Little Big Moments...

I wanted to go surfing this morning, but felt lackluster about it. Been thinking a lot about stuff, lately. I started listening to those damn CD's someone gave me a long time ago about self-esteem. Sometimes I think we all just move along through life in this fog we often create to shield ourselves from truth. The truth is hard to face, sometimes. And when you face it, you look at your relationships. Because, after all, that is where one learns the most.

A couple of my relationships seem strained lately. We never really say what we mean, do we? We lose that honesty, because things we say can hurt. When we allow people to walk over us, we truly get what we deserve. And, some people are always looking for the opportunity.

So, as I pulled out of the parking lot at the pier early this morning, I looked over and saw something that made me pause. A little boy, about five years old, was walking a few yards ahead of his dad. That little kid was walking with such confidence and... joy. He wore a little Superman outfit, complete with a cape.

Awesome.

As children, we start out with such complete love for the world and everything and everyone in it. We are gentle, and so very kind. If I hadn't gotten up early and driven to check the surf, I would have missed that little moment - his little red cape lifting gently in the breeze - so filled with everything that was anything but ordinary.

Oahu wrap up

I'm back in Maui and this is the last post about the Oahu trip.

As you guys know already, it has been an awesome trip. I was incredibly lucky and scored great conditions pretty much every day. I only remember a stretch of like three-four days when the waves were only knee to waist high, but even that was fun, because I could finally surf an uncrowded Ala Moana Bowls (that otherwise is pretty much off limits).

A local guy told me that to remember a summer as good as this one he had to go back to 1995. "That's when the waves were breaking on Kalakaua" (the Waikiki boulevard), he said...

This is the spreadsheet with all the stats of the 1050 waves that I caught. Click on it to read it. DH stands for Diamond Head and DS for Da Spot.


600 windsurfing waves vs 450 surfing ones. That's a bit of a surprise, considering that I went there mostly for surfing.
The thing is that I knew how good the surfing spots were, but I had no idea of how good Da Spot was. It definitely exceeded my expectations. Thank god, because if Diamond Head was the only sailing spot, I would have not sailed AT ALL.

My favorite surf spot, instead, was for sure Publics. But only in the morning, since in the afternoon, when good, it can get up to 50 people...
China Walls is a way higher adrenaline wave, but adrenaline is not everything and Publics is a more playful wave.
Plus I got it on a couple of epic days and those waves were of a beauty that I really can't even try to describe. Unique shape and movement, I don't know what was about it, but I really digged it. The only place I know where it can be double overhead and slow, clean and mellow, that's what it was.
Even Kanaha gets challenging at that size (the bowl starts closing out), instead the waves at Publics can get big, but they still keep the typical Waikiki character of easy mellow surfing. Awesome and incredibly fun.

A few considerations about life outside of the water.
Bad aspects: traffic, parking.
Good aspects: there's less racism and hostility towards white people. Maybe it's because there so many people from different places (lots of Chinese, Japanese, Philipino and tourists from all over the world), but I was treated by the locals like one of them (i.e. a human being). And that was refreshing.
Unfortunately, in Maui there's still a lot of hostility towards the whites. In Oahu I didn't hear one time the word 'haole', usually preceded by the work 'fucking'. Hey, even Wikipedia says so:
In current application, Haole can be used descriptively or as a racially derogatory word (often, if not generally, preceded by an obscene invective

I met some really great people.
The windsurfing community is just a delightful bunch of great guys and they welcomed me in with joy and love... once they saw I wasn't snaking waves! I feel sorry for them knowing that the August crew will not behave as good and they will see their beautiful waves crowded by unrespectful tourists (some of them, unfortunately from my home country...).
Guys, it was a pleasure to meet you all.
Special thanks go to Fabrice Beaux who lended me a mast for the last couple of days.
Here's a great video of him I found on youtube. The wave sailing part is entirely filmed at Da Spot (from the raft: very cool!).


And here's a link to an SUP video he just sent me.
Many thanks also to Scott for showing me places and for the dinner parties.

More about the Oahu-Maui comparison. Maui is definitely more "provincial" so to say. If on one hand it's nice to go to Kanaha and have to stop every 10 yards to shake hands with someone that says "welcome back" (fortunately most of them followed the blog so I didn't have to tell them how it was, otherwise I would have never made it to the water), I kind of liked going out in Waikiki and entering a pub knowing that nobody would know me and that I would know nobody. Variety is a spice of life and Honolulu clearly offers more of that than Paia...

Friday morning and the start of a new south swell. Ala Moana is already head high and there's not even a shore break in Kihei. Uff, this weekend is going to be hard not to miss Oahu. Well, looks like after this swell the south shore is going flat for a while, so that should help.

