Home  |  Photo Index  |  Journal Index  |  Misc

January 2000

Saturday January 1, 2000
2:30-4:30pm
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet
Sunny, light variable wind

The new years eve celebration here turned out to be much less of a bang than I expected. After dinner last night we were cruised some local neighborhoods & watched rockets and other exploding things- it was nice to see so many people cleaning their fireworks mess as they created it.

I slept late this morning, crawled out of bed after 8am with an afternoon session in mind. I knew the swell was dying fast but I was looking forward to hitting the beach with my wife and kicking back on the sand in between a couple short surfs.

Mellow crowd spread out over the two - three peaks. Waves started out a consistent head high with a few bigger. A very light onshore wind made it easy to get into the waves and provided that great little crumble at the top that just begs to be slapped. After yesterday morning in solid 2xoh on my seven-oh, my 6'4" felt like a skateboard. Plus, I was having one of those "on" sessions where it seemed I could do no wrong. . . in the right place at the right time, turning hard and fast. A few bottom turns were square enough that it felt like I was going back the other way as I went up the face to snap. Pulled off a couple nice long floaters too, covering good distance on the back of the falling lip before turning back in.

I came in after an hour or so and flopped around with the wife in the knee high breakers just offshore. Tried to get her to balance on my board long enough so I could push into a whitewater belly ride, but no luck. At least she came away with new respect for "that white foamy water" :-) we have to negotiate so often.

This first day of the new year was a gem. The normally cloudy mountain ranges were incredibly clear. Leftover smoke of a million fireworks and very light winds meant a haze in the air. Cloudless day with a slight smoky haze- the colors in the sky as the sun set was. . . something to see.

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Sunday January 2, 2000
10:00a-1:00pm
North Shore /silva/
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet
