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December 2001
December 2001
Saturday December 1, 2001
7:30a-10:30a
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 4-6 feet
Sets wave face occ 7 feet (NW)
Overcast; Calm to moderate side-offshore winds
Random Notes:
Paddled out with Colin. First hour was a blast. Conditions & waves
deteriorated quickly after that. Strong current, outgoing rip near Holtons
chopping up north peak. Larry Mcguire came out. Poor sesh for Bud
Sunday December 2, 2001
12:45p-3:30p
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 6-7 feet
Sets wave face 8-9 feet, occ bigger (ENE)
Mostly cloudy; BLAZING strong side-offshore winds
Random Notes:
Call from Rich. Surprising size and great swell direction,
ultra consistent lots of waves, some looooong rides and rippable walls
to be had. Rich surfed morning. Mcguire, paddle glove Rick, Sutherland.,
Cyril..... strong current and relentless poundings wore me out. Board felt
like it was sinking in the soup, dragged backwards all session. The last
hour the wind got so strong it was ridiculous... every take off blinded
by salt spray. Scored a fat wall cover up paddle glove Rick called the
wave of the day. Overall a very poor session for Bud. Jocko was in the
right spot at the right time all the time, impressive.
Pretty intense session this morning in some big stormy Haleiwa. Never more than 3-5 people at any one period. On top of non-stop paddling against the infamous current, Neal and I took some serious beatings (everyone did, actually) by some double oh (and a few plus) bombs. Neal rushing with a borrowed 7'10", right in the thick of it the whole time.
My first 4-5 waves were smokers and I was having a great time, until a severe pounding by really big set instilled a dose of apprehension. The rest of the morning I tended to be more concerned about what might be stacked up behind the wave I was paddling for (if I missed it) rather than concentrating on getting down the face and over the ledge (the sideshore wind was raging!).
If you ever stopped paddling against the current, within seconds you are sucked toward the harbor and into the danger zone. Just paddling toward the peak for a wave was a big commitment. Anyone who's surfed here with some size knows what I'm talking about. As two hours in the water approached, the repeated thrashings began to border on ridiculous and our wave count had dwindled so we decided look for a last one.
On the beach there were many people watching, but not many takers; and while we were out, those that did, didn't stay out very long (surf at Haleiwa is very deceptive from shore). Sat for a few minutes with the digital camera but as luck would have it, no sets came in before we had to leave.
Poor lighting, too far and lack of zoom on my digital camera but here's
a few pics. Can tell the wind was blazing though. One poor dude paddled
out and within minutes, got pounded and board snapped without catching
a wave. Here he is just as he reached the shore
http://www.wavelust.com/bsl/120701f.jpg
http://www.wavelust.com/bsl/120701f.jpg
Sunday December 9, 2001
1:00p-3:45p
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 6, a few lil bigger (NW)
Mostly Sunny; Moderate to strong side-offshore winds
Ran into friend Tony (Todd/Liz), having fun and tearing it up despite recent shoulder surgery... My first few waves were pretty good then went into an hour long slump, almost threw my hands up & went in. Waves seemed to disappear for that hour too. The final hour, things picked up a bit, and I tagged several sweet rides. One in particular sticks in my mind.... nice, slightly overhead wave, called off the shoulder hoppers as I took off behind the peak, gaining buku speed prepping for a roundhouse... kinda went off the back of the wave and carved into a sweet, lead hand dragging, full rail arc all the way around until I was doing a backside bottom turn, then lifted/snapped the board high off the foamball; it was a long ride that allowed 3-4 more snaps before I finished it off too. I was all smiles on that one.
Later, a friend from way back, JA, joined the line up. Stoked to rap
with him again and to see he's still surfing so well.
Friday December 14, 2001
2:45p-5:00p
North Shore /Rocky Pt/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet (NE)
Overcast, raining; Moderate side-offshore winds
Headed out solo to the country for a quick eve session as the winds finally eased. Caught Rocky Rights almost empty for over an hour (medium crowd filled in about 5pm). Totally surprised to find very good conditions and nice little rights winding down the shelf. Re-aggravated persistent foot injuries on the reef walk; between surfing and wearing shoes to work, the usual reef gashes on my feet hardly get a chance to heal and hurt like hell.
Bungled a few pretty bad but a string of solid rides made for a good
session overall. Very little showing on the buoy and surfline cams, I almost
didn't suit up. But I'm glad I listened to my wife who insisted I go (too
little surfing makes Bud such a Grinch).
