Still healing form last weeks injury. . . Here's my Sideline Report-
Neal was already parked outside my complex when I walked out at the scheduled time, 5:15am. Threw my camcorder and a beach chair into the SpongeMobile and we headed out. Late night email from Makani said he'd be leaving soon after we did and would touch base via cell phone in the morning.
The previous eve, the NW Hawaii buoy had been posting wave heights rising from 13.5 feet with 25 second swell periods. We went west with visions of double, possibly triple overhead northwesterly swell wrap. Forecast was for another day of strong trades, but so far it was fairly calm. Prevalent ENE winds (trades) is side shore for most Northshore spots; It's straight offshore at many west side spots.
A stop at --------, which requires a big swell to even show, looked like it had whitewater from overhead waves (it was still dark). Big enough to surf, but breaking all at once and too close to the rocky shore. Next stop Makaha, where we ran into Doug F. (legendary swell forecaster and body surfer extraordinaire)- and chatted about how it looked like the swell had not really hit yet. My guess, looking at the whitewater in the dark, was overhead and a half- but fully mushed out. A half dozen surfers were already making their way across the sand
It's never really been a "secret spot", but I'll go without mentioning which direction we went or how many stops we made before we finally pulled up to --------. It was light enough to see a decent overhead left peeling, and no other surfers were around yet. A few more sets came through that looked even better, so we drove away- backtracking about 15 minutes- until we could get cell phone reception to let Makani know where we'd be at.
We pulled back up to --------- and Makani showed up a few minutes later. As usual Neal was in the water in about two seconds, jumping in at (what I thought was) an unusual spot, but worked perfectly for him. It didn't take long for cars with boards to start showing up, at least it appeared that the waves were picking up too.
It made me sick to have to sit and watch, but I figured it's better than possibly missing out on much more if my injury became infected. Neal and Makani were catching excellent waves but the crowd actually got pretty thick real fast. About 30 minutes into the session, my eye caught something bouncing in the surf about 75 yards down the coast. It took about half a second to figure out it was Neal's longboard (snapped leash). Guaranteed massive damage if it gets slammed against the lava rock shore, so I abandoned the camera and ran/hobbled as best I could to intercept it.
I managed a fairly quick
scramble down the head high cliff and out into the shorebreak. Somehow
just before impact, the board must have snagged surface chop and popped
out the back of the whitewater that was pushing it to shore. I couldn't
grab it before the washing machine gave it at least one good smack against
a rock (a fist sized ding), but I at least saved it from too
much further damage.
Neal went back out on his bodyboard and got right back into his groove, favoring the less crowded & faster breaking rights (although usually closing out too). Makani was in top form also, waiting for the best waves and ripping turns on his 7'0" like it was a 5'10" (check out Makani killing it in this video clip (~780k)
The surf continued to build and the crowd thinned quickly. At the peak of the morning pack, around 7:30, there were at least 15 surfers out. By 9:00, it had dropped to about 5, including Neal & Makani. I was amazed at how many of the surfers were in over their heads. Several *barely* made it out; One never made it out and had to climb out of the water right in front of me. Bloody feet and badly dinged board to add injury to insult. Those done surfing and coming back in would get stuck in the back & forth action of incoming waves and outgoing surge. They would wait for a lull in the sets then try to sprint for the small break in the cliff, which was also the focal point of the pounderous shorebreak. While it is unnerving to ride white water over shallow water & *right* up to the rocks, it was nearly impossible to paddle against the outgoing water flow from waves that just broke on the shore.
Operator error led to a dead camcorder battery by 8:30, so I missed many of the best waves Makani and Neal had (the sun came out right then too, of course). Sorry guys. By 9:30, sets on the outer reefs were breaking consistently and I could see massive barrels breaking waaaay off the coast. Many miles away, huge wave top spray & whitewater was clearly visible from monsters crunching onto Kaena Point.