This post concludes the blog coverage of my Oahu trip (all posts can be retrieved by clicking on the "oahu" label). I hope you guys enjoyed it. Aloha.

Barely worth the paddle out...

Bruce Andrews wanted to surf with Karen and I this morning, just to watch us, to get some idea of how to do it. Karen never showed, but I gave him some refresher tips and we hit the surf. Well, you really couldn't call it surf, on a world scale of surf, but you could stand up. As soon as you did get up, it closed down. So, good call, Karen!

Bruce was so whipped from yesterday's lesson, he could barely even sit up on the board out in the water. I told him if he did this one hour a day, in a month he would be Mr. Atlas. He believed me, for sure, saying he never knew surfing could take so much out of you. Or, as I was thinking, give you so much. Not today, though. Today, it was a favor for a friend to go through the motions.

Surf Lessons, Life Lessons...

No surprise, but it occurred to me again today how awesome surfing is. I gave two private surfing lessons to people back to back this morning, and at points during both of them, I remembered again why I love surfing so much. Out in the water, sometimes, we seem to shed the weight of the lives that we carry around on land.

The first lesson was to a teacher acquaintance from school. She just turned forty, and she has become very aware of the passing of time. She had confided in me, those last days of school, that she wanted to try surfing. It had been something she always wanted to do, but she had been afraid, or too busy with her kids, her husband, and life. I was just the person she needed at this moment. Because, after all I have been through these past few years, I can and will motivate someone to live their dreams. I am all too aware of time's relentless passage, and the stalling of one's dreams for everyone else's benefit. Big mistake, and for everyone involved, by the way.

But, it is from these mistakes that we learn. If you do nothing, you learn nothing. You stay on your safe little merry-go-round, and then, suddenly, the ride is over.

A life lived safely is not a life well-lived.

I would rather be the dog who lived the harder shorter life, the life outside, that caused its heart to beat fast from fear and triumph, rather than the dog sitting in the air-conditioned room viewing life from a window.

So, as we walked out to the beach, she told me how she had decided she was going to do some things for herself now. I couldn't help but smile, and to tell her that she was brave, that doing something you are afraid to do is the bravest thing of all. You might fall, you might hear people laughing, but you tried. And, there is always the chance that you might succeed, and in the trying, discover something that could change the way you look at everything.

She did great, and her face reflected her absolute success and joy. Near the end, we ended up sharing some personal details, and I apologized that we had taken time out from the lesson just to talk. But, no, she said, she loved it, and you could tell it was a load off her, to share the things she did, and to listen to what I had learned fifteen years past her.

She had always seemed distant, and aloof, when I talked to her at school. Before today, I never really understood her. Now I have a picture of her, and she has one of me. There was a magical connection out there today. It felt so good to make someone happy. And, I feel sure she will be buying herself a surfboard. I think she saw what surfing can do for the psyche, and what it can teach you about life, if you let it.

The second lesson was a faint mirror of the first. A 43-year old former gallery member friend found me on Facebook. He was always a favorite of mine, and not just because he bought more of my paintings than anyone. He's a warm, jovial sort, and is not afraid to laugh at himself, nervous, excited, talks non-stop. I recognize myself in him, sometimes. He, too, caught the spark today, even though he never really got up all the way. It's not so easy teaching the old dogs new tricks, but it can be done. It didn't matter. He was so happy about the experience, and kept telling me. He even paid me extra, despite me telling him he just could not do that! To make people happy, and to get dinero for doing it, is a great thing. Yes, surfing has been very, very good to me.

Tomorrow he wants to surf with Karen and I. Now,if only the waves will some back...

oahu day 46 - Thousand!

I sure would have liked wave number 1000 to be a good one, but unfortunately it wasn't.
Wave 999, instead, was not a bad one so that's what you get.


This quick post is to celebrate the achievement of a stupid little goal that I set before starting this Oahu trip: I caught a thousand waves.
Not all of them were good, but I enjoyed them all. And they all made me a better surfer/windsurfer.

Rise up your glasses blog readers and toast with me.

day waves: 30
windsurfing: 569
surfing: 428
total: 1028
average per day (42 days in the water): 24.5

PS. I'm leaving wednesday morning and for the next couple of days I'll be very busy packing and catching a few more. I'll do a final post about the Oahu trip from Maui and I'll need a few days for that.
In the meantime, enjoy your lives.

The surf has gone...

Karen and I paddled out anyway. It wasn't much, but we stood up at least. After this past week, it seemed boring, of course, but the forecast is calling for more surf by mid-week. One can only hope. Meanwhile, check out this shot of Playa Colorado, Nicaragua, taken yesterday. Those guys have it so good.