Saturday December 15, 2001
6:45a-9:15a
North Shore /Rocky Pt/
Avg wave face 3-4 feet
Sets wave face 4.5 feet (NW)
Overcast; Moderate side-offshore winds
Hopped in with brother Rich and headed out hoping for the best - the
forecast/buoys were not looking good. We were among the first few people
in the water at Rockys, barely surfable waist to chest high, and since
very few spots were doing anything better, by 8am it was way too crowded
for the size. I think both of us had a forgetable session, but better than
not surfing at all. Somehow lost the disposable camera when jumping off
the reef into the surf. Lucky only about 3 shots taken on it (I don't think
there was anything really good).
Sunday December 16, 2001
2:30p-4:45p
Makaha
Avg wave face 6-7 feet
Sets wave face 8-9 feet, occ bigger (NW)
Mostly sunny; Light variable/offshore winds
Me and Rich decided to head west, checked part way up the coast and ended up at Makaha. First pulled up it was very consistent, uncrowded (sets washing through) and pretty fun. Was walking to the condo for a reef entry and ran into Rusty K. as he rode a last wave to the sand, chatted for a few minutes on the beach.
We had not been out for an hour before it started dropping off incredibly
fast. The last hour, no sets at all and the pack exploded to ridiculous
proportions. By then the biggest waves were maybe head high (even those
were rare), the crowd was COMPLETELYout of control and basically no waves.
Logjam kook fest 2-4 people on every bump in the ocean. I sat completely
dried hair for nealry 20 minutes, eventually threw my hands up and didn't
bother looking even for whitewater to belly ride, just paddled in. Rich
was stoked with a bunch of waves he nailed from the middle.
8:30a-11:30a
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 6 feet, a few lil bigger (NW)
Mostly Sunny; Light variable-offshore winds
Mediocre session, fair waves dropping...Me & Rich (tinkle boy)...
Neal surfed Pipe.
3:00p-5:30p
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 6-8 feet
Sets wave face 10-14 feet (NW)
Cloudy; Moderate side-offshore winds
Solo run ; at first was all washed out and maybe head high so I sat
in my car watched for 1/2 hour... glad I went out. Suuuuper fun session
in some pretty heavy action. Increasing swell, powerful & fast waves....
no one but me & Phil out at the peak near Holtons. Only 2-3 others
out & they sat on the inside end. Squeaked into some screamers, my
last wave was killer. Several tow in crews buzzing around, slinging guys
into the sets on the outer reef and Avalanche.
20 feet 17 seconds at buoy 1
City and County crews had closed off access to the end of the road,
denying anyone from entering the big stretch of coastline
we intended on surfing. First time I have ever seen this happen. An
old friend from way back, Danny Kim, was one of lifeguards
standing watch at the gate, but no one was gonna slide past. A couple
shots of the waves breaking next to the closed gate
http://www.wavelust.com/bsl/122601a.jpg
http://www.wavelust.com/bsl/122601b.jpg
From where we stood, we could see massive, open ocean waves breaking
off of Kaena Pt. and **d *** was just reeling. Faaak.
http://www.wavelust.com/bsl/122601.jpg
http://www.wavelust.com/bsl/122601c.jpg
Brother Rich brought his 7'9" and hopped in at Makaha, I had my 6'3"
so I stayed on shore to try to get some video. The glare was too much and
I was filming directly into the setting sun; plus the waves were breaking
about 1/2 mile out. About a dozen or so people spread around the point;
I ended up looking for Rich with the binocs (I know his style and he was
the only goofyfooter that I saw catch any waves) and pretty much aiming
the camera at whatever decent set came in and. Way way too far away, but
here's a crude vid clip, a set wave from the point pushing over 3xoh. At
1/2 way through, look real close you should see a speck drop in behind
a section, disappear under the shadow of the lip, then reappear for a second
toward the bottom. Sorry about the huge files but I'm winging this (3meg)
http://www.wavelust.com/real/122601r.mpg
Here's another, Rich on his last wave, catching it from the inside
(2.8meg)
http://www.wavelust.com/real/122601r2.mpg
Bud flopping around at ******, camera battery died after 2 waves; the
tiny surf sucked here anyway. At least I had it to myself
(1meg) http://www.wavelust.com/real/122601b.asf
Good surfing to you,
Bud
3:00p-5:30p
East Shore /pr/
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 6-7 feet, a few little bigger (NW)
Partly sunny; Moderate offshore winds
Hooked up with Syril for a few hours of crowded but decent east side
action. Took a few minutes of video before jumping in. Slapped together
a short clip - unknown surfers 28 sec(1.8 meg)
http://www.wavelust.com/real/123001.asf
