- Threes, 6:30AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2''
- Paddled out with Jim and Doug.
- A bit windy, inconsistent, waist-high with a few bigger waves
- Caught something like 6 waves, with a couple of take-offs really fun.
- Nothing to write home about, but it was great being back in the water after my trip to France. Beautiful weather. Sunrise on Diamond Head.
- Paradise, Threes 6:20AM-7:45AM
- on my 9'2''
- Paddled out at the crack of dawn under a nice moonlight.
- Went to Threes but that tide was too high and it didn't seem to work, so I paddled over to Paradise. There were two guys out, who turned out to be Nate and Robin, whom Glen introduced to me when he paddled out a little bit after.
- Conditions were glassy, not consistent, with a few nice sets coming through, chest-high on the peak and then not much of a wall.
- Caught 1 very good wave with, somehow, a good chest-high wall. Tons of fun. Caught a couple more, nothing to write home about. After chatting with Glen for a while I spotted Doug, Jim, and Ron at Threes and paddled over. I stayed there for 1/2 hour, catching 2-3 waves, nowhere nearly as good as the ones at Paradise, although Ron caught a very good one. Mitch paddled out, and I paddled in shortly afterwards.
- Overall a "still getting back into things" session, with not many waves but as usual a great vibe in the ocean.
- Doug had his waterproof digital camera and he took pictures. Hopefully he'll send one to me.
- Diamond Head 6:30-7:45
- on my 9'2'', by myself. 6 other people out. The usual crew.
- Moderate to strong side trades, not very consistent but nice sets coming through. Only the bigger sets would break. Head-high take-offs and then chest to shoulder high rides. A few occasional bigger sets. The smaller waves just wouldn't break due to the wind and the high tide.
- Caught 6 rides, with 2 good lefts and 1 good right. At the end of the right I had somebody in my line and I ended up falling. This was really my fault because I wasn't able to generate much speed. The wind just makes things so much more difficult, requiring more strength and more skill. Some of those guys are really unreal in those conditions, as if the bumps on the waves don't bother them at all. I think I am still not low enough on my knees perhaps. Anyway, I was pretty happy with a couple of sketchy take-offs at the bottom of which I was right at the limit of pearling and managed to make the turn pretty well.
- Good session overall, much bigger than Waikiki, and windier. The usual. Not sure where I'll go tomorrow, especially because the high tide will really make Threes not work well. Perhaps Diamond Head again.
- Diamond Head 6:20-7:30
- on my 7'6'', by myself. 6 other people out. The usual crew.
- Well, the forecast predicted an increase in size, so, in spite of the high tide I opted to take my 7'6'' out for the first time since I've moved to Hawai`i. Turned out that the winds were stronger than yesterday, and the the waves were smaller. So not a good call. Strong side trades getting stronger throughout the session, biggest waves coming through at chest-high, but very junky, bumpy, crumbly.
- Nevertheless it felt good to paddle out on my 7'6''. I was paddling as fast as the longboarders (around the line-up that is), because it really cuts through the chop much better than my long board. Catching waves was more of a challenge. I caught two on the inside, which were nothing special. I guess it was good to see that I can still pop up on this board and not be completely off balance. Everybody had a really hard time. And we had to paddle East constantly because the trades made us drift rather fast. So quite a nice workout.
- The sunrise was outstanding and walking on the beach back to the shower was quite something. Such a beautiful place. I sat there for 5 minutes just taking it all in. The wind was so strong by that time that I had a hard time carrying my board.
- Paradise, 6:20-7:50
- on my 9'2'', met Ron in the line-up, two other guys out, and two spongers (what were they thinking?)
- The tide was high and only paradise was working, for some definition of "working". knee- to waist-high, totally glassy, inconsistent, the few occasional peaks.
- Caught about 10 rides, with only 2 that were decent.
- Beautiful morning out there, so nice to be back in the water after a week of under-the-weatherness. Could use more waves.
- There was a lull toward the end of the session and I had to paddle in without really catching a wave. There was this kook out there you, on what could've been my last wave, did a "I am going... I am not going... I am going..." number, which caused me to pull out. I made it back to my car at 8:05 without a parking ticket though.
- Diamond Head, 6:20-7:45
- on my 9'2'', 10 other people out
- not windy but not glassy, waist-high with the occasional bigger set, a bit choppy, still fun.
- Caught about 20 rides, with 3-4 of them quite fun, mostly rights, including a few surprisingly sketchy take-offs and walling up sections on the inside. All this in spit of the high tide. Diamond Head seems like it always has something going.
- Nice vice in the water, beautiful sunrise. I think I am going to buy an epoxy board after talking to one of the guys there.
- Diamond Head, 6:20-7:45
- on my 9'2'', 10 other people out
- Glassier than yesterday, but smaller. So it got a bit crowded as there weren't enough waves for everyone. Still a good vibe though.
- Caught about 15 rides, with 2 of them quite fun, mostly rights as usual.
- Beautiful weather and sunrise again. Starting to talk to more of the people there.
- Paradise and then Threes, 7:20-8:45
- on my 9'2'', with Mike
- Decided to paddle out there for the hell of it. Not glassy but not windy. Very inconsistent with the occasional thigh-high set. After catching one wave there, we paddled to Threes. Threes was better. Caught two waves there only because there were two guys there dominating the line-up. One of them dropped on me, but not in an outrageous way. They were quite on top of their game and had a wonderful eye.
- It was great to go out there and I feel stronger and stronger. Finally getting back into some type of shape.
- Diamond Head, 6:20-7:30
- on my 9'2'', 5 other people out
- Knee-high with occ. waist-high sets, not windy, inconsistent
- Caught about 10 rides, with a couple that were ok, but nothing too exciting. As usual, nice being in the water.
- Diamond Head, 6:20-7:30
- on a rental 7'10'' Egg (epoxy), 3 other people out
- knee-high, a bit choppy, really lame. No wind though.
- I rented this board to see if I wanted to buy it, so I had to take it out although the conditions were rather dismal. On a long board it would have been "ok" I guess, but on this it wasn't great.
- Overall I popped up on the board perhaps 6 times, with only one of them being an actual ride.
- I have pretty much decided not to go for this board because it's too close to my 7'6'' in the way it feels and responds. what I am really looking for is an 8'2''-8'4'' round/pin tail. That's going to be hard to find I think.
- Diamond Head, 6:30-8:00
- on my 9'2''
- waist- to shoulder-high
- Not very consistent but nice shape, glassy, 20 people out
- Didn't catch too many rides. 5 total. The crowd was a factor and only one peak was somewhat consistent. I caught two very nice rights on the inside.
- On my last wave in I may have dropped in on some guy who was jockeying for position. It really wasn't clear at all as I went right and the wave was more of a left, so I thought I was being nice. But I think he meant to go right for some reason. The wave closed out on the right right away anyway. I hate these unclear situations. I started paddling for the wave earlier as I was further out. He was initially on my right, but went around the front of my board to be on my left and therefore have the right-of-way on a right, although I thought all along it was a left. Perhaps I was wrong. Anyway, no harm done.
- Pops, 8:00-10:00
- on my 9'2'', with Cecile and Jon, 20+ other people out
- waist- to head-high, very clean, a few lulls.
- Surfed mostly the inside with them trying to tech them a bit, but it was hard. Caught perhaps 10 waves there overall. A few surprisingly fun ones. Cecile had a very hard time with the paddling, which is to be expected of course. job stood up 3-4 times. It's SO hard to teach somebody on their first session. Also, she kept staying by the side of her board and hitting the coral with her feet, which sort of sucked.
- I went to the line-up to try to catch one wave. A big one came and I was in position, with only one guy between me and the peak. He was further out and it wasn't clear that he was going to get in. I kept looking at him, and I lost my focus a little bit. When he didn't make it I tried to pull in but I couldn't quite make it and I was just raised by the wave, at the top of a head-high face. At that moment I saw a guy right in front of me. At that point I couldn't make it down the face at all. I tried to keep my board but ended up losing it. Unfortunately, the tip of my board hit his on the bottom, making a pretty nasty ding in it. It was totally my fault although it wasn't a horribly kookish thing to do given the situation. The guy was kind of pissed of course, and I apologized profusely offering to pay for the ding repair. He told me where he worked and I told him I'd bring him money at his work around lunch time. He started totally mellowing out, saying "hey, if you pay for it, it's all good". His name was Kaweka, a bellman at the Reef hotel. I went there around 1PM, thinking of giving him $50. I had to wait for him a little bit and when he showed up he was BLOWN AWAY that I had showed up. He literally couldn't believe it, shook my hand like 100 times, asked me for $50, which I gave him right away. We then talked for 10-20 minutes, and he had a relapse of gratitude, running after me in the street to shake my hand again. It was such an Aloha moment it was sickening. I really hope I see him in the line-up. He's a totally amazing surfer. Seeing his board all dinged up was really, really sad. Such a nice board. Oh well, I really felt terrible about the whole thing but now I guess I have a great friend among the Pops locals. And he was totally saying that the "accident" really wasn't horribly kookish and it was a sketchy situation.
