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August 2001

Friday August 3, 2001
2:15p-4:45p
South East Shore
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face occ 6 feet (mostly SE)
Mostly clear; Moderate sideshore winds

Looked good when I went by at lunch time to check it out... looked real good. Hooked up with Rich for an afternoon session and it still looked sweet as we jogged down the trail. When we got out to the lineup, the surf just about disppeared. Improved a bit for the last half hour or so and a few decent rides almost made up for the first couple hours. Monster high tide crap. Overall a forgetable surf.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Saturday August 4, 2001
7:15a-10:00a
South East Shore
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face occ 6 feet (mostly SE)
Mostly clear; Moderate sideshore winds

Hit the surf with Rich again, this time for low tide. Much better than last eve, but me & Rich were both out of synch. I fell too often and took a couple hard hits from the rail. Surprised this board is holding up so well, so far.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday August 6, 2001
3:30p-5:45p

Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 7-9 feet (SW)
Partly sunny; Moderate offshore winds

Friday August 10, 2001
2:15p-5:00p
South East Shore
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face occ 6-7 feet (mostly SE)
Mostly clear; Moderate to strong sideshore winds

Evan, occ smooth, mostly bumpy & thick high tide. Eric/Nick Mita... Below avg session for Bud
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Saturday, August 11, 2001
6:45a-9:45a
South East Shore
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face occ 6 feet (mostly SE)
Mostly clear; Light to strong sideshore winds

Evan, Neal, Rich...Below avg session for Bud
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunday, August 12, 2001
2:15p-5:00p
South East Shore
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face occ 6-7 feet (mostly SE)
Partly clear; Moderate to very strong sideshore winds

Evan, Rich, .... Avg session for Bud
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Friday August 17, 2001
2:15p-5:00p
South East Shore
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face occ 6-7 feet (mostly SE)
Partly Sunny; Blazing sideshore winds

Solo, windsurfers galore, huge high tide, poor session
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Saturday August 18, 2001
6:45a-9:45a
South East Shore
Avg wave face 3-5 feet
Sets wave face occ 6+ feet (mostly SE)
Mostly Sunny; Moderate sideshore winds

Rich, Neal, Denny, Evan, Sus, other Rich, Greg, other Neal, good conditions, winds fluctuating. Below avg sesh for Bud
 

This super write up (below) of our morning session was composed by and is reprinted here courtesy of our Friend from Kauai, Denny Waller (a post to the usenet newsgroup alt.surfing)

Subject: Re: Oahu Ho'ike and the beeg city...
Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2001 08:48:37 -1000
From: "Denny Waller" <Pneptoon@hawaiian.net>
Organization: Kauai Internet
Newsgroups: alt.surfing
References:       1

Alooooooooooooha,

Ahhhhhhh, the waking again to the melody of a million Kauaian roosters. Contrary to popular opinion, at home, I do wake at dawn.............I just don't go surfing until about eleven when the dawn patrollers have already left and the early morning chargers are tiring out. I'll take the hot sun of noon over the crowd any day.

Alas, the boys and girls from Oahu had other plans. For the first time in 20 years I set an alarm clock............for 4:45am. It didn't go off, but something in me did and I came to life at 4:50. Did my morning stretches, gulped down some green sustenance and had a zombie like Terri drive me down the hill to Evan's hotel, the Outrigger Waikiki. I got there at 5:50 and went up to the main lobby to wait. Apparently Evan got to the lower lobby at 6:00. The fates played tricks with us for 20 minutes before we finally found each other and headed out to Diamond Head with one stop at the lockers to get my borrowed 9'10" Bunger 360, a classic noserider from the 60's.

We got to the break at the Lighthouse and parked. Looking out from the cliff we could make out several shortboarders riding some fairly good size wind chop. These were the kind of waves and conditions that on Kauai would keep us driving 9 out of 10 times. But this was the 10th time so we pulled our boards off the car. Then I got to meet Buddy and his brother Rich. Aloha was exchanged and we walked down the path and paddled out.

When we got outside I was greeted with some of the most perplexing surf I can remember being in. Hungry peaks were jumping up everywhere and I spent a great deal of time just keeping myself from being surprised inside and having a wave rip the board from my turtling hands. I have already told you that I am Hanalei spoiled and never really ride the windward side so I was continually confused as the peaks would zig while I zagged.

Outside I finally got to meet Da Sponge..............riding his longboard with its array of fins and dripping with Kauaian aloha. Neal was riding outside the pack and picking off some juicy set waves. You can always tell when a surfer knows a break. Buddy/Rich (I had to do it at least once) were tearing up the place on their short boards. Everyone seemed to know everyone else and I don't remember ever being in a more friendly lineup..............and that includes my home break. I didn't see a single snaking.

After we had been out for about half an hour Mama Sus paddled out. She was a bit daunted by the randomly surging peaks, but didn't back down from any of them. She had her sponge in overdrive.

I picked off about 6 waves and basically surfed like crap. There were no tricks. There were no nose rides. I basically was in constant adjustment and survival mode trying to figure out where to maneuver on the wave to prevent a mistake that would have sent me frog crawling over what appeared to be a fairly shallow reef inside. I managed to keep the session swim free, but on a scale from A to F where A is where I'm used to surfing at home I would give this performance a D+. I could say strange board and strange conditions, but that would be crap. No, when you hit your 50's surf timing and leg strength fitness, all of which lead to fine tricks and maneuvers, come from reps..............continuous practice on lots of waves. This was my 4th go out of the entire summer..............the Hawaiian summer from Hell. On another note, my spring cleaning and refinishing of my hale is
progressing quite nicely.