My pic for movie of the week: "Paranoid Park" It's life through the eyes of a young skateboarder. It has something to teach all of us. Gus Van Sant is a genius.

oahu day 45 - two waves shy of...

A bit of surfing and a bit of sailing made for a total of 21 waves today. That brings the total to 998.

Links and news.
- Brett Simpson won $100,000 (one hundred thousand dollars!!!) at the Us Open of surfing at Huntington Beach.
Here's a photo from Harry from the previous days.


And here's the highlights of the heat in which Kelly Slater did the sickest carving 360 you can possibly imagine. Minute 2:00.

That's actually the most difficult surfing maneuver I have ever seen. I watched it many times and I still can't figure how in the world he did it... without footstraps!
Unreal. Insane. Sick. And whatever other word you may want to use. Impossible, that's how that move was.
I love the way he "claims it" with his left arm at 2:03. That's exactly what I would have done if I was there watching from the beach. I would have done that same exact gesture, turned around and said loudly to whoever was standing behind me:"you got to be kidding me!"

- Jamie Mitchell won $3,000 winning the prone paddleboard category for the eighth time at the Molokai to Oahu crossing.
I went to the arrival to cheer Michelle (who got second in the standup mixed team category) and took some horrible photos (and parked even worse: $50 ticket). This is the only good one.


- FINALLY, a decent non-live coverage of a heat of a windsurfing contest. Ok, windsurfing is way poorer than surfing and setting up a proper live webcast might be an expensive task, but something like this is way more doable. Two cameras and a commentator (great job by Ben Profitt) et voila': we can actually see what the Pozo final looked like. Thanks Patrick for sending the link, but specially thanks to the people who did it... FINALLY!

- crazy The Wedge SUP action. Thanks Alex.

The Wedge - Bryce & TJ Saeman from SportShorts on Vimeo.

day waves: 21
windsurfing: 551
surfing: 416
total: 998
average per day (41 days in the water): 24.3

oahu days 43 and 44

THANK YOU HARRY for sending these amazing photos.

The US Open of surfing is taking place in Huntington Beach and the waves are just massive over there.

I watched live on the webcast Kelly Slater getting a perfect 10 with a huge barrel this morning and that was already overly cool. Webcasts rock. Especially the properly done ones. Tomorrow at 9.40 am hawaii time there's the final. Here's the complete schedule.

Imagine my extreme pleasure when tonight I received an email by master photographer Harry Wievel containing the following photos that any comment would stain.












Courtney Conlogue on a big one.




Wow.

The tales of my surfing would be extremely uninteresting after those photos, so I'll limit the information to the mere stats.

day waves: 22 + 21
windsurfing: 572
surfing: 405
total: 977
average per day (40 days in the water): 24.4

977 you guys... it may happen tomorrow...

Thanks, Colby!

If I didn't have to go to the bank between 9 a.m. and noon today for Colby, I might never have had those two or three dry tubes this morning! Also, I would have missed those groomed peaks at the point. If I had gone on the bike ride with the Sundogs, as was the plan last night, I might have never known. I wanted to go on the ride, don't get me wrong. But what a sweet reward (for doing a good deed for my son) it was to have that very first ride at the pier this morning turn out to be one of the top five rides of the entire swell. You had to wait for them, for sure. The swell is fading, but out there this morning some gems could still be found.

I paddled way out past the end of the pier at first light, but I could quickly see the tide was rising and the waves were starting to back off. I paddled inside and thought it was over, that there was nothing left. Just at that moment, a really nice one came rolling through and I snapped to attention. It sucked out on that nice little bend on the sandbar, and felt its way along, with me racing to make it, and then stalling for the tube... WHAT? Yes, it barreled, and I looked out underneath the peeling lip, came out, and smiled.

There was another one just after that, same thing. I heard someone hooting as I set up for it.

Then, nothing.

It was like the waves suddenly died, and I started wondering if it truly was over. I rode a few more, but they were nothing like those tubes. More and more people came out, the typical Saturday stuff, no one I knew. Karen and Bruce had to go to work. Andy, where was he? Bob was probably at Matanzas. I went in after a couple hours to go to the bank for Colby.

On the way, Karen called to say Bob called to borrow a bike for the point. I had almost forgotten. Hmmm. Maybe I will go, too. I saw where he had called on my cell. Andy was probably already there. I left him a message, just in case.

After the bank, I raced to get the bike and head out there before the dreaded onshores arrived. The ride out there was an endurance run, through that high-tide soft sand. My legs were still sore from yesterday's 40 mile ride. But, I felt strong, and powered through under that blazing July sun.