- Threes, 6:30AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2'', met Doug and Jim in the line-up, 4 other guys out
- waist-high with a few bigger sets, a bit windy/choppy, not consistent
- Caught about 15 rides, with a few fun ones one both rights and lefts
- Definitely the tail end of the swell that hit the last 3 days.
- One sea turtle on the inside
- Barber's Point, 4PM-6PM
- on my 9'2'', with Jiah, Gail, and Sebastien. 5 other people out.
- waist-high, choppy, messy, and inconsistent, but with improving conditions throughout the session.
- Went out to Barber's point after talking to a shaper in Kapolei, with Jiah and her co-worker Gail, who's this wonderful older local longboarder. It was Jiah's 2nd or 3rd session and she never reached the line-up.
- Caught about 25 rides, with 5 of them really fun toward the end of the session. Especially one very long right and one very long left.
- Diamond Head, 6:30AM-8AM
- on my 9'2''. Met John in the water, 6-7 people out
- glassy, no wind, not very consistent, many doubles and rather fat waves with a peak but not much of a wall. Biggest peaks at head high and most of them at shoulder-high. The few walls were waist to chest.
- Caught about 15 rides, with a lot of them having the wave dying out, but two outstanding rights with a very nice wall, going forever all the way to the inside. Another one was a great drop followed by a powerful bottom turn. For once I managed to really accelerate on my board and I escaped from a close-out section by going over the back of the wave, jumping really high above the wave. That was quite a thrill actually.
- I opted to surf closer to the inside, with John, which turned out to be a much better option. It was only he and I there. People on the outside failed to catch to many waves, and by sitting 20 yards inside we had our pick.
- Great vibe in the water, good conversation with John.
- Very nice sunrise.
- Threes and Paradise, 6:30AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2''. By myself. nobody out.
- glassy, not consistent, waist-high.
- I made the call for Waikiki instead of DH, which probably was a mistake. First paddled to Threes and it was a mixed-up mess. I caught one pseudo-wave and after 20 minutes I paddled to Paradise. Paradise was much better, not consistent, but as usual a clean peak. Not much of a wall, which is usual too. Caught about 15 rides, with only one that walled up decently and connected to the inside. Quite a few fun drops though. It's really amazing how even in the absence of a swell this place manages to create a peak.
- One sea turtle in the line-up.
- Threes, 6:30AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2''. Met Doug and Ann in the line-up
- a bit choppy, not consistent, knee- to waist-high (at best)
- Probably should've gone to Diamond Head although it was a tad windy. But it was a beautiful morning and the wave had a nice shape. Caught perhaps 10 waves and then paddled in with Doug and Ann.
- Paradise then Threes, 6:15AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2''. Met Doug and John at Threes. 15 people out.
- almost glassy, shoulder- to 2-feet-overhead high, consistent although sometimes a bit mixed up with multiple peaks.
- First paddled out to Paradise as from the beach Threes didn't look good. Caught one nice wave there, with a head+-high drop and a little bit of a wall. From Paradise I saw that Threes was working and I decided to paddled over.
- By the time I got to Threes there were 10 people out and it peaked at 15 or so. Very nice waves, but the crowd made it a bit difficult to sit right on the peak (for me, that is). I caught perhaps 10 waves a bit off to the Ewa side of the pack, with 2 or 3 that were quite nice with cool drops. Many times I couldn't make it through the section on the rights because I was not taking off on the main peak. Had a few nice lefts. The inside was kind of a mess and the paddle back proved to be quite the workout on a couple of occasions.
- Diamond Head, 6:30AM-7:30AM
- on my 7'6''. 9 other people out
- Talked to a guy before getting in the water. He told me that conditions were epic on Friday. In fact, he couldn't get out as there is no channel there, and bruised the hell out of his arm when his skegs hit him during a failed turtle roll. Good thing I went to Threes that day.
- Choppy, strong side trades, waves breaking all over the place with bigger ones with shoulder-high faces, although I hesitate calling those things faces.
- This is the curse of the 7'6''. I have never surfed that board in nice conditions. I caught 4 rides, with 2 sort of ok. But it was really hard to get into those bumpy waves and I was really wishing I had taking my 9'2'' out.
- There is something satisfying about being in a messy ocean though. At some point it even sprinkled, with chop everywhere, strong wind. It felt like we were really in the middle of the ocean.
- I had to surf the inside and there were those 4 guys who were beginner. At some point one of them paddled in front of me, and this set came. We all had to turtle roll although it was a weak/crumbly wave. He lost his board, and somehow hit mine, although I was not directly behind him. I could tell it was going to be bad because his board was at an angle and not straight out to sea. It made quite a dent in my board, and at that point I was just "ok, this is it, I am paddling in". I could have tried to get some money from him, but I didn't have the energy. Besides, he messed up his epoxy board pretty bad. He was like: "woohoo!! That was a big one". To which I said: "No it wasn't. You're not supposed to lose your board like that. it's very dangerous."
- While I was packing up by the side of the road, this lady jogged by and shouted at me "God loves you!". Quite surreal ending to this pretty lame session.
- Diamond Head, 6:30AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2''. Met Will in the line-up and a few known faces. 10+ people out.
- Sloppy, choppy, mixed-up, inconsistent, but with a few nice head-high waves coming through.
- Caught about 10 rides, the 2 or 3 that were fun, and 1 that was outstanding. Somehow, this clean nice wave materialized in front of me and I managed to do a screaming take-off and a nice bottom turn. Not much of a wall after that, but still the highlight of this session.
- Diamond Head, 6:30-7:30AM
- on my 9'2''. 10+ guys out.
- Sort of sloppy and bumpy, with head-high waves coming through. Very little wind.
- Caught about 10 rides with a couple pretty fun.
- A few bigger waves were coming through, and at some point I was in the impact zone with another guy. We both attempted to turtle and both lost our boards. Just the wrong place at the wrong time. When we cam up, there was foam on the surface, and then I saw a piece of his board floating by!! Unbelievable. His board had been cleanly snapped in half. The wave wasn't that huge at all, but I guess it hit the board right in the wrong spot.
- At some point, I was paddling back from a ride and this guy caught the white water. He came toward me and unbelievably hit by board. That was so insanely stupid. 3 minor dings, but that made it through the fiber glass and thus need repair. He said he'd pay for the damage, but I guess we had a misunderstanding and after exchanging a few nasty e-mails it turned out that he thought it was my fault because the people paddling out are supposed to get out of the wave of the people riding the white wash in! So anyway, he offered to buy me a ding repair kit, which I declined. This is really sad because now he truly thinks I was trying to rip him off.
- I guess this qualifies as an eventful session.
- Barbers, 4PM-6PM
- on my 9'2''.
- with Gail and Jiah. 15+ guys out.
- A bit junky and pretty strong side-shore winds, but some waist-high waves coming through.
- Caught about 15 rides, with 2 or 3 pretty fun with nice inside sections.
- First session after 1.5 months of interruption due to boards in the shop, my sister's visit, the massive sewage spills in town, and several flu-like illnesses.
- It was so great to be back in the water. Of course I really felt out of it in the water, but perhaps surprisingly not so weak. I just felt unsure on the board and my timing was off several times. Felt really sleepy and tired after the session though.
- Diamond Head, 7AM-8AM
- on my 9'2''
- by myself. 15 other people out.
- waist-high with a few chest-high sets, strong side-shore winds, pretty choppy and junky.
- Caught 3 rides, with the last one quite fun. Opted to stay further towards the inside, even though it meant missing the bigger sets.
- The point right now is to get back in the water and paddle because I am so out of shape. Pretty fun session though, with beautiful weather, just suffering from the windy Diamond Head curse.
- Pops, 8AM-10AM
- on my 9'2''
- with Caro and Fred, 20 other people out.
- knee-high, a bit windy, not consistent, weak.
- It was just to take out Caro and Fred for their first surfing session. The paddling pretty much killed them of course, and unfortunately it wasn't a good day. The waves were breaking only on the outside, where a bunch of people were sitting, and the inside was really weak and hard to catch. So they didn't catch anything, but at least they got a good feel for paddling and maneuvering the board.
- I caught about 15 knee-high waves just for kicks
- Beautiful morning
- Threes, 5:30AM-7:00AM
- on my 9'2''
- by myself. 3 other people out at first, and up to 20 when I left
- waist- to head-high, very clean, nice off-shore winds.
- Caught about 4 rights, which were all very nicely lined up, sometimes connecting all the way, and about 10 lefts, which weren't that great by comparison, but still very nice.