Fortunately there were no judges anywhere except in my own head and a good time was had by all. I talked more story with Neal and Buddy and Rich and Sus and Evan in that 2 1/2 hour period than in 25 sessions at Hanalei where I keep fairly silent and concentrate on my workout.

After our sesh we said our goodbyes to Buddy and Rich. Rich had to make a somewhat earlier exit than the rest of us due to a condition where his board split apart at the tail. I have concluded that the William's gene pool has an ancient hex upon it that prevents these two wave chargers from keeping a shortboard for longer than 2 or 3 months.................that and the invention of 4oz. glass.

The rest of us decided to go have lunch at Dukes which is located in Evan's hotel. Sus drove away in her classic island special...........a deliciously painted hippie-style car that when I first saw it instantly washed me with de ja'vu. You know, when you see a car and you immediately expect to hear Herb Albert blaring out Tijuana Taxi on the eight track. She's even done the tires. I do not believe there is a mini-van in Sus' future, ever.

On the way to Duke's I did my usual herbal treatment of Kauaian Electric and extended a few puffs Evan's way..............which was only a trifle error in judgement. We found a table and Evan gave his wife and daughters a call to come meet us. He then headed for the restrooms. Now, I have known E for over a year, we converse fairly often. I have never heard him raise his voice. He's a pretty mellow guy............kind of like a big koala bear, though I make no pretense as to what may be hiding in his pouch. Anyway Evan returns and at the same time his wife arrives pushing a stroller with their new baby daughter. I got out of my chair to meet and greet her since I had never made her acquaintance. I was two feet from shaking her hand when this enraged estrogen based biped wedged her way in between and got right up into Evan's face. In the middle of Duke's her first words of greeting were a shouted "ARE YOU DRUNK?" She then began doing a victory sign with her fingers and started pointing to his and her eyes while screaming about his literary capabilities. "CAN"T YOU READ?" Followed by a louder "ARE YOU DRUNK?" The rest of her rage was pretty unintelligible and after Evan made a couple of weak attempts at an apology the wildebeest rampaged back into the underbrush of a thousand tourists, not to be seen again.

Turns out, the Wavslav had used the wrong restroom and was walking out as the wild woman was walking in. This apparently set of some alarms in her moral file cabinet. I immediately surmised that she was not a very big Ally McBeal fan which takes the term coed-John to the nth degree. Neal and Sus and I sat around the table pondering the possibilities. That "kane" and "wahine" thing can be confusing to new visitors and sometimes the symbols can show the stick figures in a muu-muu and the shorter lava-lava. This could explain it. Yet when we ventured to the restrooms ourselves we were surprised to see two large, bold signs reading MEN and WOMEN. Upon going back to the table and pressing Evan a bit harder we are able to ascertain that my herbal medicine rendered the poor boy temporarily blind and unable to read. I therefore take full responsibility for creating this humorous segment of our adventure.

After that we took pictures and said our goodbyes. Evan and I surfed Pops at Waikiki later in the afternoon............no great shakes.

All in all I had a phenomenal good time in the big city and the Oahu crew knows all about aloha. It was like getting instant friends. I hope to be able to return the greeting to them someday on Kauai.

I also got to see the biggest hardware store I have ever seen..............a Home Depot. I am now the proud owner of Malibu lighting and a bunch of other stuff.

A'hui hou from the Oahu Ho'ike,
Denny
 
 
 
 

Sunday August 19, 2001
6:45a-9:30a
South East Shore
Avg wave face 3-5 feet
Sets wave face occ 6+ feet (mostly SE)
Mostly Sunny; Moderate sideshore winds

Solo, Makan later, Evan, Mike Akima, other Rich (tube), Greg, Brian, Cameron. Big backwards off the lip drop... Avg sesh for Bud
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Friday August 24, 2001
2:00p - 4:15p
South East Shore
Avg wave face 2-3 feet
Sets wave face occ 3.5 feet (mostly SE)
Partly Sunny; Moderate sideshore winds

Very likely the smallest waves I have ridden all summer. Almost drove away but needed to at least get wet. Gutless wind drivel, barely surfable. Just fooled around for a couple hours. Poor session.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sunday August 26, 2001
7:15a-10:30a
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face occ 6+ feet (mostly NE)
Mostly Sunny; Calm & glassy turning light & variable later in the morning

Decent lil waves, good direction, a few 7 foot faces coming through early in the session, but mostly chest to head high. The sets were nice in that there were usually 3-5 waves per; But growing very inconsistent as the morning progressed. 9am hardly anymore sets, by 10am it was almost flat. The crowd was the biggest downer, the lineup was packed with the clueless and rude. A few of the regular faces and myself were shaking heads in disbelief. Poor session.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Friday August 31, 2001
2:00p - 4:45p
South East Shore
Avg wave face 3-4 feet
Sets wave face occ 5-6 feet (very SE)
Partly Sunny; Strong sideshore winds

big high tide blazing winds, solid head high windswell, strange direction seemed all easterly. fair session