MORGAN NOIREAUX: ALOHA X 4!
MORGAN NOIREAUX: ALOHA X 4!
MORGAN NOIREAUX: ALOHA X 4!
We caught up with Morgan right after his incredible victory at the Aloha Classic to talk about how the event unfolded….from tight heats to his competition mindset, gear choices and what it feels like to once again stand atop the podium at one of windsurfing’s most iconic events.
Photos: Fish Bowl Diaries / WWT / PWA
SOMETIMES THE BEST WINS ARE THE ONES YOU DON’T SEE COMING!
WINDSURF: Congratulations on winning your 4th Aloha Classic how are you feeling right now after taking the victory?
MORGAN: “It honestly feels a bit surreal. I’m obviously super happy but I think the difference compared to my past Aloha Classic victories is that I was absolutely not expecting to win. I was convinced I was 2nd or 3rd coming into the beach. I broke my mast base on my very last wave at the end of the heat, so while I was swimming around trying to reconnect my gear and I saw Marcilio go in and he wasn’t getting the cheers that he had won, and then I saw Bernd go in and it was the same thing and at that point I kind of started to get a feeling that I might have won. It was pretty funny and a good feeling.”
FROM SETBACK TO SUPREMACY!
WINDSURF: What was your mindset coming into the event?
MORGAN: “I honestly had a pretty bad year on tour. Heading into Sylt I was 17th. I finished 9th in Sylt which got me up to 14th but at the same time I sprained my ankle during my 1st heat of that event. I ended up having to resail my 2nd heat 4 times and then the next day I had to travel back to Maui on it. It was a balloon by the time I got to Maui, so I took a week off and didn’t sail until the day prior to the event and it was still sore at that point.
I think my ankle helped me though in the sense that I stopped thinking about winning the event and just focused on the heat in front of me. That released a lot of the pressure I normally put on myself as I really just had to trust in myself and just focused on my sailing and maximizing what I could do on each wave without making my ankle any worse. For my first three heats I basically focused on just making it through the heats without doing too much. By the time we ran the Semi’s and Finals a few days had passed and my ankle was already feeling quite a bit better and at that point you really can’t hold back anyway.”
TRANSITION
WINDSURF: How was it transitioning from riding in Sylt, back to the wind and waves of Hookipa?
MORGAN: “I don’t really mind. I usually use different boards for both those events so it’s not as difficult to transition back to using my Ho’okipa boards again. I think the conditions are so different that it actually makes the transition easier.”
WINDSURF: Did you feel this event was back in your territory after fighting it out in Pozo / Tenerife and Sylt?
WINDSURF: “Sylt is a lottery in terms of conditions so I don’t mind as much. Pozo and Tenerife are so tough that it’s hard to keep your confidence when you see how easy the top guys make it look there so it definitely felt good to be back on Maui.”
GEAR STATS
WINDSURF: What gear did you ride through the contest boards, fins sail sizes etc?
MORGAN: “I used my NeilPryde 4.7m Combat up until the Semi’s where I used 5.0m and 4.7m (I switched down during the heat) and used 5.0m during the final. Since I didn’t get to sail much before the event I went back to my 85 and 89L JP prototypes from last year. I received some new boards before Sylt, but I didn’t spend much time on them and I just wanted to use the boards I felt most confident and familiar with. For fins both my boards were set up as quads and on my 85L I had a pretty eclectic combination of MFC rear fins, one Black project front fin, and one Flikka front fin on the other side. A bit strange but it worked really well! On my other board I had really old set of Black Project fins that I’m just really comfortable with and I know works in anything.”
STRATEGY
WINDSURF: What was your strategy going into the final sailing wise?
MORGAN: “I went into the final telling myself either I’m getting 1st or I’m getting 4th, and I guess that did happen but it really didn’t feel like things were going to plan. I was super out of rhythm with the ocean, while I kept seeing Bernd and Braw getting a bunch of good waves. At some point I told myself I wasn’t going to win by not sailing, so I got a medium wave were I got a decent hit and then a big air. I didn’t really know how it was going to score so in my head I still needed two scores. I started to try to just ride a few more waves without waiting for the bigger sets. I fell on a few waves and then I finally got the wave with the 360 and head dip, which felt good but I still thought I needed another score to win. I’m glad I was wrong haha.”
FINDING THE FLOW
WINDSURF: How did it feel when you nailed that 360 into a head dip aerial…we saw you do a claim on the live stream?
MORGAN: “I didn’t feel like I had really done much until that point. I watched the replay of the final and Bernd had so many rides while I felt like I was waiting for a wave that didn’t exist, so when I kicked out of that one I was just happy that I finally got a wave that felt like a good score and that put me back in the heat.”
WINDSURF: What was the general level of sailing like at this years Aloha?
MORGAN: “The level has gotten so high. The level of sailing wasn’t necessarily much lower in 2014, 2015 when I won the first two times but I think that we hadn’t had consistent Aloha Classics prior to that so not a lot of people were coming to Maui to train specifically for the Aloha anymore. People were a lot more focused on all of the European events. Now in 2025 we’ve consistently had events at Ho’okipa for a little over 10 years and people know there is going to be an event, so people train for it and I think that’s made a huge difference. I won the Aloha in 2015 without doing a single goiter, taka or 360. That is impossible right now!”
WINDSURF: How did it feel to go into the final alongside fellow JP NeilPryde rider Robby Swift, into the final?
MORGAN: “I was so happy for Robby! He’s one of my favourite people to sail with and one of my favourite people in general and he really deserved to be in that final. He absolutely smashed his semi. I think it was his 1st Aloha Classic final ever, although he did make the final in the spring event we had earlier this year so he’s definitely on a roll. I know he was really bummed getting 4th but we were both really out of rhythm with the good waves in the final unfortunately.”
WINDSURF: Did you guys feel bad that you eliminated Marc Pare who was desperately competing for the world title?
MORGAN: “Honestly not really. I think it was pretty fun to play a small part in the world title. I was rooting for Marc but obviously if Braw managed to win the event I felt like he would have really deserved it as well. But in the final, I just wanted to beat everyone and I knew if I won the event it wouldn’t change anything and Marc would finish number one anyway, which is ultimately what happened. I’m incredibly happy for him. Both him and Braw are the two hardest working wave sailors on tour and he really deserves it. It’s inspiring to watch and he’s pushed me and my sailing a lot over the years.”
POPPING THE CHAMPAGNE
WINDSURF: What did you do to celebrate?
MORGAN: “I took it pretty easy. My birthday is on the 23rd so I’ll probably celebrate a bit more at that point.”
WINDSURF: How were the conditions this year…was it tough or pleasurable sailing?
MORGAN: “I had a blast. We’ve had singular days of better conditions in the past but for a 5-day window we had really good wind and good waves. It was pretty bumpy at times but that’s just part of the Ho’okipa experience.”
BEACH VIBES
WINDSURF: How was the general Vibe at the competition?
MORGAN: “It was great. The windsurfing community on Maui really comes together to make this event happen so it’s really hard to not be grateful for that. A lot of people donate their time as well as their money to make it happen. Plus having a good forecast made it a bit easier to run, I imagine and we had a great livestream this year which was really cool.”
INTO 2026
WINDSURF: What are your plans for the rest of the year and into 2026?
MORGAN: “I’m going to spend the next few months on Maui enjoying the winter and the conditions, which I’m excited about. I haven’t done that in a few years and then I think I’ll go to Chile at some point to sail some port tack. No concrete plans beyond that though. I’ll see where the wind takes me!”
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