- I just happened to wake up at 5AM and decided to paddle out even if it was a weekend because I so desperately need the workout. Turns out the real crowd doesn't show up before 6:30AM.
- Diamond Head, 5:30AM-7:15AM
- First session on my new 8'2''
- by myself. 4 other people out at first, and up to 20 when I left, but pretty spread out
- chest- to head-high, inconsistent with much bigger sets coming through every 20 minutes or so.
- Waves were a bit mixed up and difficult to get into.
- I caught a few fun ones on the inside, allowing me to get a feel for the board although the walls were so short that I couldn't really maneuver much. Taking off is definitely a different experience than on the 9'2'', much closer in feel to my 7'7''.
- I caught one semi-close out wave that was about 1ft overhead and made quite a sketchy drop by pushing hard on the from of the board. It was a very short ride but making that drop pretty confirms that this board is going to be challenging, but not so much that it won't be fun to ride.
- The biggest challenge will be to have my feet well positioned as I pop up.
- All in all I caught about 6 rides, which wasn't bad given that the conditions were quite challenging (got caught on the inside a couple time too)
- Threes, 5:15AM-7:15AM
- on my 8'2''
- by myself. Met Jim, Ann, and Doug in the line-up. Started with about 10 people, and ended with up to 30.
- Glassy, clean, organized, waist- to head-high with a few lulls in between sets. Some sets were perfectly lined-up an some were closing out on the lefts.
- Caught about 10 rides, with only 2 rights because the competition to go right was a bit intense.
- This board is quite outstanding. I had a couple of great rides and the board is so responsive and fast, and yet catching wave isn't a complete struggle. I did a few good take-offs, and a few that were on the inside that I completely botched. I fell twice on the take-off, which hadn't happened to me in a while on my other board. But this board has such potential.
- One sea turtle in the line-up, checking out the surfers.
- Kewalo, 5:25AM-6:45AM
- on my 8'2''
- by myself. Alone in the line-up for 10 minutes, then quickly 10 shortboarders showed up. Moved to the next peak over.
- Waist- to chest-high, a bit windy. That wave definitely pitches and is more challenging than Threes or Diamond Head. Glad I had by 8'2''.
- Caught about 10 rides, with 1 great right, and one ok left. Other than that I was never in a great position, ending up taking off on small sections that would close out. Still a good experience. Towards the end of the session it seems I couldn't really get into any decent waves and I just paddled in.
- That place is cool, but I don't have what it takes to compete with the pack by the best peak, and the reef is ultra-shallow on the inside (hit the reef with my hand while paddling back to the line-up).
- Threes, 5:40AM-6:30AM
- on my 8'2''
- with Mahdi. Up to 30 people out at the end of the session.
- Glassy, chest-high to 2ft overhead, clean, perfect
- Caught about 10 rides, with a great left and a good right. The rest were lefts that were really fun on the take-off but sort of closing out. The problem was that the competition for the rights was a bit too much, so I opted for inside lefts. Still fun though.
- Mahdi made it to the line-up but then couldn't really make it back out. It was his first session in 5 months.
- Sunset Cliffs (Chasm), 10AM-12PM
- on my old 9', no leash
- with Dario. 2 other people out.
- almost glassy, with nice sets coming through, waist- to chest-high with a few head-high peaks
- started the session at New Break, but couldn't really make it down the face (too hollow) and I lost my board 3 times on 3 take offs, which was a bit lame. So Dario and I paddled to chasm, where it was much better (and bigger as well).
- Caught about 10 rides, with a great right on a perfect A frame, with Dario catching a great left. Caught a few other good ones, always with decent size and shape.
- I was really having trouble with the different board, the different wave, the wetsuit on, etc. Such a difference from surfing Threes two days ago. But as the session went on things went a bit better. Would have be better to have a leash probably.
- Del Mar 11th, 8AM-9AM
- on my old 9'
- with Allan and Jon, 2 other people out at first and then nobody out
- a bit choppy, some sets coming through, not very good shape, not consistent.
- Caught about 10 rides, with a few very fun in spite of the bumpy faces. Made a few sketchy take-offs that I was pretty happy about. My last ride was cool, with an almost-tubing blown-glass-like section on the inside that was unexpectedly super fun.
- Del Mar 15th, 6:30AM-9AM
- on my old 9'
- with Travis, about 4-5 people out around each break
- Totally glassy, waist-high with the occasional slightly bigger set, rather consistent and pretty nice shape when lined-up, with more than half the waves lined-up. Waves didn't have much power.
- Caught about 20 rides, with one outstanding right which for some reason had a lot of power and was really fun, allowing quite a few fun bottom turns. Talked to some guy in the line-up about that wave afterwards. Overall I'd say I had at least 5 very good rides.
- 3-4 dolphins in the line-up
- Beacons, 6:30AM-8AM
- on my old 9'
- with Ken, one other guy out at our peak
- Totally glassy, waist-high, not consistent but nice shape when coming through (sort of fat waves though and not much power).
- Caught about 20 rides, with a few really fun ones. Overall a very enjoyable session but a bit uneventful.
- Del Mar 15th, 7AM-9AM
- on my old 9'
- with Ken, Geoff, Kate, Susan, and a friend of theirs
- Choppy, inconsistent, but with some waist-high rideable waves at time. (A couple of bigger sets came through.) Rather bumpy faces too.
- Caught about 15 rides, with a couple of fun ones. Surprisingly fun given how it looked from the beach. Really happy about this week in San Diego with decent surf.
- Sunset Cliffs (Chasm), 7AM-9AM
- on my old 9'
- with Dario, nobody else out
- Glassy, waist-high with a few bigger waves, not very consistent but decent shape
- Caught about 10 rides, with a few good ones. Nothing to report really.
- Sunset Cliffs (Chasm), 6AM-8:30AM
- on my old 9'
- with Dario and Travis, nobody else out
- A bit windy, not consistent, breaking a bit all over the place, with a few chest-high waves coming, and most of them waist-high. Some fun drops, but really weak waves
- Caught about 10 rides, with 2 or 3 really good drops, but not real wall to speak of.
- Towards the end of the session conditions completely crapped out, probably due to the tide and we went in.
- This was my last session for a while until I go back to the Islands.
- Threes, 6:20AM-8:20AM
- on my 9'2''
- by myself. Met Jim, Doug, and Clarence in the line-up. From 10 to 2 and back to 10 people out.
- Not very consistent but nice waist-high waves coming through once and again. From glassy to slightly windy.
- First session after about 2 months of interruption! It was so great to get back in the water. Somehow, paddling wasn't as bad as I thought and although I wasn't in the best shape I was able to paddle for 2 hours. The current was pushing us towards Diamond Head and we had to paddle pretty much constantly to stay in position.
- Caught about 20 rides, with 3-4 very fun, all rights. Beautiful water and weather, nice vibe in the line-up. Just great.
- Finally talked at length and introduced myself to Clarence, that retired Chinese guy I had seen surfing with his friend before. Total locals and extremely friendly. We talked for about 20 minutes.
- Paddled back in after catching a little wave in. Walked to the car in the parking lot feeling 100% happy, great flowery smell in the air, perfect temperature, light breeze. And in fact I was so happy and content that I proceeded to lock myself out of the car. That's my new motto: "I shall lock myself out of my car once a year". Called AAA from a cellphone, bought Longboard magazine and waited in the shade of a big tree until the guy came to save me. Surprisingly a great way to end a session instead of just rushing off to work.
- Diamond Head, 5:30AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2''
- by myself. Met Will and Meiko in the line-up.
- Tried to go to Threes but the parking situation has become (temporarily) insane there. There is construction right near Saratoga and many parking spots have been removed and the parking people are ticketing starting at 7AM as opposed to 8AM. So one has to go into the parking lot, which has gotten more expensive. Everything will be back to normal once the construction stops, but right now it sucks. I think I'll start parking on the Ala Wai and then walk over, which shouldn't be too bad really. But this morning, in spite of the trades, I opted to drive on to Diamond Head.
- Diamond Head was not very consistent and not organized, plus it was quite bumpy and choppy due to the trades. Really hard to get into most of the waves. Bigger sets were in the head-high range though.
- Caught 5 waves, and to be honest, they were surprisingly good. It seems that many Diamond Head sessions are like this: after the session in the same breath you say "it was a mess out there" and "man, those waves I caught were great!". Exactly what happened today. The waves I caught were all in the chest- shoulder-high range, rights, really lines-up and allowing for several maneuvers, fast, powerful, just really fun with not-too-sketchy take-offs.
- Threes, 5:40AM-8:30AM
- on my 9'2''
- by myself. Met Doug, Clarence, Guy, John, and Ron in the line-up.
- Parking on the Ala Wai worked out fine.
