Maui Locals Test New Helium-Filled 'Floating' Surfboard in Record Swells at Ma'alaea

Historically large waves at Ma'alaea this week finally gave a group of Maui locals an opportunity to test their new invention: a surfboard that floats in the air to escape gnarly wipeouts.

What temporarily is called the Helium Board was introduced to the big breakers at Freight Train on Sunday and Monday, to mixed reviews.

"I was hoping it would be easier to float out of trouble, but a couple of times the wave caught up and boy did that hurt," said Joe He'enalu of Paia, co-founder of the Helium Board Consortium, a group created to develop a surfboard that helps surfers escape bad wipeouts, and also to drop-down into ginormous waves.

"It was weird floating through the air only to have the wave seem to grow bigger and faster and grab your ankles until you were down under in the washing machine."

The Consortium is a group of about a dozen local surfers who work together to perfect the concept: a new type of surfboard filled with a certain amount of helium, which surfers can choose to jump on to begin riding a wave, or let go and let the board float upward and carry a surfer by his leash up and out of trouble.

"Oh, it worked a couple of times, thank goodness," said Wade Johannson of Haiku, the other Helium Board co-founder. "I forgot that since the leash was connected to my ankle, I would float away upside-down. That kind of sucked.

"And we didn't quite figure out how to get back down once airborne, so I ended up near Molokini," Johannson said, "but that's okay because that wipeout would have really hurt, man. I'll take the swim back."

Crowds on the beach marveled at the strange surfers among the local experts, as the waves were big enough to scare away amateurs and beginners.

"Who the heck were those hodads on the weird boards?" said Johnny "Kickout" Barnes of Ma'alaea, who's been seen at the surf hot spot for about a decade. "You see them floating away and you look up to see a kite or parachute or something. But there they go, up, up and away and outta here, which is what we want anyway."

"We were hoping maybe they'd float to Tahiti," said Barnes' friend Mark Benner, another longtime South Coast shredder.

Johannson said lessons learned, the group will return to the drawing board in their Paia garage that resembles something straight out of Doc's laboratory in the film "Back to the Future."

"Our board was really cool for dropping right into those massive waves, which was a step forward," He'enalu said. "And the feeling of escaping a terrible crash by just letting the board go is exhilarating. But then you wonder if you'll ever come down. I was so relieved to finally drop back down between Molokini and Makena."

Kids on the beach were quite amused.

"The funniest thing I have ever seen was that guy's face when he first floated out of the wave," said Kenny Stevens, 14, of Kihei, "smiling at how clever he was, and then see the terror in his eyes when he realized he might never come down."

"That was hilarious," said his friend Pete Wainwright, 13, also of Kihei. "It makes you wonder if you can escape the huge wipeouts where you're under water for minutes in the washer machine, hoping you're swimming in the right direction to pop up and get some air. I hate it when that happens."

He'enalu said the Consortium's next project is to perfect a wetsuit filled with just enough oxygen so surfers caught in the washer machine can use it to breathe and float to the surface.

"Wouldn't that be rad?" he asked.

Photo by Alexandre Saraiva Carniato