitive or even in a status of having fun. And that is a shame in the sport of wing foiling, but it's also what's so exciting, because we're seeing so many changes, so many progressions, so many innovation curves that are allowing us to go faster, to pump further, to freaking fly jumps high into the sky. And we're seeing maneuvers on foil surfing where...

A backflip was once a really cool thing a few years ago. Now it's, you know, throwing a rotation into a backflip and landing back on the wave. And so with that extra speed and extra maneuverability, it allows us to do more crazy things. And our maneuvers have a broader window. But, you know, when we look at the growth of our sport, it's gonna plateau big time because of those price points and because of the constant change.

of equipment and, and demand for the next thing every season. Yeah. We, we saw that I run a classifieds in Canada and like two, three years ago, it was an explosion of people joining and an explosion of people listing gear. And then it came to the point where stuff would sell in a day. It would be so fast. And then eventually it's saturated and now nothing sold. man. I got stuff that I can't even give away.

I got stuff I can't even give away at this point because I didn't sell it when it was still relevant. You know, I got first generation go foils that are, you know, when still the first generation Malikos and Evas or people look at that and they're like, no, I won't even take that free, you know? And it's not that those are bad foils. It's just, you know, there's new things that are easier to learn on and have a little bit more range of progression.

Luc Moore (28:34.638)
That's true. Yeah, gear, yeah, that's true. It's going insane. And the only thing that I can think that might help is as gear starts to plateau from the evolution perspective of it, then as those who can continuously buy new stuff, that good stuff will then start to trickle through the used market. Hopefully, if we can get a few foundations going where there's people who have, who can help out and access to children who can't.

Like there's lots of room and there's lots of money out there. It's not like there isn't any money. It's just it's accumulated in certain areas and we need to have those who have assist in this particular area to help out children and families who can't. And then I think we could see that that kind of acceleration through that area. Like I know Willow River on Mauritius has a foundation Surf to Serve that he does, which is exactly that same.

premise of helping kids access surf equipment. Yeah. But I know there's people that are going to be able to do that aspect of things and help out in that way because what it gives to your life and how it does like what you were saying to us, it's it's life altering and life. It makes life so much deeper and richer. Yeah. And why can't we help? Actually, we can help. We can do our little part to help. man. We all have the power of choice to make.

huge repercussions in the world and environment around us. It's just having that mind shift to other opportunities and creating the desire to make time for it. Because I think a lot of us get really caught up in just the rat race of making money and paying bills. And with any extra bit of time we have, we might want to spend time with family and friends and hopefully be able to get out on the water and have some fun. And so...

Yeah, I think you're right, man. We need to create a support system for the entry market. And you know, what Will is doing in Mauritius is amazing. It's also a small part of our mission at Kahakukahi Foundation. We have our community center and Ocean Academy here on West Maui. And, you know, our main mission is to uplift the status of mental health.

Luc Moore (30:53.39)
through ocean immersion programs and mentorship. But we do scholarships throughout the year giving away windsurf, hydrofoil surf equipment, and be able to also offer lessons and mentorship to go along with the equipment so that these kids can have the chance to get out there and to experience foiling with a safe environment. And so it's...

I think that there's still a use for a lot of those old, that old equipment, because you could catch the bug with it still. You could catch that excitement. Get on the water, you know, and you know, maybe keep having fun on that. Well, you just don't know whether it comes in the form of a sponsorship, of a business sponsorship, of a sponsorship through the town or a brand, right? Because the kids on tour now are incredibly young and they're not buying anything. They're getting all this stuff sponsored.

Well, that's what I mean. But like, you don't know if one of these kids comes through this program and develops this insane skill set that gets them sponsored in a year or two. And you just, you just don't know if they don't have the opportunities. So I guess. I totally agree with that. It's insane to see what a child has the potential of if they just have the vehicle to pursue the passion.

You know, and I'm one of those kids too, where, you know, I went from competing on the world tour for windsurfing to subsurfing to wing foiling. And in many ways, if I was too focused and serious in one sport, I would have never had the opportunity to open my world to the other communities tied to these sports and also the joy attached to each one of these different sports and how they could relate to one another and benefit one another. And so.

Yeah, I totally agree with you, Luke. It's exciting times for sure.