- Waist- to Shoulder-high, Clean, pretty consistent, with both lefts and rights lined-up (of course more rights than lefts, but still)
- Caught about 25 rides, with 3 or 4 completely outstanding rights. Easy take-offs, followed by a fast section makable only on a pretty high line, and then lined up all the way to the inside with a great wall for maneuvering. Really amazing rides.
- On the biggest wave of the day I was sort of alone outside and I tried a turn-and-burn. Not sure what happened. The take-off was steep, but not that steep, and I just fell off the board. I didn't take off at at steep enough angle. That was sort of lame and the wave was totally wasted. All the guys out were like: "Duuuuuuuude".
- In spite of that wave, I felt that my style on the rights was pretty good today, with my hand in the wall on bottom turns, etc. Odd to be surfing decently after a 2.5 months interruption.
- about 8 dolphins outside, and a few whales on the horizon.
- Threes, 5:40AM-8AM
- on my 8'2''
- by myself. Met Doug and his flock of young surfing girls, Ron, Mitch in the line-up.
- Knee- to Waist-high with sets in the chest-high ranges. Not consistent at all with super long hulls and waves didn't have much power. Very much the wrong board for the conditions.
- Caught about 15 rides, with only a couple that were really fun. Feet position on this board is really important, and when they are well positioned the board works extremely well. Still need a bit of adjustment, and unfortunately today really wasn't the best day to try things out. Still though, I was happy to catch many more waves than several of the longboarders out there.
- 10 dolphins on the outside.
- Diamond Head, 6AM-7AM
- on my 8'2''
- by myself. Met Corey, John, and Harold in the line-up. Up to 40 other people out!
- waist-high with head-high sets. Sort of mushy and disorganized although it wasn't really windy, which is why I opted for DH this morning.
- Really difficult to get into waves and not really fun unless one caught one of the rogue set waves. But of course these waves were owned by the local longboarders sitting on the outside. So pretty tough for me on the inside really, with many doubles, etc.
- Caught 4 waves, with only one left that was fun. I could have had a good right but the take-off was super steep and although it looked like I was going to make it I ended up falling into the face of the wave.
- Pretty much spent the entire session wishing I had my 9'2'', which sort of sucks really. Tomorrow, I think the call will be Threes on the 9'2''.
- Threes, 5:40AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2''
- by myself. Met Doug, Jim, Clarence, Ron and John in the line-up. About 30 people out total.
- waist- to head-high with occasional bigger sets. Totally glassy, pretty consistent in the waist- to chest-high range, totally clean.
- Caught about 25 waves, mostly rights, with a lot of them quite fun. Still doing the hand in the water thing. Really odd. Not sure that I am doing it in good style at all.
- A very crowded day at Threes, but I hung out on the inside with Jim and I caught many nice waves, mostly rights as usual. The funny thing is that at the same time I felt like I was just surfing leftovers, but objectively speaking if these had been outside waves the session would still had qualified as totally fun. Luckily, only a few people opted for surfing the inside and there was almost no competition.
- Of course, the downside of surfing the inside is that you have to do something when a big wave comes on the outside and 5 guys are paddling for it. Overall it wasn't too bad although I had a few close encounters. What complicated things is that there was quite a bit of dropping in today on the outside. Sort of shocking at times: three guys on a wave, all good surfers, the guys in front not really bailing. Everybody feels that they deserve beautiful Threes waves. In particular there was this local girl who just didn't care and dropped in no matter what.
- There were a few people who didn't really belong out there, and especially this one guy who was clearly a beginner, with perhaps 1 year of surfing behind him, if that. On a chest-high wave he dropped in on that guy in a pretty outrageous way, got on his knees, went straight, and then pitched forward and rolled into the white. Their two boards collided quite violently (we heard them from like 20 yards away!) and they could have been hurt as they were entangled together, in the white water. Luckily it wasn't a very powerful wave. It was horrible to watch and we all saw it coming... just as I was in the middle of telling Jim "Look.... is that guy going to... NO WAY!" it all happened. I used to be that guy, but at least I didn't paddle out at Threes when there is a swell when I was him.
- Diamond Head, 5:30AM-7:40AM
- on my 9'2''
- by myself. Met Corey and Harold in the line-up. Perhaps 40 people out.
- chest-high to a couple of feet overhead. Super glassy and clean, but not extremely consistent, with long lulls. One of the peaks was breaking much better than the others but had of course tougher competitions.
- Caught about 10 waves, with a couple head-high ones that were fun. Was happy to have my 9'2'' as getting in the wave required quite a bit of effort; they were fat and slowly building. Didn't catch any of the really good ones, but had tons of fun.
- The weather was unreal today, absolutely beautiful, with sunrise over Koko Head, and perfectly glassy water (which I don't think I've ever seen at Diamond Head).
- Back up to the car I had what I'll call a "Dog Shit Encounter". In fact, although I didn't mention it in my surf report this past Tuesday, I had a DSE then. Right before getting to the car, which was parked on the Ala Wai, I stepped in dog shit on the grass. I am talking between the toes and all. After the initial shock, I managed to clean up with water and soap (which I always have in the car), but I guess the damage to my psyche was too great and I left my rashguard on a bench. That wasn't too bad as I was overdue for a new one, but still. And today, only 3 days later, when laying down my board bag on the sidewalk I apparently put it down on another pile of dogshit because when I picked it up it was covered with it, and so were my boardshorts. ARGHHH!!! I managed to sacrifice a towel and clear the bag up with water, and remove my trunks without dogshit contact. As I write this they are in the trunk of the car, probably becoming a new life form. I just had no energy to deal with this immediately. So, I don't know, two DSE in 4 days seems is a little bit disturbing after many years of DSE-less surfing. Good thing that it was a beautiful and fun session.
- Threes, 5:30AM-8:00AM
- on my 9'2''
- by myself. Met Ron, Clarence, Jim, Doug, Reiki and her sister, Guy. About 10 people out at all times.
- waist-high with a few bigger rogue waves, super glassy, clean, not super consistent but not bad, getting worse as the tide was coming in.
- Caught about 20 rides, with a few really fun rights in spite of the waves not being big. Tons of fun and good talking to all the guys out.
- Absolutely stunning morning out there, with sunrise behind the Waikiki skyline.
- 1 sea turtle in the line-up
- Canoes, 5:30AM-7:00AM
- on my 9'2''
- with Larry. Up to 40 other people out.
- ankle- to knee-high, inconsistent and weak.
- This spot is super well-known and an easy paddle from the most popular section of the beach with hundreds of boards that can be rented on the beach. There are a few friendly locals, mostly older guys, and tons of people out. The conditions were very lame, but even if they were good I think the crowd would prevent me from ever coming back here. Good to have been there once though.
- Caught 4 waves, all of them requiring extreme paddling and then super weak. But, it was a beautiful morning out and it was good to paddle around. The local older guys seem really fun, but really, they are lost in such a huge crowd. Unbelievably, even today there were the usual Japanese tourists on tiny boards in the line-up. Guys on 12ft boards had trouble getting into waves, and these guys are sitting out there on their potato chips. I really don't get this. I guess they fly to Hawaii, get a hotel on Waikiki, and paddle out on the board they brought with them on the plane, and are happy to sit in the water for hours without ever the hint of a wave they could catch. Nothing wrong with that, but it's just a bit odd.
- Threes, 5:30AM-6:30AM
- on my 9'2''
- by myself. Met Jim and Ron in the line-up
- ankle- to knee-high, windy and windier as time went on, extremely inconsistent and weak. Probably the worst I've seen Threes. That swell that was supposed to hit never did I guess.
- On the way out to the beach I met Doug, Guy, and Reiki walking back to their cars because it was too flat. I paddled out anyway because I knew that Jim was there.
- Caught 4 waves, extremely week.
- Still fun to be in the water, good conversation with the guys and laughing about the conditions actually getting worse from minute to minute.
- Diamond Head, 5:40AM-6:40AM
- on my 9'2''
- with Larry. About 10 people out.
- waist-high with the occasional chest-high wave, choppy, windy, not very consistent, but as usual a few rideable waves coming through.
- Caught about 6 waves, with a couple of surprisingly sketchy and fun take-offs where the peak was head-high, and a couple of slightly more lined-up waves with a bumpy ride all the way to the inside.
- Amazing sunrise on Koko Head. inconsistent and weak. Probably the worst I've seen Threes. That
- Pops, 5:40AM-7:15AM
- on my 9'2''
- by myself. Met John in the line-up. About 20 people out.
- waist-high, clean, glassy, not very consistent and a bit weak but fun on the inside.
- Paddled out to Threes at first and it really wasn't working, so I paddled over to Pops (caught one wave at Paradise on the way).
- Caught about 20 waves on the inside at Pops, all of them quite clean. Nothing special, but just nice to surf glassy conditions on such a beautiful morning.