Note: NEVER EVER EVER BUY Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch SPF45 Sunblock, unless you want to know what it feels like to be a lab test animal that gets acid poured into its eyes. This crap is absolute torture if you sweat and it drips into your eyes like it did to me today. I finally broke down and spent the money on the expensive crap, and this is what I get? I'm going back to the cheap stuff.

When I finally got down there, it was well worth it. There was only one boat, and about eight people out. Bob and Walter were on the far north end. I had to get out there and fast, every minute counted because the wind seemed to be lightening up. I was so hot and tired. The water felt so good, once I was immersed in it. My first wave was funny. My legs were so tired, and I did some little wobble and gimp turn and fell. Then it was about 40 minutes of fun, fun, fun. The waves were bowling up nice and grey-green and glassy, lefts and rights! What fun for a brief moment in time...

Then it turned onshore, and that was that.

Back on the bike again! Bob told me that he told Walter he better leave 20 minutes before me so we would end up at Karen's at the same time, ha ha! He said Andy had been there with Mark and had just left. I knew it! He had already been there the whole time, the skillet licker!

Buoy Illusions

How many hours of sleep did I lose last night, listening to the weather cube? If yesterday was epic, and the reports during the night were saying the swell had increased in length AND duration... how could I sleep? After all, my biking friends wanted to ride EARLY and, yes, I wanted to ride with them, but how could they possibly understand how long we have waited for this to happen?

Ah, life. It throws these tests at me that I continue to fail.

Again, I would try to do it all. I set the alarm for 5:45 a.m. This would give me an hour to surf before leaving for the biking trail. If I could have an hour, at least, it was something. I was a ball of angst. No matter what I did, I felt it closing in, and no one understood. No one except my surfing friends.

So, there I was before sunrise, waxing up on the beach, looking out at the ocean, wondering. Why did it look smaller? How could the buoys and intervals increase and it not look even better than yesterday? Plus, there were the boats. I paddled out to see so many boats speeding by, and remembered the Kingfish Tournament this weekend. Arrgggh! They ruined everything, rippling the swell, causing the waves to warble and warp. And, to make things worse, I realized I had neglected to put the leash back on the Firewire after the Costa Rica trip. It would be a true test of my ability to hold onto my board, I reckoned, and when I lost my board, well, that would be the end of surfing for me for this morning.

I never lost the board, which was a miracle.

There was this one wave that came out of nowhere. Andy had just caught one sizable one, but it was nothing compared to the freak wave that followed it. I looked at that huge wall of water rising up outside, and thought, this is it... I will never be able to hold onto my board through this. But, I managed somehow. Later, Bob would tell me that at about this same time Walter got slammed by a wave so heavy that he got sucked up and over and bounced all around worse than he has been worked for over a year and a half.

It was time to go, anyway. I said goodbye to Andy, and rode one more in.

Then I went to ride with my biking pals. It was a lot of fun riding the Hawthorne trail with them. Lucky for me, the surf was nowhere near as good as yesterday. Otherwise, my biking friends would never forgive me for what I would have had to do.

oahu da 42

What an awesome day of surfing!

Morning session at Publics. Inconsistent, but glassy, big and not crowded. I really like this place because it offers big steep drops that mellow out immediately after the take off. The waves are slow and playful. The take off area is very wide and the morning crowd is mellow and not too numerous (in the late afternoon, instead, it can get very, very crowded).

There was a SUP surfing contest at Queens. I stopped by quickly to take some photos.


I was fairly unimpressed by the level of the contestants and by how in general by how SUP surfing looks.


Check the difference with these shots of the US Open of Surfing at Huntington Beach sent by my buddy Harry .










Well, Harry is a better photographer too, that's for sure...
Did the guy in the first three photos look like Kelly Slater? Yes, it was him riding a double stringer quad.
The webcast is up, just like the waves. Slater is up soon against Maui's Granger Larsen who learned how to surf at Puamana pools.
What should I do: wait for his heat or go surf myself? Ah, what a tough decision...

Anyway, back to Queens, click this photo and check the guy flying mid air on the front of the boat.


The wind was very light and in the afternoon I surfed Da Spot, that can be a really good surf spot too. There's a fairly long right that was quite packed though, so I was catching the same lefts of the windsurfing break. Fun. Here's a wave.


day waves: 24
windsurfing: 572
surfing: 362
total: 934
average per day (38 days in the water): 24.6

PS. I waited for that heat and as usual Kelly the freak Slater didn't disappoint. A huge carving 360 under the lip of a double overhead wave: 9.87.
Now I'll go to Publics and do EXACTLY the same!

