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February 2000

Saturday February 5, 2000
East Shore /P-R/
Avg wave face 2-3 feet
Sets wave face 3-4.5 feet
Sunny, light variable wind

Sunday February 6, 2000
East Shore /P-R/
Avg wave face 2-3 feet
Sets wave face 3-4.5 feet
Sunny, light variable wind

Thursday January 10, 2000
2:00p-5:00pm
West Shore /ili/
Avg wave face 4-6 feet
Sets wave face 5-8 feet
Sunny, light variable wind

(Rich, reef dance, mediocre sesh, typical peaks, Brazilians)

Saturday February 12, 2000
7:30a- 10:00a
North Shore /Haleiwa/
Avg wave face 6-8 feet
Sets wave face 10-14 feet, increasing
Overcast, light variable wind

(Makan stoked, Neal later, undergunned, yellow tank Allen, rip-drilled)

Sunday February 13, 2000
1:00p- 1:45p
West Shore /stinks/
Avg wave face 6-7 feet
Sets wave face 8-10 feet
Sunny, light onshore wind

(Cake & Butter, later Guardshacks)

Tuesday February 15, 2000
2:00p - 5:00p
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 7-8 feet
Overcast, moderate sideshore winds

(Solo fun sesh, looong floater, no crowd-closeouts, tourist lock out)

Saturday, February 19, 2000
7:30a-10:30a
North Shore
(NW Hawaii Buoy- 12PM 19 feet at 20 seconds)
Sunny, moderate side-offshore winds

Me and my brother were out this morning, catching a few waves with 6'4's before the incoming mackers hit. Early morning  warble mixed with an extra low tide, mostly head to overhead and a half; 5 other surfers out (lots of cars parked- people  watching, waiting). We knew that it was on the way - the midnight reading on the NW HI buoy was 5.2' at 13 seconds. . .3AM it registered 11.5' at 25 seconds and climbing fast.

By 9:30, we'd been caught off guard by a few double-o's, but nothing too unusual. Everyone else had gone in. We were having fun but the outgoing rip was getting noticeably stronger. At just about 10:00, a monster set hit the indicator (Himalayas) that *almost* connected with the outer reefs of Laniakea/Holtons. The 4-5 guys that were out there must have been slammed; My
brother saw it early enough and managed to barely squeak past on the end. I was about 10 yards behind him and took at least 6 bonecrushers on the head. I was determined to duck them and dipped as deep as I could, but each one ripped my stick from my hands while underwater. Long period gave me enough time to semi-recover but I was losing ground fast. The 3rd or 4th one hit me hard and square, ragdolling me and smacking me back-first against the bottom still holding my stick. . . .and forced a mouthful of sandy water into my nose and down my throat - faaaaaaak. Pushed off the bottom and came up gagging as I reeled in my tombstoning stick. Luckily the last few weren't as bad (mostly 'cuz I had been pushed so far in), but my sinuses felt like I had breathed acid.

After that episode, it quieted down to almost nothing for a long time. In fact if you pulled up to the beach at that time, it'd be hard to believe someone describing what had plowed through a few minutes earlier. We were pretty far out, but in the (now) calm ocean we could easily see the 4-5 surfers from Himalayas exiting the water almost simultaneously. We agreed that that was probably a good idea, since it would be a complete wash out very soon. The rip was now tearing apart whatever clean sections might have formed so we made a concerted effort to grab the next catchable wave and ride it in.

Tomorrow morning should be interesting.

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Sunday February 20, 2000
7:30a - 11:00a
West Shore
Avg wave face 6-7 feet
Sets wave face 9-11 feet, occ bigger sets
Sunny; calm- turning to very light side-on shores

Brother Rich was working a graveyard shift so he was out of action this day.

Right on time (6:30am), MM picked me up in his plush "new" (just slightly used) surfmobile and we headed west to meet Neal, who had probably been surfing in the dark for a couple hours already. 35 Minutes later we came around the tip of the peninsula *just* in time to see a lone figure drop into a sweet, oily smooth, 1.5xoh A-frame peak and work it to the edge of the reef. . .MM and I let out an almost simultaneous "ooOOooh maaan!" as he struggled to drive and watch him surf.