- Diamond Head, 5:30AM-6:45AM
- on my 9'2''
- with Larry. Met Corey in the line-up, 4 other guys out
- waist- to chest-high, completely junky and choppy, pretty horrible.
- Pretty bad call today, with the swell forecast. Opted for DH to try to trade-off wave quality for lower crowd factor, but sort of overdid it.
- Stood up three time, but caught really only one wave. Tomorrow Waikiki it is.
- Pops, 5:30AM-7:15AM
- on my 9'2''
- with Larry. Met John in the line-up. About 15 other people out.
- waist- to chest-high, with a few bigger sets, a bit mixed up (two swells today), not glassy but still clean.
- Caught about 15 rides, with only a couple of some of the bigger rights. Ended up surfing the inside as things were getting more crowded.
- Overall a pretty fun session, with good talking to John. He took two beginners out the other days, giving them a lesson and they had two of his board. At some point, they rammed into each other and the fin of one board cut through the side of the other and got so deep that they couldn't pry them apart! So they had to paddle that odd L-shaped raft all the way to the beach. The ding repair guy said he has never seen a fin cutting that deep into another board after a waist-high Waikiki session.
- Threes, 5:30AM-7AM
- on my 8'2''
- Met Jim in the line-up, nobody else out.
- knee- to waist-high, weak, not consistent at all, overall pretty lame but at least not too windy.
- Took my 8'2'' just for kicks but also because the forecast was talking about waist- to shoulder-high waves. Oh well, it felt good paddling on a different board and it was a beautiful morning.
- Caught 3 waves, just time for a small bottom turn and then the wave would pretty much die out. Would have been better with my 9'2'', but whatever. Better luck tomorrow.
- Threes, Pops, Paradise, 5:30AM-7AM
- on my 9'2'', no leash. By myself. About 6 other people out at Pops.
- Knee- to Waist-high, glassy, not consistent and weak
- Paddled out to Threes initially, caught 3 knee-high waves there which had virtually no power. Opted to paddled over the Pops.
- Pops was much better, with nicely shaped waist-high waves coming through once in a while. Not consistent, nothing special, but fun. Caught about 15 rides there, with a couple pretty fun with the wave lining up a bit on the inside.
- After surfing at Pops, I spotted Ron at Paradise. At the end of my session I paddled over there and saw that it wasn't any good really. Eventually I caught a wave that brought me close to the beach and ended this overall rather pleasant session.
- Threes, 5:30AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2''. Paddled out with Jim and Doug. Met Ron, Mitch, Eric, and Nathan in the line-up.
- Knee- to Waist-high, totally glassy, fun if a bit small.
- A really pleasant session, with only people I knew well out in the line-up, beautiful morning, great atmosphere.
- Caught about 20 rides, with 5 or so of them quite fun in spite of the wave being only waist-high.
- I had one outstanding ride, on a nicely lined up right, with a great take-off, a great line, cross-stepping up to the nose and staying there for quite a while until the inside bowl, at which point I cross-stepped back and kicked the board out. To bad I can't surf like that on every wave.
- It was good to see Eric. Hadn't seen him in ages. He's the guy who told me to paddled out to Threes on my first Waikiki session after moving to Hawaii. He was so helpful. He told me that Paula moved to Germany, which is why we haven't seen here in a while. He also mentioned some other spots by Kakaako Beach Park where he goes to and that's less crowded. I will have to check it out. The spot is called Flies and it's basically the West-most spot in town, right West of Point Panic.
- One sea turtle popping its head in the line-up.
- Threes and then Pops, 5:30AM-7AM
- on my 8'2''. Paddled out with Doug. 5 other people out when I left Threes. About 20 at Pops.
- Chest- to head-high, with a few overhead sets, a bit windy but not too bumpy, perfect shapes, long waits but worth it.
- Caught 5 rights and 1 left at Threes, and then 2 lefts at Pops.
- It was only Doug and I for about 15 minutes, basically in the dark, trying to figure out whether conditions were any good or not. There was a lot of white water, so that was a good sign on the paddle out.
- I first caught a small right that wasn't anything special at all and after that nothing for a while, and it was 3 of us in the line-up.
- Right when we started saying "are there any waves?", this set loomed over the horizon (it was daylight by then), and looked to be definitely overhead. Doug was a little bit too far off the peak while I was right on it. I heard him say "Go! Go!!" and I dropped in. I had to push like crazy on the nose of the board to make the drop and I locked into a high line after a fast bottom turn. The waved walled up and looking up I could see the lip about two feet above my head with this beautiful wall going all the way down the line. It was the first time I surfed my 8'2'' in good conditions and it worked amazingly well. I would never had made these sections on my longboard, but there I just flew down the line, going faster that I had ever gone on a surf board. At some point I got buried in white water and emerged super fast to see that there was still a very long head-high wall ahead. Starting pumping up and down the face, going super fast. Luckily my position on the board was perfect so I didn't have to readjust my feet at any point, which has always been my big problem. After many cutbacks and going through super fast sections on the inside (on his previous wave Doug had warned be that the inside was very fast), I finally kicked the board out. It felt like I had just made an insane drop (well, insane for me) and then barely made 20 super fast sections in a row. Had I stalled on that first section, I could easily have been barreled according to what Doug could tell. I felt a huge amount of adrenaline at that point, feeling so excited that I was actually shaking all over. Pretty funny. I paddled back out and Doug was like: "dude? Did you make that one???". Definitely the best wave I've ever surfed in terms of the wave itself and how I handled it. It took me about 10 minutes to recover and come down from the whole experience. I realize that some people surf like this all the time, but hey, nothing like the first time I guess. Then Doug said something like: "Did you think of the board at all during the ride?" and I realized I hadn't at all. His point was that when you go shorter, you just forget that you have a board. And that's exactly what happened. Arguably, going from 9'2'' to 8'2'' is not really going much shorter, but the shape is so different that to me it feels very, very different. His point was that when you've found a board you never think about, then you should keep it.
- I caught 1 left after that which sort of closed out, followed by 3 super fun chest-high rights. Unbelievable how even these smaller waves were fast and lined up. On one of them I actually got covered for a split second, and emerged from the white water with again a beautiful wall ahead. More adrenaline at that point.
- At that point, I had surfed 1 OUTSTANDING wave, and 3 great ones, and I was on such a surf high that I couldn't really sit in place, let alone wait for the long lulls in between sets. 5 good longboarders had paddled out, and I decided to leave it at that rather than deal with even a small crowd. Definitely the "I can go home after this" feeling. So I paddled over to Pops where Tom told me he'd be, just to get a work out. I was so pumped that I paddled super fast. There was a crowd there and the wave was much mushier and a bunch of older guys on 10 footers owned the place. I stayed inside, didn't find Tom, paddled around, caught a left and went to the beach. When I got to the beach I was literally exhausted, probably due to coming down from it all.
- Part of me feels silly about being so excited. Doug caught two waves as good as the one I got, and he snapped insane off-the-lips every 2 seconds on each ride, and he was just like "yeah, it's fun today" while I was jumping up and down on my board next to him :)
- Threes and then Pops, 5:30AM-7:30AM
- on my 8'2''. Paddled out with Doug. Got crowded really fast with up to 30 people when I paddled over to Pops. Pops had about 20 people out.
- waist- to chest-high, with a few head-high sets, a bit windy, definitely not as good as yesterday.
- Still on a high from yesterday session, and not too into it today given that the "half the waves twice the surfers" combination was a bit of a downer.
- Caught about 10 waves, with a nice left actually that was (for once) lined up. Probably around 150 yards on a left, which I've never done at Threes. Then caught a few inside waves, but nowhere nearly as fun as yesterday.
- After a while, when it go to be 30 people out I just paddled over to Pops, where I caught one fun right on the inside and then went in after paddling around the spot a bit. I'll probably take my longboard tomorrow and come to Pops.
- Overall, a really decent day, but yesterday was so special that I was not too motivated.
- Pops, 5:30AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2''. By myself, 10 other people out.
- chest-high with a few head-high sets, a bit windy and mixed up, tide way too high and very fat slow waves.
- First paddled out to Threes in total darkness and then right away went to Pops. Caught about 10 rides, with a could of fun ones with slightly late take-offs. Way too much water though and waves were wobbly and slow. Still fun.
- Met this older guy who's always in the line-up at DH. We talked a bit. His name is Higgy (sp?). Really nice guy.
- Three rainbows throughout the session.
- Publics, 5PM-6:15PM
- On my 8'2'', with Mahdi. About 20 other people out.
- Glassy, not consistent with really fat waves, shoulder-high when breaking.
- Somehow Mahdi talked me into an afternoon session, and we went to what I thought was Queens. I wasn't too into it, but whatever. Turns out it wasn't Queens it was Publics!! Had I known this I would have totally said no I think, as Publics is known for being super shallow and sketchy. Turns out, it was super shallow and sketchy :)
- Caught 3 waves, with one of the big lefts, a smaller one on which I went right (which is not a good idea at Queens as it turns out), and another smaller left.