Luc Moore (32:58.702)
How was your first ever session on a foil? man, I still remember it pretty clear. So my very first session on a foil was in the Motu and I was with Brett Lickle and my dad and we were doing a family trip with Mike Waltz and he's who's actually one of the owners of the Motu Island. So we for a few years there when I was really young, we had opportunities to go to the Motu.

and stay with my dad's friends and they would all have fun. I've been special. Yeah, I was rad to hang out with Brett Lickle and Laird Hamilton and all my dad's friends. I got to see Rush Randall throwing flips on foils before people even knew what foiling was. So I remember putting my feet into these snowboard boots that are locked into the board on this heavy stainless steel first generation Rush Randall foil.

and getting pulled by a jet ski in the Motu, I was probably 10, 11 years old and little chicken legs in this giant oversized boot. And so the boots weren't doing anything to hold my feet in place and to have that added stability. But I was able to get up flying a little bit. And you know what? It didn't really draw me in nearly as much as I remember my second.

experience foiling. I remember just feeling like, this is wild. We're floating up there. We're flying above the surface, holding onto a rope. This is cool. And then just nothing else after that for a few years. And then Alex Aguera started working on the new generation of foils where you could actually ride the downwind. And we went out on the boat. Starboard actually helped to kick off Alex Aguera's and GoFoil.

And so we had a collaboration very early on to help Alex Aguera get a production of the first foils going. And so the starboard team, mostly just Connor Baxter and myself, were pretty involved working with Alex Aguera on some of these early foils that, and I remember we had this 12 foot six starboard all -star for anybody familiar in SUP racing. These are big carbon fiber race boards.

Luc Moore (35:23.726)
And we literally were just getting a hacksaw and just cutting the nose piece by piece off because we quickly realized we don't need all this board. Like we would get up with the 12 -6 flying with the foil almost a few feet up from the tail. And we're like, this board's just making it unstable. And it's flying at a pretty low speed. So we don't need all this board. And we literally were just with the blade on the boat in the middle of the channel.

just cutting the nose off, like one foot at a time. And then we got down to this like little eight foot board and the foil is now way too far forward. So we had to restart our test session there. And we went to next a seven two pro. That was a starboard, subsurfboard, carbon seven two. We threw the foil in that thing. I want to say 18 to 26 inches.

from the tail and it was like, holy crap. The instability from having all that board was gone and the sensation of just flying nonstop, like we got up and we actually did it in the waves at UkaMahame for that next test session. And I remember Connor and I were paddling in and my very first attempt to get into a wave.

I remember getting up and it just started flying so much sooner than I thought, way before the waves was breaking. And I rode the wave all the way to the shore and I start turning with the swell and I want to keep going because there's no more wave. But the shoreline's right there, but I'm still gliding and I'm still flying. And so then I rode to the wave behind and rode along the shoreline.

And then again, kicked out of that one, rode the wave behind along the shoreline. And it was like, my mind was just, just like my first ride on a foil in the surf turned out to be like three or four different waves extending the initial ride and flight. And I remember getting in my car after that session and.

Luc Moore (37:45.838)
merging onto back onto the highway from the beach, you know, accelerating from the shoulder to the highway. And I was waiting for my car to start lifting up because that acceleration I'm like, there was so in my head the sensation it was like the foil bug is real. And it bit me hard, you know, and

And ever since then, you know, my wife wakes me up in the middle of the night. She'll say, Zane, you're dreaming about foiling again. Come on. Like you're waking me up. It's not other women, honey. It's a foil. Yeah. So it's awesome. It's a unique sensation, man. Such a unique sensation. Absolutely. And it's like, do you find it brings us a little bit further back into history?

where it connects you a little bit more with that kind of adventurous navigator spirit, because foiling, like wing foiling, for example, allows you, you could throw a backpack on, you could throw food in. totally. And then you could like go five, six K upwind, stop somewhere, eat, hop back on, do a down winder. You can't do that as easily kiting. You can't do that easily, as easily windsurfing. It doesn't put you in that adrenaline kind of like windsurfing when it's...

Like it just puts you in a different state of mind than this like nice little comfortable flow state foiling stuff. Like it's so different. It really is. I guess until you attack jaws or something like you guys have over there, then I'm assuming that would be pretty intense. Yeah, you could take it up as much as you comfortably want to, I guess, with the foils nowadays. But handling the speed at jaws, it takes a very special foil that's unique and custom. But.

The adventure aspect of it is so rad. For me, I have a real special connection to the open ocean because I'm from West Maui. There's not many wind sport riders on West Maui. Most of them are on the North Shore. I get this sole feeding sessions more where I'm one of the few guys out in the water, if not the only guy on the water.