I brought a camcorder in case conditions turned out favorable to videotaping, and it looked like it would be excellent. Makani volunteered to man the cam for the first hour, then I would take over. I was lucky he was familiarizing himself with my cam while I tried to enter the water, 'cause my performance woulda made $$ from one of them "funniest videos" shows.

Timing is critical at any entry point here; the jump-off I chose is a bit trickier, but quicker if done right. . . .If done right. It's a section of flat shelf that angles down like a boat ramp into the shorepound. Although the "ramp" is mostly flat, the surface is lined with small channels, an inch or two wide and an few inches deep running perpendicular to shore, making miniature rivers of wave
runoff. The edges of these rivulets are very sharp; inside they are crammed with small vana (spiny sea urchins). The little black s.o.b.'s and their needle spines, perfectly  conforming to every nook- waiting for a wayward toe or fingertip to pass below the top edge of the rocky canals.

Watching for sets, I carefully took several quick steps toward the water, walking in the outgoing flow of the last surge. The next wave broke and I decided to "stand my ground" for the waist-high whitewater rushing toward me. Beeg Kine Mistake. I was too high on the slope to jump into the ocean, and the surge was too strong to keep standing.

Next thing I'm being swept in an arc along the incline. Semi crouched in a thigh deep blast of ocean, moving as if on a fast conveyor belt, both feet and one hand dragging across the bottom, the other hand trying to keep my board safe, until I was finally deposited onto the rocks. MM later said he had turned away, but thought something might have happened when saw me shaking my head in disbelief, standing soaked and frazzled on the rocks.

Coulda been worse, (at least I knew enough not to have my leash on my ankle - lucky I didn't bite through the damn thing!) but I didn't go into the details of my fiasco with Neal when I finally joined him in the lineup. As I non-chalantly picked at the black dots of vana spines in my fingertips, I casually mentioned getting caught off guard coming out.

With just the two of us in the water, some fairly solid waves coming in and Makani taking video from shore, I soon forgot about my little "incident." Scored a few decent lefts and rights, as did Sponge. The surf was a bit disorganized and lumpy, plus the high tide backwash was messing with the inside section, but overall it was pretty sweet. Things cleaned up a bit as the sun peaked over the mountain and the tide dropped, but the sets became more inconsistent. As soon as you gave up waiting and paddled toward the inner line up, they'd show up and break just out of reach for a take off.

Eventually I caught one in, to take over behind the camera. As I was timing my exit, ducking whitewater just off the shoreline, I hit a shallow rock and gouged a 2" chunk out of my rail. Sheeeeeit.

By now it was about 8:45 and 6-7 others had discovered our session, so unfortunately MM joined the surf at the worst time- inconsistent and semi-crowded. In the waning surf, I didn't get too much vid of MM; he said between the small crowd and lack of sets he was fully frustrated. Neal came in about 20 minutes later and took over the cam. I jumped back in (no problems this time) with my damaged stick and nabbed a few more before Neal had to take off for home.

Not as good as we hoped but nothing to scoff at, for sure!

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Saturday February 26, 2000
8:30a - 11:30a
North Shore /c's reef then straps/
Avg wave face 6-8 feet
Sets wave face 9-12 feet, occ much bigger sets
Overcast then clearing; moderate side-off shores

Sunday February 27, 2000
6:45a - 9:30a
North Shore /silva/
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 7-10 feet
Overcast; Calm turning light side shore

Tuesday February 29, 2000
2:30p - 5:00p
Sunset Beach, North Shore
Avg wave face 10-12 feet
Sets wave face 14-17 feet, occ bombs
Sunny; Ferocious offshore winds

We packed my truck with our spears (MM 8', Rich 7'9", Bud 7'4") and headed north looking for some afternoon juice.