- The conditions were pretty lame with only the inside breaking and the outside breaking once every 20 minutes if that. The inside was packed with local tattooed teenagers on short boards or boogie boards. A few older longboarders on the outside. Choices were to wait forever on the outside of fight it out on the inside. I opted for the outside.
- Publics is really shallow inside, especially towards the right. There is this piece of the reef that's pretty much dry on any kind of wave. I went right on a wave and that's not something one should do really, given how shallow it is and there is a clear risk of hitting the reef. I found myself in about 2ft of water, with my leash stuck in the reef. On a big day that could be really sketchy.
- Overall I didn't really have such a good time. I've become a morning only surfer I guess. I hated paddling back out with the sun directly in my eyes for instance. Boo-fucking-hoo :) I am sure this place is great when conditions are good though, so perhaps worth another try on a morning. And yes, there is something cool about paddling back in at sunset.
- Flies, 4PM-5:30PM
- On my 9'2'', with Tom and Larry, 4-5 other guys out
- Waist- to Shoulder-high, a bit windy, not very consistent, but some waves coming through.
- First session at Flies. The spot has the reputation of being not very good and not very crowded, which is why I wanted to try it on a weekend. And indeed, the wave is a bit sectiony, bumpy, mushy (although today was perhaps not the best day obviously).
- I had forgotten to take board shorts! So I wore my shorts. Not the most comfortable but it worked.
- Caught about 15 rides, with a few nice shoulder-high drops that were fun. But the rides themselves were nothing special. Still, thinking about the mess that Waikiki probably was, it was a great call to come here.
- Larry was surfing this pintail longboard he's thinking of buying and that looked pretty decent (although he was surfing it single-fin). Tom was surfing his 9 footer, which I tried at the end of the session. That think is really high perf, with very little volume, paper-thin tail, the fins are three identical fins. Very much not a longboard but rather something made for ripping on bigger waves. He had been complaining about this board forever, and clearly it's not the right board for him at all. It's also very dinged up, with unfixed dings letting the water to the foam! So it's going to be hard to sell. Oh well.
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:30AM
- On my 9'2'', by myself. Met Ron and Clarence in the line-up. 4-6 other people out.
- Knee- to waist-high, with two shoulder-high sets that came through. A bit windy, but not bad, mixed up and not consistent, pretty bumpy and weak rides for the most part. Getting better throughout the session, due to the dropping tide.
- Caught about 20 rides, with two decent rights. The beginning of the session was very grim, with two guys out whom I have seen before many times and who are really not the friendly type. Conditions were terrible and one of them paddled back in almost right away. Things got really pleasant with Clarence and his friend, and I actually had fun out there. Didn't catch any of the bigger waves, but it was just good being in the ocean.
- Apparently yesterday was really good, but really crowded as well. Glad I went to Flies.
- Pops, Threes, 5:45AM-8AM
- On my 9'2'', by myself. Met Ron and the usual crew at Pops (6), and then Eric at Threes.
- Knee- to waist-high, choppy, mushy, not organized, but still rideable
- I first checked DH, but it was so stormy that I went to Waikiki. Looking from the beach Threes seemed really lame, so I went to Pops. About 5-6 people there, and a few waves. Nothing special but I caught about 10 somewhat fun ones, both lefts and right.
- Ron showed up and after 1/2 hour I paddled over the Threes, mostly for the workout. Met Eric there and it was nice chatting with him. He caught the best waves there, which were rather difficult to pick out from the chop. I caught 4-5 rides there, with surprisingly fun drops. Paddled in with Eric.
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:25AM
- on my 9'2'', no leash.
- By myself, met Jim in the line-up, nobody else out
- Waist-high, not too consistent but ok, getting windy towards the end of the session.
- Surprisingly fun waist-high waves, especially because from the beach it really looked like nothing at all was going on.
- Caught about 15 rides, with 2-3 or pretty fun. Surfing without a leash felt great.
- Just a mellow, happy session with a lot of paddling actually.
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:45AM
- on my 9'2'', no leash.
- Paddled out with Jim, only the two of us for a while and then Ron, Eric, Jon, and one other guy paddled out.
- Knee- to slightly above waist-high, not very consistent but glassy and a few nicely shaped waves coming through, with some of them lined up all the way to the inside.
- Caught about 20 rides, with 3 or 4 good rights that had a little bit of power.
- Overall a fun session, a beautiful morning, friendly people out.
- It was nice surfing without a leash again. There were a few situations in which the wave was breaking on my board while I was trying to make sections, but I didn't lose my board, which was good. Especially when one of those was right in front of Jim on one of the bigger waves.
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:45AM
- on my 9'2'', no leash.
- by myself, met Jim and Doug out there. Up to 7 people out.
- Knee- to waist-high, getting bigger and better as the tide dropped with shoulder-high peaks at the end, super glassy, somewhat consistent, very nice shape.
- Doug was on a paddle board! I tried it for 5 minutes and it was really, really hard. He can't really catch waves with it yet, but he's trying something new. He was totally happy with my longboard while I was using his paddle board though as he caught a very decent wave.
- Caught about 20 rides, with 2-3 very nice ones toward the end although not lined up all the way to the inside. It's so nice to surf such glassy conditions, without a leash
- On the biggest wave of the day (head-high peak), I was the furthest out but too far to the left of the peak. So I had to go left, which was steep and closing out. I was pretty happy with my no-leash take off with right hand grabbing the rail and holding, then turning towards the beach on the close out and holding on all the way. I think I would have probably lost my boards a few months ago.
- Toward the end I really caught two nice waves with a very nice wall.
- Most of the guys out seemed to be tourists and the vibe was "ok". One of them seemed to have gotten scratched up on the coral. He could hardly surf really, and I wonder how he managed to get hurt with the tide that high. But he had a large patch of scratched/bleeding skin on his back.
- That guy and that girl paddled out at the same time and I thought they were together. Not looking happy though, but dropping in on each other in the inside. Whatever. Waves were small, and I thought they were together. In fact, Jim dropped in on me on a wave earlier as I told him to go, etc. But later on, he's paddling for a wave on the outside and the girl's inside. And as he's paddling he said in a super pissed-off voice: "Can I have this wave? PLEASE". That was a very odd vibe, especially because the wave was knee-high at best. She didn't react at all and they both looked so serious it was painful to watch.
- One turtle in the line up
- Diamond Head, 5:45AM-7:45AM
- on my 9'2''.
- by myself, about 30 people out. Harold, Higgy, Clarence, Corey and Will out there at some point.
- waist-high, with a few bigger waves, with up to shoulder-high peaks at times. Not choppy but not really glassy, not very organized, lots of doubles, but still fun.
- Caught about 20 rides, with none of them anything special. I had a good 20 minutes where I caught many waves while most people were sitting around out there. Just felt like they were coming to me. Some guy even talked to me about that.
- On one of the bigger waves I attempt a somewhat late take off and totally ate it. It had been a while.
- Towards the end it got really crowded and I didn't catch a wave for a while, so I just caught some white it. I was surprisingly tired...
- I almost had another DSE!! I put my board down while I was showering and when I went to get it back I realized that it was dangerously close to a huge pile of dog shit hidden in the tall grass. Pheeew....
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2'', no leash.
- paddled out with Jim, met Ron, and then 2 other guys out at the end of the sessions.
- knee- to waist-high, with a few bigger waves, totally glassy, not super consistent but a few nice sets coming through.
- Caught about 20 rides, with 3 very fun rights with a very nice wall between waist and chest height, allowing many maneuvers. Threes can really generate beautiful waves.
- I lost my board once, in ankle-high white water, somehow. Pretty odd. Waves are supposed to get bigger tomorrow so I'll take my leash.
- A beautiful morning with vog conditions, beautiful sunrise.
- 3 dolphins way outside.
- 1 turtle in the line-up.
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:30AM
- on my 8'2''.
- by myself. Met Jim. Ron, Clarence, and Ross on his stand-up paddle board, later Eric, and one other guy out.
- waist-high, with a few bigger waves, totally glassy, not super consistent. Sort of like yesterday but with a little bit more size and power at the beginning of the session, becoming slower and slower as the tide went up.
- Caught about 10 rides, with 2 great rights. Was definitely at a disadvantage against all the longboarders out there, but still caught a reasonable number of waves.
- One of my rights was on a rather late take-off, and I managed to keep a high line and hug the wall pretty well on the first section, and then was able to do quite a few maneuvers afterward. Not clear that my feet were on the best spot on the board, but good enough.
- Good vibe in the water, although almost nothing was breaking towards the end.
- 1 turtle in the line-up
- Pops, 5:45AM-7:00AM
- on my 9'2''.