Luc Moore (40:07.662)
and I'm eight miles away from the next island being Molokai across the Pailolo channel, one of the world's roughest channels. And so I have this playground that separates or rather connects me to the neighboring island and my friends and family on that neighboring island. And I'll go quite often, load a backpack and go on my wing foil. And in 30 minutes, 27 minutes is my record time to go from

Maui to the next island and I could go pick some coconuts on the beach over there as I wait for my friends to pick me up and we could go have a fun day over there on Molokai cruising around and then ride straight back 25 -30 minutes to Maui, you know, and be able to, you know, have just like you said, embrace that sense of adventure that we all have in us. That's your mental health stuff right there.

That that's like what will help us, I think, merge back that we've lost that. Right. So we've lost so much of it with the advent of social media, with the advent of like commercialism gone wild. Like we've lost the stuff that actually makes us feel whole and complete. that, and I think that that's one piece that, yeah, I guess that's part of your journey to help in that way in that area.

and worldwide to help people remember that, right? Like we're all doing that. That's pretty much the whole premise of this show as well. Getting information out to people because you don't know what it's going to do. Do you have a book out as well? I do. I published the book in 2017 and it was a big family project. This didn't come from my own actions in many ways. My grandmother was on hospice and so she spent her last months at home and she was my biggest...

teacher in life and really inspired me in so many ways. And in many ways, I owe a lot of my credit and success to her because she opened my mind to visualization and manifestation and journaling and all these things that you wouldn't normally see an eight -year -old kid practicing. And, you know, so my grandma, she opened up, just like you were just saying, you know, you never know what it's gonna do to your life.

Luc Moore (42:29.55)
whether it's learning a new sport or taking on a new skill or even just a simple mind shift. And it opened up this whole new window of opportunities for me to see life through a different lens. And my grandmother Carolyn would always remind me, she would say, you'll never have a reason to be unhappy if you'll find something to be grateful for. If you could find something to be grateful for, you'll always have a reason to be happy.

And so she would have me do journaling practices, writing down seven things I'm grateful for, and they can never be the same thing every day. And so as a young kid, you think, I'm making for family, friends, surfing, blah, blah, blah. How could I say seven things every day and they can never be the same thing? And she would say, well, that's the beauty. When you learn how to do that, you'll never have a reason to be unhappy. And it's really powerful. And I have a bookshelf filled with journals to the right of me here.

and journals I've been writing since I was eight years old. And so 252 things a year. Yeah. What's that for? I said, well, seven things a day times 365 is 252 per year. Compound that by 10 years. You got 2 ,500 things, man. That's special. Yeah. Totally. And you know, my grandmother started to get sick. She was.

at doing hospice at home and spending her time with us, the family. And, you know, as a last little project together, we started going through all these journals that she inspired me to start. And we would go through all these stories together initially just as a way to do something fun together, you know. And she inspired me and challenged me to share my world, my stories with the world. You know, she told me, she said, Zane.

you need to share these stories with the world. There's so many kids out there that could be inspired by your life lessons and your life story and to create their own wave of success through your life experience. And so that was like, okay, grandma, let's do it. I trust you. And we started doing that together, circling all these pages in my various journals and compiling it into a computer document and...

Luc Moore (44:52.526)
You know, my mom and auntie also helped as well with my grandmother. And so, you know, transcribing journal notes from my early teenage years was pretty tough at times, you know, and I put a lot of those journal pages with my messy handwriting and funny little drawings and different race courses, you know, and.

I would always do that before competition. I would write down the race course and what the conditions were like prior to during my training. And, you know, and there's a lot of things that still to this day, I'll go back to my journals and I'll learn from the race course from previous years and what my time was, what my experience was, what the conditions were like, and apply that to my next event. And Justin has, it's benefited my own.

performance and gains. We put the book out there for everyone to benefit from. And so, you know, we have my race courses and notes from my coaches and different training and diet plans and, you know, a lot of the hurdles that I overcome as a young professional athlete. You know, one of the biggest ones in the story is, you know, I fell off a cliff after winning my big, my

first world championship title, junior world title for windsurfing. This was in Lobitos, Peru. And that was probably one of the most powerful chapters in the book, because it was for me, my chance to take the reins on life and make the most of it. I was 17 years old when I fell off this cliff. It was about 30 feet. And...