Firemen, Flying Fish, and Blood Transfusions!

There was no surfing or bike riding yesterday evening. I got the call in the late afternoon from Junior. She got the results of her blood work back, and they said her iron levels were at 7.2. Now, if you know anything about this, you might know why in the heck they would say the following thing to her that caused her voice to sound the way it did.

"Get to the emergency room immediately. You may need a blood transfusion. Your heart could stop at any moment."

I raced to meet her and Matt at the hospital, and Matt and I were sure they had her results mixed up with someone else's. After all, she has been surfing, riding her bike, and playing tennis. She kept saying she felt fine. But, the new blood work proved it was true. 7.3... and into the hospital she went for a blood transfusion.

This morning they let her go home. She seems to be fine, except for the fact that they told her not to do anything physically demanding. Poor Junior. Just imagine, though, the things she will do when she gets the iron back in her blood!

By dawn, I was on the phone with Junior, and she sounded great! She had her transfusion, and was on the mend. More to come...

Now to today's waves! The best swell of the summer began pouring in sometime overnight. I was at the pier at dawn to see... waves, real waves! It looked about 3-4 feet and glassy. The lineup was a bit crowded, and when I got out there I learned that it was all the firemen from the fire station by the pier. They were having a blast, hooting for each other, just stoked on the sizable waves. One of them smiled at me, "The lineup will be empty in about ten minutes. We all have to go to work!"

Sad for them, but JACKPOT for me! The waves were the biggest they have been all summer. Big, glassy walls to carve and smack, just a playground! There was this one right I saw, right off the tower, and I just sat on it for the next three or four hours. The firemen left on cue, and the spoils were mine!

One guy on a yellow board came paddling up, saying that the last wave I had was great! We started talking, and learned that we knew each other, sort of. His name was Jim, and he said my name, said he knew me from the shop, and the college, where his ex-wife worked. He said he remembered seeing a picture of me in Eastern Surf Magazine on a huge wave, back in 1985. We had so much fun, sharing waves, and talking about Nicaragua where he had just been. Then Karen paddled out! Then my man, Andy! Joy! We had so much fun, the waves were coming in and jacking up almost perfectly, the best I have seen the pier in many months. Andy got a smoking right, and we both watched Karen get one that peeled and peeled all the way in. She had the biggest smile.

I was so glad the bike ride to Gainesville was not today. My biking pals would have never let me live it down. This addiction is annoying for those outside the realm. But, today I could not miss THIS. The wind groomed the waves into these gorgeous, rolling, pitching bowls. I saw so many that went unridden, just tubing away. If you can get tubed here, it is a good day. I got several, and you hardly even had to try. I had brought my fish, thinking it could not be all that big, but it worked perfectly on these walls, flying across the faces. I could not get over how much fun it was out there today. I had to make myself go in, thinking about junior in the hospital, and was relieved when I called her and heard her voice again, safe and sound.

Now it's back for more with my buddy, Joe...

oahu days 40-41 - how to break a mast

First, let me quickly mention that day 40 that was below average, both for surfing and windsurfing, because the old swell was on the way down.

Day 41, instead, could have potentially been one of the best if I wasn't such a kook!
New south swell on the rise and beautiful waves up to overhead high. Usual tricky wind conditions. Very offshore, very gusty, very light at times. Difficult to position yourself in the right spot at the right moment, but when you hit that magic combo of wave and wind, it was really sweet.

This first clip is a very good example of the extreme variability of the wind at Da Spot.
I caught a wave during a sudden strong gust that made me overpowered on my 4.7. Kook as I am, I went too late for the second turn and got worked (notice the shallow reef).
Fortunately, I was followed by Fabrice Beaux who, instead, timed it right and rode his wave beautifully. Notice how glassy the water is at the end. I remember it took me a while to water start due to the complete lack of wind. And few seconds before it was howling.


I'm not done with showing off my kookness.

In this other clip, I had just fallen in the water trying to tack and get out of the way of a big set when I saw once again Fabrice charging down the line. Instead of checking what was the relative position of the mast to the wave, the only thing I could think about was to push the button of the camera on my head and film him. So, more than kookness, I'd say I'm now exhibiting stupidity.
Of course Fabrice does a beautiful big aerial (the photo on top is a snapshot out of the clip) and of course the wave breaks my mast. I only found out later by watching the clip that the mast was perpendicular to the wave and oriented towards the beach, which is the best possible way of breaking it. I'm not even going to try to ask for a warranty replacement. That was my fault, period.


Look how happy I am that I caught the aerial on video! Clearly I have no idea yet that the mast is broken...