Pulled up to Sunset and it was going off! *And* there was only about half dozen surfers in the lineup. Waitaminute. . .what's wrong with this picture? The judging tent just up the beach explained it real quickly. We were completely disappointed and just about to pull away when MM yelled to say howzit to a friend who was in the contest. He came up to us and said the last heat of the day was in the water. Alright!

As we headed to the water, I quickly rubbed nearly a half bar of wax on my virgin gun (picked it up last Saturday). I'm pretty sure the contest stand on the beach kept much of the usual crowd away for at least an extra half hour. Caught the rip out to the lineup; said howdy to Brock L. who was already pouncing on the biggest sets as soon as the final horn for the contest blew.

The lineup filled in pretty quick, but as usual 95% of the pack at both the west bowl and north peak stayed way outside. This lets them avoid (most of the time) getting drilled but it also lets a ton of great waves pass to the few of us who decided to take the chance of sitting in the impact zone of the biggest sets. Fact is, most of the people sitting farthest out (or in the channel) do not catch anything, anyway. The biggest sets are *always* monopolized by a few guys on ridiculously huge, barely turnable, 5"
thick, rhino chasers that look more like paddle boards. You'd think it was Mavericks or something. One consolation was the incredibly strong wind was taking an extra toll on those airplane wings :-)

After blowing a couple turns trying to get the feel of my new stick, I finally dialed into a nasty wedge that I snaked from my brother. My evil laughter stopped as I hit the bottom and the long section ahead started pitching and sucking out much faster than I anticipated. I laid into the bottom turn early, barely keeping my head as the lip whizzed over me. My upward momentum almost took me too high in the barrel, but the wave was big enough to give me time to compensate. Dunno if he took the shot but the lone water photog was up close and personal while I had a long and cavernous tube. I had moved way forward on the board, so by the time I came out I kinda just rode flying straight out onto the shoulder and plopped over, Stoked.

Didn't see much of Rich or MM's waves, the waves break over such a huge area. Rich later said he was fully pulling his
hair out over the crowd.

I had 5-6 more huge barrels but was much less successful at my exits. Finally one lip smacked and slam dunked me hard
against my board. I thought my knee had been torn apart; leg felt like it was just hanging from below the knee. I couldn't move it. Fuuuuck!  I was getting worked but I couldn't do anything but hang onto my stick as the pain and surf washed over me. Just then, MM rode a wave past me. From the channel paddling back out he saw that I was wincing and still hanging on my board, getting drilled. He paddled within talking distance and I told him I'd live but I think I may have dislocated my leg below the knee, if that was possible.

20 minutes later I still nursing my leg, much of the pain had eased and I had feeling again but I didn't think I could surf anymore today. I would regret it later, but I decided to stick it out a bit longer, inspired by the likes of Myles Padaca (I'd never seen him surf in person before)- he was killing it! And Rochelle Ballard had the barrel of the day on a nearly 3xoh beast from the north peak. Wow!

I was still debating whether to go in or try to get a few pics with the disposable camera in my pocket when a set of west bowl bombs popped up, salt water spray flying dozens of  feet off the tops. It was clear no one near me would make it past, and only a few sitting way outside scratched over these. Knowing I was going to get punished, I actually paddled deeper to avoid the brunt of the lip. Then I decided to at least *try* to duck the first one. It blasted me hard, holding me and my stick under water for a loooong time. I came up gasping, just in time to see that the next wave had doubled-up, which kept it from breaking until it was on top of me. The lip on this two story freak was massive. I had a fraction of a second to get my head below water, even then I was pretty sure my new stick was history. There was nothing I could do.

When the dust settled, I was shaking my head in disbelief at my bad luck. MM paddled over when he noticed I was sitting
way too low in the water. I leaned off the back end of my stick and showed him the clean break. The front half was no
where to be seen (he later found it for me, onshore at Val' Reef).

 Couldn't paddle in against the rip so I had to get into the whitewater, which was another pounding with ragged fiberglass to deal with. I made it to shore just as Myles  Padaca was leaving the water with the broken halves of his stick too.

That stick would have been a keeper.

Bud