My brother was with me along with a few fellow competitors and, you know, it took them a few minutes to get down to my lifeless body with no pulse, no breath. And my brother performed CPR on me as long as he could until he passed it off to one of the lifeguards that were working the event that was with us at the time. And, you know, they said they worked on me for three to five minutes until I gasped for air. And,

Luc Moore (47:14.702)
You know, I remember, I remember waking up on seeing my brother crying over me and a lot of some friends and fellow competitors crying over my lifeless body and just as quick as they thought it was over and they were beating on my chest. I was, I was back and I remember it feeling like I hit the ground again. It was really weird. You know, like when I woke up, it was like, boom, like I got this life, life shock back into my body or maybe it was the repercussion.

of a delayed reaction that I felt. But what was true to me in that very moment was that I was wasting away my fortunate position in life. You know, that I wasn't truly living life to the fullest, that I wasn't truly giving that gratitude for the fortunate position I had in my life. You know, and...

And during that time, I was starting to experiment with partying a lot more, you know, and I was starting to get more excited about the girls I would meet at the competition than the actual event, you know, and after I won that world title, you know, I celebrated way too irresponsibly for a 17 year old. And at the end of the day, you know, I almost killed myself from that mistake, you know, and...

It really brought me back to finding that purpose and behind my life because the lifestyle that I was living as a 17 year old was something most people would dream of. I'm surprised my parents even let me do all that stuff as a young kid traveling year round. It was a big wake up call to another chance at life.

One of the biggest lessons that were clear from this was that I have an opportunity to uplift the people in the environment around me with my fortunate opportunity in this life. And it was like, I don't wanna call it a message from God, but it was very clear in the moment that I could be doing more, not just on the pursuit of my own goals.

Luc Moore (49:38.382)
for my personal benefits and dreams, but along the way, truly uplift those around me and the environment that I have so much passion and a connection for. And so that really sent me on a path of community outreach and philanthropy and wanting to really up my game for these kids clinics that I was already teaching. I was teaching of kids events well prior to that.

experience, but it brought a whole new reason to my time that I shared with others on my travels and every person I encounter, you know, and people tell me, Zane, you're such a happy person. Life must be so awesome. You have so many good friends around you. And, you know, it's, you know, even for me, I have to wake up every day and find it in myself to make those choices to be happy and to welcome.

these opportunities to really feel my heart beat and to feel that I could share something special with someone else. And, you know, it keeps life exciting for me. And it's a challenge daily for me to, you know, how can I live each day to the fullest? And, you know, things shift as time goes on. And, you know, as a father now and someone who has so much passion,

for providing comfort and security for my community that's been recently devastated. It keeps me really inspired to keep moving forward with this amazing lifestyle and this career, knowing that I can make an impact on others around me and give other kids a similar opportunity that I had so they could go and connect with nature and to go pursue a lifestyle connecting.

with what their ancestors did, seafaring, embracing the wind, doing something that's out of the box. Well, that's the aloha. That's the true aloha spirit, right, over there? Yeah, there's a lot of definitions for aloha out there. But one of the ones that I've been more gravitating towards since the line of fires is

Luc Moore (52:00.782)
You give so much that it hurts. You love so much that it hurts. And you could only do that if you have a true connection with the place or the person. And that's something that we can all have the opportunity to do as guardians of the ocean. We fall in love with the sport in the water, like wing foiling or surfing. And it's like this whole new life. It's like, wow, this op.

this access to joy, this access to a great community of people. I feel better when I get out of the water. That's the mind shift to give us the reason for power of choice. Right? That's like that right there allows us to want to be stewards of what gives us so much opportunity and joy, you know, and you're right. It's an extension of. Yep.

Very true. Very true. How, what's being a father like? man, it is. Everyone told me that it's gonna change. You just wait. Just wait, man. Life's gonna change. It's the best thing that's ever gonna happen. But man, do I have so much respect for all the parents out there. I mean, once again, I feel like I've created a life I feel so grateful for.

regardless of the work it takes to keep it going now as a father and as a homeowner in West Maui, I never thought life could get any better. I mean, like, I'm happy to hear though. It's insane. Like, and in different ways too, because before I had my baby, I had this nervousness for what life is going to be like when

Everything changes every everyone kept telling me life's gonna change everything's gonna change your perspective on what's important is gonna be completely different I was nervous for what that would be like because I already loved life. I already loved what you know that the time that I could spend Improving myself the time that I could have spent building on my passions that allow me to provide for my community and

Luc Moore (54:20.462)
there is this uncertainty whether I'd be able to continue to keep my sponsors and travel as much as I was and, you know, and still be an amazing father. And now it's just like, I, you know, even though I'm not traveling as much as I have been since my son has been born and haven't done as many competitions as I normally do, I'm not feeling that fear of missing out. You know, I'm...