Now I got no more masts (I broke another a month ago) and the 4.7 is pretty trashed, but I still have that 5.3 that is for sale and Fabrice was so nice to lend me a spare sdm mast and extension (he broke his rdm mast too earlier today).
Not that I got too many days left (I'm thinking about leaving on Monday), but...
"if the wind holds, tomorrow could be one the best days of your stay... I don't want you to miss it and I got more masts at home!", he said.
What a nice guy! THANK YOU BROTHER!!

Talking about great guys, I just received the link to this really good ESPN article.

day waves: 32 + 16
windsurfing: 572
surfing: 338
total: 910
average per day (37 days in the water): 24.6

PS. While I was at it, I filmed the whole struggle of derigging the sail in the waves without losing any piece. The top of the mast got stuck in the sail (I had to use a knife and cut the sleeve to pull it out on the beach) and I could roll only half of the sail. The current took me out through the channel and I had to paddle through the next break downwind with half sail dragging in the water. It was the hardest paddle ever.
The clip lasts 30 minutes and then for some reason it stops (maybe I ran out of battery). I think it took me 20 more minutes to make it back to the shore.
Sure, I could have ditched the sail, but I didn't want to pollute (and lose the top of the mast). Please fellow windsurfers, do the same: ditch your broken stuff only if you're in danger.
PPS. The above mentioned clip would make a perfect "bonus" material for the Oahu DVD... if I'm ever going to do it!
PPPS. I just found out that a place around the corner has Guy Cruz playing live every Wednesday night. Good: I can use a beer after all that paddling...

Nondescript

That's my word for today for the surf. It has been one false alarm after another, wave wise. The early morning reports promised something that was not delivered. It seemed like there should have been more to it. Am I spoiled from riding Pacific waves? No. We do get good waves. It's just that today was the beginning of a swell, maybe, and that is always the weakest part. You could see there was a swell. But, every one of them seemed to rise up weakly, and either close out or just disappear, leaving you frustrated and waiting endlessly for something that never really came.

After I dropped Colby and Katie off at the airport, I called the report, and heard that the surf had come up, that it was bigger than this morning. The clouds offshore had formed into a tropical wave, the update said. We have waited to hear those words for months! I raced home, grabbed my board, and headed for low tide Crossovers. I didn't even check it first, just wanted to believe. But, it was just the same. The wind was light onshore, and every one of the slightly bigger sets just crumbled over in a heap. Not what I expected.

I think I'll go ride the bike with the boys.

And, wait for the morning...

oahu day 39

It's official: I'm in love with Da Spot.

What another awesome session yesterday! Sorry Pascal if this is going to hurt you more, but I took a break between my two sessions and had time to take some pics.
Hans was on fire.


At the same time Bruno was in the water filming and I can't wait to see the footage. It doesn't show from the photos, but some waves were extreeemely clean.


Nice spray.






The start of a perfect 'hair job'.


See what I mean? The hair you guys, the hair.


This is Fabrice (who gave me a copy of his video, thanks!).




Cute little bugger.


day waves: 32
windsurfing: 542
surfing: 320
total: 862
average per day (35 days in the water): 24.6

oahu day 38

Another superfun day at Da Spot.

I timed it right and got in the water around 11 on a rising tide and a rising swell.
Two of us for most of the times. Beautiful belly to head high clean waves.
I caught 30 waves in 2 hours and the screen of my trusty wave counting device is the only photo I have in offer for you.


BTW, as soon as I'm done counting waves, I think I'll sell the watch. Email me if you are interested in this piece of history...

In the afternoon, instead, I went out around 5ish and, no idea how, ended up way upwind than usual. I was alone (on a bloody Sunday!!!) and had no other sailors to indicate me the right position. Before I figured that out by looking at the coastline, I got worked a couple of times on a super shallow inside and that made me lose a hell lot of time. In other words, I only caught 4 waves and still can't understand how in the world I ended up so upwind. I'm too good at slogging!!

Anyway, the buoy went up to over 3 feet at 14 sec from 200 this morning, the wind is cranking and I'm ready for more.

day waves: 34
windsurfing: 510
surfing: 320
total: 830
average per day (34 days in the water): 24.4

Time Warp

This is a place to record the moments of days I want to remember, mostly about surfing. But, I feel the need to record some other things. So, if you are reading this, and you only want surfing related moments, move on for now.

A lot has been happening since I arrived back to the land of flat. Within five minutes of my flight landing in Jacksonville, my son, Colby, arrived with his girlfriend, Katie, on another one in the same airport. Since then, it has been a whirlwind of things, surf lessons, meals together, movies. You get the idea. Good times.