- with Larry. About 8 other guys out.
- waist- to chest-high, glassy, not very consistent and almost immediately killed by the rising tide.
- Caught about 5 rides, with the first one really fun and then all the others on slow, barely breaking waves.
- In the morning, I picked up Larry and pulled up in his parking lot. It was dark and I drove over the tail of his board!!! Snapping the tip of one of his fins. Other than that very little damage. That was really horrible, but there was no way I could've seen it. He also has these odd Excel fins that I had never seen before. I wonder if we're going to be able to find one. The board is totally rideable as is though.
- After the session, I met Jim by the shower and he said that Threes was just classic, with overhead waves. I didn't really want to go there because I don't like to bring people there given that the crew always mentions how they hate it when people bring their no-so-good-surfers friends over. Oh well, next time.
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:45AM
- on my 9'2''.
- by myself. Alone for 1 hour and then Eric paddled out, followed by some other guy.
- waist-high, glassy, mixed up, peaky and shifty
- Really hard to position oneself; it felt like there were 4 different high-frequency wind swells out there.
- I had left my board at the office all weekend. Typically I fetch it on Sunday, but because of the earthquake I didn't hit the roads yesterday. So I went to get it this morning and I miscalculated and showed up on the beach way too early. I was alone, in the dark, with super shifty conditions. It was completely impossible to know where to sit and I had to wait about 20 minutes for clear daylight (the clouds didn't help).
- Caught about 20 rides, all of them rather short, with 2-3 rather fun in spice of the very non-Threes-like conditions.
- All morning I kept feeling little stings on my arms and legs, and when Eric paddled out he said he was definitely stung by a box jellyfish on his arm. That's when I remember that today's exactly 10 days after the full moon, when the box jellyfish have the toxic phase. But apparently it was sort of the end of the phase because it wasn't too bad. Felt several stings after that.
- Also, there were tons of small fish jumping out of the water, sometimes even landing on my board, obviously chased by some bigger fish. It was a bit spooky. The water was completely crystal clear though.
- Eric mentioned that the surf had been complete junk all weekend due to onshore winds.
- 1 turtle on the inside
- Threes, 5:45AM-8:15AM
- on my 9'2''.
- Paddled out with Doug. At most 15 other people out. Met Clarence, Ron, Jim. Two stand-up paddle boarders out.
- waist-high to 2ft-overhead, glassy, perfectly shaped, not extremely consistent but not bad.
- Really a great day out there and the crowd wasn't too bad. Caught about 20 rides, with 1 outstanding right on an 8ft face. Kind of a scary take-off, but pulled it off nicely (thanks to Clarence who basically let me have this wave when he was closer to the peak). In the pocket the whole time, looking up to the top of the wave above my head and hand in the wall. Really fun and once again adrenaline pumping and shaky limbs after the ride :)
- Caught a few lefts that closed out, but at some point I went for another 8ft right that ended up closing out completely. After making the drop and doing one bottom turn, there was no way I could escape off the back and instead I turned sharply to go straight to the best. After being caught up to by the white water I went under for quite a while and it sort of reminded me that perhaps I should be a little bit more careful and concerned when taking off on an 8ft wave over a coral reef.
- I was really tired at the end of the session and I caught a tiny wave on the inside back to the beach.
- It supposed to be bigger tomorrow. I'll most likely take my 8'2'' out.
- 1 sea turtle in the line-up.
- Threes, 5:45AM-6:45AM
- on my 8'2''.
- By myself. About 25 people out.
- Saw Jim in the street but I had grabbed the last parking spot so he had to turn around!
- waist-high to head-high, glassy, nicely shaped but not as good as yesterday.
- I really wasn't into it today at all. I think that the day after a great session I should really take a day off. It's been the case several time now that "the day after" session I am really not quite there.
- I paddled out to find the spot with not as good conditions and more people, which already wasn't so great. Then I realized I was really tired. I caught 4 waves, with a couple lefts that closed out, and a couple of rights that were ok. But after 1 hour I was pretty much done and I just went in.
- Really odd, I was low on motivation and energy, happy to just sit and watch people fight for waves. I am probably going to take tomorrow off.
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:15AM
- on my 9'2''.
- Paddled out with Jim. Two girls out halfway through the session
- waist-high with a few bigger sets, really mixed up and junky, windy, pretty much horrible.
- In spite of the bad conditions I caught about 10 waves with 2-3 of them really fun, with fast sections on the inside. Really odd. Jim caught a few good ones too. If there had been no wind, it could have been a really nice session. No matter, it was great being in the water.
- Some of the take-offs were a bit sketchy and bumpy, which was actually really fun. On one especially I really didn't think I was going to pull it off but ended up barely making it.
- 1 sea turtle in the water
- Pops, Threes, 5:45AM-7:45AM
- on my 9'2''.
- By myself. Met Jim and Eric at Threes. 1 other surfer out at Pops.
- waist-high, mixed up, junky, windy, high tide. It was supposed to be bigger today, but it really wasn't.
- I looked at Threes for a while from the beach and for a second I thought about not going out at all. Then I opted to paddle out to Pops just for the work out. Caught about 5 "rides" there, with no punch at all and really sad conditions overall. There were 3 shortboarders on the inside who stayed out for about 5 minutes (no clue what they were doing out in the first place). This girl I've seen there before paddled out and we caught horrible waves for a while.
- I then paddled to Paradise, where I caught a wave, and finally to Threes where I saw Jim. By then Threes was having rideable waves coming through with surprisingly fun take-offs and a few of them were even somewhat lined up. Caught about 5 rides there. Then Eric joined us and I caught a few more waves. One nice big wave came through but we were all on the inside.
- Amazing how much fun I had today in these horrible conditions. It was just fun paddling around, talking to Jim and Eric.
- 1 sea turtle in the line-up.
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:45AM
- on my 9'2''.
- Paddled out with Jim. Eric paddled out halfway through the session with two other guys. The last half hour was just Eric and I.
- very odd conditions. Light to moderate winds throughout. Initially waist-high, bumpy, but definitely rideable. Then 1/2 hour of almost unrideable knee-high waves, barely distinguishable from the chop. It was odd because with the high tide dropping we were expecting a constant improvement. But then toward the end of the session it became cleaner with nice waist- to chest-high waves with a few shoulder-high ones.
- Caught perhaps 25 rides, with 4-5 really good ones at the end. In particular there was a shoulder-high wave on which I took off right on the peak and was on a high line in the perfect spot the whole time. Eric hooted from the inside on that one. Then a few very nice smaller ones on which I did many very nice turns.
- So once again, although the outlook was terrible, a super fun session in the end.
- I was dropped in by this guy on one of the bigger waves of the day, which was really annoying, especially because he was very much a beginner and proceeded to fall right in front of me, forcing me into a straight line after which I couldn't reconnect with the shoulder. In fact, Jim was SO annoyed with the two guys paddling out it was hilarious. He really hated that guy who paddled out on an 11.5ft monster board, giving him the "who are you and what are you doing here?" attitude.
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:45AM
- on my 9'2''.
- Paddled out with Jim. At the peak about 15 other people out, including Clarence and Eric. 1 paddleboarder out.
- Waist- to head-high, glassy, nicely shaped, sort of consistent.
- Really nice day out there, if a bit crowded. Caught perhaps 20 rides, with many very fun one and one amazing right. That wave was about head-high, super smooth, and walling up very nicely without closing out. Was able to maintain a very high line and zip through the sections with big bottom turns to go around the white at the end of each section, one long turn on the lip and finally a kick out on the inside right next to Jim who was hooting the whole time. Not sure what's going on, but it looks like I catch one great wave every day these days.
- My last wave of the session was also very nice, super smooth, and I managed to cross-step close to the nose, which wasn't bad.
- Doug and a friend of his came out on HUGE paddleboards, and I talked to him a bit while I was showering on the beach. He's still trying it out but hasn't really caught a wave yet. The tide was too high for his shortboard anyway, and he paddled to Pops.
- Overall a great session and as the tide drops it's going to get better and better throughout the morning. Apparently yesterday was great too, but I was just too tired to go out.
- 1 sea turtle in the line-up.
- Flies, 7:45AM-9:30AM
- on my 9'2'', single fin (using Eric's fin)
- with Larry. Paddled out with Eric and his daughter. 5 other people out.
- chest-high at the beginning and getting smaller as the tide came in, not very consistent but decent shape. Pretty much unrideable at high tide.
- Caught about 10 rides, with none of them special. But it was nice to be out on a beautiful Sunday morning.
- On one wave I went right about 30 yards in front of that other guy. I was looking behind me and decided to go over the back to let him ride it to the inside. At that point, that boogie boarder drops in on me. It was unbelievable. She basically landed on my board. I heard a soft "bonk" and fell off, sort of in the other surfer's way. She went in after that and I caught up to her on the inside after catching a second wave. Turns out she was ok, all smiling, saying that she let he board go. Unreal. People were commenting on it in the line up afterwards.