Here's another vid clip (~650k) from later in the morning as the waves got bigger- unknown surfer tags a nice one, note the bigger set right behind that caught everyone inside. . .
The 5:00pm (Saturday eve) buoy reading was 19.5 feet at 20 seconds. Yowza.
Good surfing to you,
Bud
Sunday
December 12, 1999
8:00a-11:00a
North Shore
Avg wave face 5-6
feet
Sets wave face 7-11
feet
Overcast; Light offshore
winds
5:15am email check revealed
that Neal hit the road super early. Since I overslept a bit, I decided
to wait for his surf report from the beach before deciding which board
to load. He said it looked double-o or less, based on whitewater gleaming
in the predawn
darkness, and turned out
to be right on the nose. He called again from Pipe, saying he was going
to snag a few before he was chased out for the contest.
Dropping west swell so I had that vee something spot in mind, but I stopped at Ehukai to check out the surf & condtions. Found surfbud Justin hanging out under one of the tents watching the clusterfuck in the water. Pipe was on fire, excellent direction and it looked like 10-14+ foot faces barreling & crunching- with an occasional backwash to spice thing up even more. A bunch of big names were in the water warming up- along with about 40 others pressing each other deeper and deeper for a piece of the action. In the 10-15 minutes we watched, I was floored 3-4 times by incredible rides. And a dozen or so "toad"s.
Neal came out of the water
and the three of us decided to head up the coast. It was still <unfinished>
Check out Neal's write up and pics!
Wednesday
December 15, 1999
3:00p-5:45p
North Shore
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 8-11 feet,
several much bigger bombs, then dropping
Overcast; Light offshore
winds
Makani & I caught Pipe/Backdoor on fire, along with 40 or so of our "closest" surfbuds. Ranging from head high to double overhead plus, infested with kooks, pros & photographers, it was a zoo. I got snuffed in closeout tube at backdoor that smacked me on the reef HARD. I thought for sure I had cracked my noggin open & dislocated me shoulder. Cut/lump on da head turned out to be small (the ringing in my ears eventually went away); Baseball sized raspberry on my shoulder, but otherwise ok.
Exchanged some "howzits" & "long time no sees" with some old friends. . .Sunny Garcia was killing it as usual; A bunch of other faces I recognized as pros were surfing well also. I was impressed with Davey (sp?) Miller's Backdoor tube rushing performance too.
Amid the fierce pack Makani was tagging the sets regularly, and scored *major* tubage All the while I was having another bungle fest. Later we paddled down to Ehukai sandbars and I did a little better. A little.
Good Surfing to you,
Bud
Friday
December 17, 1999
2:45p-5:45p
North Shore /keas/
Avg wave face 3-5 feet
Sets wave face 5-7 feet,
Overcast; Light variable
winds
(solo-massive
kook session)
Sunday
December 19, 1999
7:00a-10:00a
"------" West Shore /stinkys/
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 6-10 feet,
dropping
Sunny; Moderate side-offshore
winds
Round 1- Me, Rich & MM headed out early in my truck; Anticipated swell never really materialized. Disappointing 1.5xoh at semisecret spot. Wiped out, board hit the top of my foot, cracked the tail & gashed top of left foot. . .MM stuck to the lefts by himself; Me & Rich stayed at the middle peak, having a mediocre session. Met FE & Josh, Darren H & Johnston. . . surfed 3hrs hoping the swell was just late but never showed. 6'4"
Sunday
December 19, 1999
11:00a-1:45p
"------" West Shore /MPT/
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 7-11 feet
Sunny; Moderate side-offshore
winds
Round 2- Refueled on powerbars, banana bread & water- then jumped back in the water at MPT. Averaged solid 1.5xoh with some 2xoh- typical MPT peaks fading then reforming into super fun overhead walls rippable all the way into the bay. Rich & MM having trouble putting it together while I enjoy a good session. Darren H. & Johnston again too. Surfed nearly 3hrs. 6'4"
Monday
December 20, 1999
7:00a-9:30a
North Shore
Avg wave face 6-7 feet
Sets wave face 7-12 feet
Clear; Moderate side-offshore
winds
DP 2.5 hrs- Me & Rich jumped in at Jocko's after checking the main upper & lower NS spots. Left message for Sponge & FE about our location. West swell. 2xoh on some sets, nice walls, some good rights, easy crowd. Rich scores excellent barrel (riding his new 7'9"). Ran into "Ching" bros. . Sponge paddled out BB after surfing Pipe. FE showed up too. 7'0"
Wednesday
December 22, 1999
3:00p-5:45p
North Shore
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 7-11 feet
Cloudy; Moderate side-onshore
winds
Afternoon solo sesh 2.75 hrs Lanis. 1-1.5xoh in bad direction jumbled mess, but had a blast with no one else out the whole time. Surfed middle closeout peak on the back up 6'4" (main stick cracked tail needs repair), worked well.
