With retrospect as his guide, Makua’s new training regime has him starting early everyday. But with a family that also needs his attention daily, the goings have never been tougher. “I’ve been getting up at 5am every morning to train running, doing abs, and various exercises. But things are a lot different now. I have a son, Thor, and beautiful daughter, Nalia. So it’s next level trying to balance training and family responsibilities. But it’s all great and only makes me a stronger and better person. There’s no better blessing in the world than having children. I just want to be able to provide a wonderful life for my babies.” As the new year approached, Makua was to be presented his BWT World Title trophy at the XXL Big Wave Awards in California, but before he could be properly awarded, a substantial swell popped up and the 2015 BWT season was on alert with wave activity headed to Chile. All energy was immediately diverted to South America and the Hawaiian big wave champ was on his way to Pichilemu, Chile in defense of his title. “I wasn’t able to attend the XXL Big Wave Awards due to this contest. They had to actually fly somebody down to present me with my world championship trophy for the awards show.” With the BWT World Champion trophy added to his momentum, Makua was pumped going into Chile. And with waves not as big as predicted, surfers were able to push the progression envelope a bit more with Punta de Lobos offering various opportunities to get barreled and do turns. Makua did just that, knifing into some of the biggest backside barrels of the event. Making it to the finals, Makua would fend off the stacked field with two 8-point rides winning the first BWT event of the 2015 season. This validated his current reign and provided a jump start toward a BWT championship repeat. But although Makua was already on cloud 9, he was furthermore captivated by the Chilean lifestyle. “Chile is a beautiful country and I wish I had more time to spend there. The food, the people, the culture, the aloha, everything. You can surf and go snowboarding in the day, catch a helicopter back and have the finest dinner at the best restaurant in Santiago.” Travelling is one of the biggest parts of professional surfing and Makua has done a lot of it… maybe too much. “All in all, traveling is beautiful. At 5 years old I got my passport and by 6 I was in Tahiti and I never stopped. My passport is more than full – I’ve had to get additional pages put in a few times over. It’s been a life of travel. Basically a trip to a different country every week and a half. Music in Brazil, going to Chile for surf, then going to Japan for music… It’s been a roller coaster of fun and I’m really, really blessed to have this life.”
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