- Surfing single-fin was the usual experience. Not as stable, looser. I don't know. It was cool that Eric let me have his fin though. It's always good to try things.
- Larry did pretty good today, improving steadily.
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2''
- By myself. Alone for a while, then some random guy showed up for 1/2 hour and then Eric, Clarence and his friend, Terry, John, and one other guy.
- knee- to waist-high, a bit windy, not consistent, not much punch but still rideable.
- Caught about 15 rides, with only 1 or 2 fun ones, both at the very beginning of the session when I was alone in the semi-darkness. The tide is sure coming up fast these days.
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:35AM
- on my 9'2''
- Paddled out with Eric. Jim, Doug, Clarence, Greg, and Ron out.
- waist-high with a few chest-high waves coming through (head-high peaks). Glassy and organized. Pretty consistent. Not super powerful.
- Really fun conditions out there. Caught about 20 rides, with a bunch of fun ones. Didn't catch any of the bigger ones. Doug was on a super short board and still caught 2-3 very nice ones. Unbelievable.
- One one wave somebody dropped in on Doug and fell, with board flying up, while Doug was in a super critical portion of the wave. Doug being Doug he pulled off an amazing take off, completely buried in white water and went around the guy, but still, that was very lame. It's funny.
- Really a beautiful morning with dreamy rides. In the morning I felt lazy and I almost didn't go out. I am glad I did.
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:35AM
- on my 9'2''
- Paddled out with Jim and Eric. Some kid paddled out later, followed by Mitch and Clarence.
- knee- to waist-high, a bit windy, not very consistent. Overall worse than yesterday but still a few fun rides to be had. Sort of two peaks today, with the section breaking in front of the right when taking off on the left-most peak on most waves.
- Caught about 20 waves. 2 Really fun take-offs right on the peak on nicely shaped rights. Surprisingly fun actually. Other than that nothing too special
- That kid, 13-14 years-old, who paddled out was sort of annoying. Clearly still learning and asking tons of questions like: "How much time in between sets?" I was like... "sets?" He couldn't turn and would go straight on every wave, he would fall off 50% of the time, and he would drop in. Not a good combination there. He was in my way on one of the nicest waves and I had to pull out and he got completely trashed by the white water. More notably, he dropped in horribly on Mitch. Mitch yelled at him, but couldn't avoid the collision because the kid went straight, and fell right away, 2 yards in front of Mitch. I was on the inside and heard the noise of the two boards colliding. Almost no damage. I went in a few minutes after that, but it was just odd. What was he doing out there???
- The first gray morning in a long time. Today is supposed to be the beginning of the rainy season.
- Threes, Pops, Paradise, 5:45AM-7:45AM
- on my 9'2''
- By myself. Nobody at Threes or Paradise, 10 other people out at Pops.
- knee- to waist-high, glassy, not consistent with long lulls.
- First went to Threes. knee-high at best. Caught 3 waves though and then opted to paddle all the way to Pops.
- At Pops conditions were a big bigger, with a few sets with peaks higher than waist level. I caught about 10 rides there, including 3 on what I think were the three nicest waves of the morning. Somehow, I was always in position on the outside for these. Smooth take-offs, a few turns and then letting it go for the shortboarders on the inside if they can get in. I could tell a few of the longboarders out there were annoyed with my catching these nicer waves, but they were never even close to being in position for them. I was just a bit lucky I guess.
- After catching these waves and with the crowd becoming thicker I decided to paddle over to Paradise. I caught about 5 waves there, with fun drops and then almost no wall. Paddled in after that.
- Overall a beautiful morning with stunning sunrise over Diamond Head and a few waves. Not bad considering how lame conditions looked like initially.
- Threes, 5:45AM-6:45AM
- on my 9'2''
- By myself. Nobody out.
- knee- to waist-high, very windy, choppy, mixed up, horrible.
- Today I basically had to go out to get back on my normal sleep schedule after 1 week off from surfing. So I paddled out in the windiest conditions I've ever seen at Waikiki. It felt just like paddling out at Diamond Head. It was great being in the water though, and it was really warm out. I saw only one other person out at Pops, which wasn't surprising. One of the very worst Waikiki days ever I'd say.
- Did about 10 take-offs, with only 2-3 short rides. On the others I fell due to huge cross-wave bumps.
- Paddled back in after one hour. It was great to be in the water in spite of everything. Taking a shower on the beach was hard because the water from the spout was being blown off constantly. That's how windy it was. The surf report said "light onshore". right.
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2''
- By myself. Joined later by Eric and another guy. Doug showed up on his paddle board.
- knee-high, sort of glassy, not consistent, weak.
- Much better than yesterday, but that's not saying much. Caught about 6 rides, with a nice surprising chest-high take off on a peak (which of course reverted to knee-high almost immediately.
- Was really glad to see Eric paddle out so that I had somebody to talk to during the long lulls.
- Stunningly beautiful morning, if cloudy, with great sunrise on Diamond Head.
- At 7:30 a military helicopter got right above us, hovered for a while and then used a speaker phone to say "all surfers back to shore" and the guy pointed to the beach. It turns out there was an earthquake in Japan yesterday and there was a Tsunami warning. Now, the warning had been canceled, but there was a danger of "weird current" and I guess they were taking precaution. That didn't make much sense because the beaches were open and so surfers showing up right after the helicopter departed would have no idea. But at this point, given the conditions, we paddled in. Pretty odd. People on the beach thought this was all shark-related.
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:15AM
- on my 9'2''
- Paddled out with Jim. Joined later by Eric, Doug, and the other guy from yesterday. Some older guy that I've seen before came out at the end.
- knee- to waist-high with a few chest-high waves, super glassy, sort of consistent but soft and weak.
- Caught about 20 rides, with a few fun ones, more rights than lefts as usual. The swell was at an odd angle, not breaking in the usual place and with a few funky waves. Beautiful morning out there, great conversations in the water (although we talked about euthanasia for about 20 minutes.... you know... typical tropical paradise topic).
- 1 sea turtle on the outside
- Had to get out of the water a bit earlier to meet somebody in Waikiki for breakfast. The swell's supposed to build more tomorrow. We'll see. 9AM for work.
- Threes, 5:45AM-7:35AM
- on my 9'2''
- Paddled out with Jim. Doug, his daughter, David, Eric, his daughter, Ron, later, and up to about 15 people out, attracted by the swell forecast.
- knee- to chest-high, glassy, but very shifty, peaky, strange.
- Caught about 20 rides, with a few bigger ones, but only a few rare sets had nice walls them, and I wasn't on any of those. I had one decent inside wave though, but otherwise rides were not the usual quality of Threes. I hate to whine about a day when I caught many, many waves though.
- Stunning sunrise on Diamond Head again today though.
- Flies, 8:45AM-10AM
- on my 9'2'', no leash
- With Larry and his friend Jeff, who was on a boogie board with no fins
- A bit windy, knee-high, weak, inconsistent, barely breaking, with the odd waist-high set coming through, sometimes higher on the peak.
- It was just fun to paddle out on a gorgeous day. Caught about 10 waves, with only 2 real waves.
- All over Waikiki, 5:45AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2'', no leash
- By myself. about 10 people out total, including Eric.
- Super glassy, almost completely flat.
- I paddled out to Threes, which wasn't breaking, then to Paradise, then to Pops. Still no waves. I made it all the way to the inside of Canoes. Four guys were out and I caught 2 ankle-high waves that died out almost instantly. I paddled back out to Pops and Paradise where I met Eric. There we sat for a while and a waist-high wave came, which somehow I caught and rode. Probably the best wave of the morning actually.
- Beautiful morning, great conversation with Eric.
- Threes, 6AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2''
- By myself. Jim, his friend Jay, Ron, Ross, Mitch and Steve were out.
- Glassy, waist-high with frequent chest-high peaks, a few true chest-high sets.
- Caught about 15 rides, with quite a few very fun take offs on nicely shaped peaks. One one of the big sets I was on the outside and seemingly in position, but couldn't get in. Pretty sad. The board ended up going over the falls while I had to fall back. Oh well.
- Really happy about many of my take-offs today, on the peak, hugging the wall with hand in the water, pumping slightly to keep a high line. Somehow I feel like today my surfing has improved. Not often the case, so I am enjoying it for what it's worth.
- Threes, 6AM-7:30AM
- on my 9'2''
- Paddled out with Jim. Mitch, Steve, Nathan, Eric, and 4-5 other people came out.
- Glassy, knee- to waist-high and not consistent with a few bigger sets coming through every 25 minutes or so.
- Basically not as good and more crowded than yesterday, so not great. Still caught about 15 rides though, but nothing special.
- Absolutely stunning sunrise over Diamond Head.