I want to try to remember and highlight them here. If I don't, they may become lost. Like when someone says... remember when that crazy... and you go: OH, I FORGOT ABOUT THAT!

I don't want to forget.

When I saw them coming toward me, I dropped my bags. How great is that first moment, seeing your son walking towards you, smiling, and to hug him again after seven months? I wish everyone could feel that, at least once. Then we couldn't find my car. I knew I had parked in section N, but the level ... I had completely forgotten. It occurred to me that this would be a test of Katie's patience. She made jokes as I pressed the panic button, and we tried to figure out what level the little white Prius was on. She would call out: BEEP BEEP BEEP! And there we would be, dragging luggage up and down parking garage ramps. That's a pretty good gauge of someone's mettle. Katie passed.

Colby gave her her first surf lesson the next day, and she got an A on that. The waves were small enough, of course, good for beginners. She loved it. She nearly stood up that first day, on a board Bruce let us use because he was working the concession stand in the state park. It was the perfect board. Thanks, Bruce! That gave Katie a great first experience. It might not have been as good on my smaller 6'10" fiberglass board as on that soft top 8'0".

Colby didn't even recognize Bruce when he first saw him, Bruce has lost that much weight. "What happened to Bruce? It's like the new ZEN Bruce!" Colby said.

My brother showed up the next day, and we took my nephew surfing for the first time in his life on that same board, thanks again to Bruce. I told my brother that Bruce and Karen saved me after my divorce. They have done so very much for me, and in so many ways. "Really?" he asked, genuinely absorbing that statement. "Really," I said.

Declan is not a very coordinated child, but for some reason his strokes on that surfboard looked seasoned. "Dad!" he yelped, grinning from ear to ear after a good one, "Why didn't you ever tell me how much fun surfing was?" Bill and I laughed, watching him nearly stand up. He jumped up out of the water, smiling, looking back at us to see if we had seen it. We were giving him the thumbs up, and I don't recall ever seeing him or his dad ever look so happy.

The next day, the tide was different, the swell crashing a bit on the shore, and it was not as good an experience for either of them. The water had turned a brownish hue and gotten colder. I wasn't there for this, but Katie was apparently called out by another beginner for paddling around her, and the girl subsequently nose dived twice is front of Katie. Karma, you know, gets you every time. Declan got spooked by the "big waves," and retreated to the body board.

We all had so much fun watching Tim and Eric's Awesome Show. Then, Bill and Declan had to go back to Tampa. It was over, just like that.

That next evening, something really cool happened. Sean had asked Colby, Katie, and I over for dinner, yummy, and we were just starting to play a game of Balderdash after eating, when there came a knock at the door.

A voice was singing "A man's gotta do, what a man's gotta do!" (Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long-blog)

I sat transfixed. I could not see around the wall where that familiar voice was coming from. Nothing was making sense. That sounded just like...

My mouth dropped open. It was, it really was... JOE!

"What the hell... what are YOU doing here???" I managed to say it, but it all seemed like a dream. Joe lives in New Jersey, you see. He was just here on vacation, and... well. WTH?

He was grinning the biggest grin, and so was I. He yelled "SURPRISE!" and we were all like a bunch of puppies, hugging again.

Get this. He had gotten off work in New Jersey at 11:30pm and then jumped in his car and driven straight through to Florida. This was not lost on me. No sleep, what, and driving something like 17 hours? I WANTED TO STRANGLE HIM! HE COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED.

But, more than that, I wanted to hug him. Because for someone to do that, to want to be with his family (his mom had just been in the hospital) and friends enough to do that... well, that's something that just endears you to someone forever.

There have been some fine days, lately. They may not involve any decent surfing, but they have been fine, indeed.

There is hope on the horizon for surfing, though. Everyone is predicting waves beginning as early as tomorrow.

Oh, and, Andy's back from Hermosa. He caught that entire New Zealand swell. He didn't paddle out with me yesterday morning. It hasn't been long enough for him, yet. I surfed with Steve Borema, in little one to two foot peelers, and we had a good talk about Costa Rica, and how he had lived there and gone to college in San Jose.

Bob is getting edgy. He may snap at any moment if we don't get waves. The Mananzas sandbar has disappeared. This is not good for his sanity. Karen is hanging in. She says she is, anyway. We need to all go on a surf trip together, and we will!

So, that's all the snippets for now. The day is just beginning. Memories await.

oahu day 37

No action shots today, so you have to live with this one, which, I believe, will make someone happy...

Those three 81s are mine, Clay's and Hans'.
When Pascal sold me that board he said:"it's going to be perfect for you in Oahu!"
I can now say that he wasn't lying.