I'm just so stoked to be able to share everything I've learned and everything that has brought joy to my life with my son. And also too, in the mix of raising my own child, who's only 11 months right now, I'm also trying to create a community for him that I could be proud of. And we're all doing our part to rebuild Lahaina in the right way, in the right direction.

You know, I've been making it a goal of mine daily to get this community center and ocean academy for Kahakukahi, our foundation established on West Maui and meeting with parks and recreation and Maui County and the various landovers on a daily basis, whether in person or in Zoom and filling out all these tedious forms and applications and permits. And it's something I'm...

I'm not, I don't know how to do this step, but I'm learning along the way, you know, and, I just know that I'm going to look back and know that, you know, we got to guide the direction of Lahaina for the next generation. And, so, along with trying to be a good father, yeah. You know, and so it makes me motivated to be better as well in a whole different way. Like,

I want my son to see me in my prime years. I want him to see me finishing a race and feeling proud of my result on top. I want him to see me surfing giant waves and embrace that mind shift of like, I could do that too. Or maybe he doesn't want to do that and that's fine. But regardless, it's really weird to raise your own human.

Luc Moore (56:41.838)
And it's so cool. I wake up sometimes in the morning and I just look over, I'm like, my God, I got a child next to me. That's my baby. And then it's like, it's so cool. yeah, big shift. Yeah. Nice man. Well, hey, is there anything else you want to put out there to talk about? Well, I'd love for everyone listening to have a chance to.

Come join me in person for our surf camps, foil retreats, and our private guided sessions we offer at Maui Sports Adventures, our family activity company. You guys could check us out, www .mauisportsadventures .com and customize your own surf camp or retreat. And as well, join some of our training programs. I'm sure a lot of you are listening, coming over to Hawaii for our race season.

for Maui to Molokai and Molokai to Oahu or Paddali Muah as we talked about earlier. And we're going to be doing four weeks of training with the boat and jet ski and getting people familiar in that course and having a great time. Also introducing our guests to our kids programs and our kids clinics so they can feel like they have an awesome trip picking up their game on the water, but also feel like they're a part of our community resilience actions.

on Maui currently. And if you guys want to learn more about that too, you could check out our foundation, Kaha Ku Kahi. And that's a little unfamiliar for some of you maybe. Kaha Ku Kahi. That's K -A -H -A -K -U -K -A -H -I. And Kaha Ku Kahi translates to the first rising breath. And in many ways, as the humpback whales come to West Maui to birth,

they're young, those next generation wouldn't be able to live on without their mothers pushing them to the surface for their first breath of air. And so as mentors and stewards of our community and environment, we have that power of choice to uplift the next generation and bring them to the pedestal that we left for them. And so Kahakukahi Foundation is working at building an ocean academy.

Luc Moore (59:03.726)
and a community center to replace everything that we've lost, all the schools and youth centers are no more. So we're working at replacing more and exposing kids to safe places to learn and play, guardianship and stewardship around the land and the ocean, and uplifting their status of mental health through our Ocean Immersion programs, arts and crafts, and beach cleanups. And we're gonna...

continue doing that at least two times a month moving forward. And we have our launch set between July and September for our Ocean Academy and community center. And once that happens, we'll be doing programs daily. And so with that said, the operational costs are gonna be very large once we have to staff our community center with four people daily and have mental health therapists there on site.

along with our team. And so for anybody willing to support the next generation for to help with the transition of trauma for our youth, you guys more than welcome to learn more about KahakukahiFoundation .com. You could donate and learn how you could volunteer as well. And I think that's about it, man. Come join our life and have some fun with us on Maui and hopefully learn how you could be a part of.

you know, the redirection of Lahaina town as we rebuild our beloved community. Well, hey, thanks, brother. Thanks for coming on, sharing that with us. Thanks for the conversation. Yeah, I really appreciate the opportunity, Luke. And thanks for what you're doing, too, inspiring people. And, you know, I personally love podcasts. And so to have a vessel to itch someone's interest, you know, when...

Spoiling is one of those things where it gets on our mind and it won't get off and so having something online to go to to learn about certain things or certain athletes or different demographics and venues of these sports, it's rad. So I'm honored to jump on and I hope everyone listening had a good time and I enjoyed talking with you, Luke. Awesome, man. Well, hey everybody. Thanks for joining us on this one and we will catch you in the next one.

Luc Moore (01:01:29.838)
Aloha.