Thursday
December 23, 1999
7:15a-11:15a
East Shore
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 5-8 feet
Cloudy; Almost no winds/Clearing
late morning then overcast again
Kona winds. Me, Rich & MM have a marathon (4+hours) sesh in classic glass at an east shore sandbar. Chest to 1.5xoh, never more than a few others out. Took pics standing in the shorepound. Backup 6'4"
Christmas
1999
7:30a-11:30a
South West Shore /plains/
Avg wave face 2-4 feet
Sets wave face 5 feet
Cloudy; Moderate side-onshore
winds
Me & Rich headed west hoping for the maxed out NS swell wrap at the Jetty (nada), ended up surfing 3 hrs in "Plains" windslop. We had a blast, both of us surfing well in waist to chest reforms. A few others out on longboards. Top of foot and shoulder wounds from previous sessions still not healed. Back up 6'4"
Sunday
December 26, 1999
7:15a-8:15a
Haleiwa- North Shore
Avg wave face 7-8 feet
Sets wave face 9-13 feet
Cloudy; Moderate side-offshore
winds
West swell. Rich overslept
so I headed out solo. Neal called from Pipe said he was jumping in there.
I checked Haleiwa - it was classic & solid 2xoh on the sets so I jumped
in. Noticed a judging stand & other contest stuff being thrown together
on the beach. Typical Haleiwa trickiness- current & powerful fast breaking
rights. Lots of wide eyed contest surfers trying to get in a pre-heat wave
or two. Friend in the lineup told me the 30th annual Haleiwa Invitational
was
a "go." Brought back
good memories of similar conditions during the finals of the men's division
of the same contest back in the winter of '82/83 (Bud=1stplace). Tagged
6-7 choice waves before the contest (~7-8am) & left the water very
happy. 7'0"
Monday
December 27, 1999
2:45-5:30p
North Shore
Avg wave face 3-5 feet
Sets wave face 6-8 feet
Cloudy; Blazing straight
onshore winds
2.5 hrs with Rich at Lanis. Gray skies, mega washing machine seas, blazing straight onshore winds (cold!). Empty parking lot, no one else around. Jumped in anyway and ended up having a great time. Surfed the double-up reforms on the south end- looking for those smooth pockets to get vertical. Rich really getting used to the new stick & ripping. At home during lunch, I threw some sun cure on the crack on the tail of my "main" board (still haven't put in in for repair) so I could ride it. Stoked on the performance. One guy paddled out just before we left. 6'4"
Thursday
December 30, 1999
1:00p-4:15p
East Shore /kmbh/
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 7-10 feet
Mostly sunny; Light variable
winds
(Makani,
Rich came later)
Friday
December 31, 1999
7:15a--9:30a
North Shore /Jock/
Avg wave face 7-9 feet
Sets wave face 11-14
feet, a few bombs
Overcast, then clearing;
Light variable winds
(Rich
long tube- me nice cavern on the rights)