Went to see a surf movie yesterday called "sipping jetstreams". Very well done, with a lot of images of people and culture of the places where it was shot. Not the usual Hawaii, Indo, Australia, etc, but places you would never think as surf spots. Even Italy was in it! Nice soundtrack too and no words at all, only images. A bit on the short side: 40 minutes, I could have taken a bit more.

Went for a dinner at The Shack afterward and did plenty of people watching. That triggered this thought:
It's very sad that nowadays standards for being 'hot' induce girls to put on shit like:
- high hills
- nail polish
- fake boobs

What's even more sad is that most girls actually do that.
And what's even more sad is that most guys like them... even I do! It's weird. I disapprove and I would probably never really hang out with a girl with all of the above (because I suspect I won't be particularly interested in her personality), but I surely wouldn't mind a sesh! What a living contradiction I am...

Anyway, I'm glad I'm not a girl.
Actually, I'll take that back. If I was a girl, I wouldn't care about all of the above I'd be like Michelle. Who, by the way, after another triumph in her category in the Maliko - Kahului standup paddle race a couple of weeks ago, will now challenge the Molokai - Oahu channel this weekend. Way to go sistah!

Talking about being a girl, also seen the lack of photos of this post, one of the reasons I lately went back to Maui for a week, was to attend Ulli's 40th birthday party. The theme was Germany and here's my sexy Lufthansa hostess impersonation.
The kissing hottie clearly had a partner in the form of boyfriend, husband or similar, just like pretty much all the other girls at the party. What a boring society this is...


The forecast is particularly interesting.
First, let's have a look at today's weather map from down under.


That beautiful fetch will send a big swell in about 7 days, so around Sunday 26th it's going to big pretty damn big again. Uncle Pat says that it's going to be a long lasting episode, but I tend to disagree on that, since the following days weather maps are not as good. We'll see.
Hey, the 26th is the day of the Molokai crossing! That'll make for an interesting arrival...

But what's even more interesting is that starting Thursday the trade winds should get extremely light for a few days. Sunday looks pretty light too, but it's a week ahead and that can change. Light trade winds will make the crossing way harder...

Hang on! I just also saw on the maps a decent NW swell slotted for... sunday again! How that will influence the status of the channel... no idea. We'll find out, I guess. Actually, they'll find out!

Ok, time to go rack some more waves for the 1000 target. I don't know if I'll stay in Oahu till the end of July, so I better get to work.

oahu day 36

Yet another fun day at Da Spot.

Not quite as fun as yesterday because... the wind was stronger! The stronger I got it so far: fully powered on the outside with a 4.7. Good, you would think. Bad, I say. More chop on the face of the waves disturbed me quite a bit. Geez, it's going to be hard to get used to the Maui strong wind again...

Anyway, as promised here are the other photos from day 35.
Fabrice Beaux was all over the place. Take that.


Or that.


Or that (forward off the lip).


Here's another frenchman called Bruno who is recovering from a bad ankle accident happened while doing some radical mountain bike stuff. He's just now going back in the water and he's trying to be conservative.
He spent the convalescence filming the action at Da Spot from the water and he will come up with a video. He promised to send me a copy, so hopefully you'll see bits of it on this blog.
How's that wave?


Following Ray's tip, I climbed on a tree to take some of these photos. When I came down (it wasn't particularly comfortable), I noticed that the trunk was pretty much empty! Weird.


Sure honey, that's how you were supposed to wrap the leash.


Fiona brings back the beast.


This is the 5.3 Superfreak Ultralight that I'm selling. One time in the water, like spanking new. $150 off the price list: $360. I got it because everybody was saying to bring big sails in Oahu since the wind is light. Well, they were right about the wind, but I decided that I don't want to sail anything bigger than 4.7. Anyone remembers Dave Osborne? He only had a 4.5 and he made it work in any conditions. The secret: an extremely light rig and a lot of skill. I got the first one, working on the second.
Email me if interested.


And a few photos from day 36, NOT from the tree.
Fabian.


This guy on a good old Hot SO sails launches from his house just upwind, so I never got to meet him and don't know his name. He's pretty damn good.


Him again.


day waves: 29
windsurfing: 452
surfing: 320
total: 772
average per day (32 days in the water): 24.1

PS. Deep storms are stirring the waters down south (must be quite a bad winter in New Zealand). Stay ready for a big day around the 26th.

PPS. OMG. Just watched this video on beachtelegraph.com. Had to embed it here too...


"Wow!" is all I can say.
No actually I can add that Pozo should belong to a different PWA discipline called 'Jumping and freestyle on the waves'. Other than that, that young kid is amazing.
How's this small jump?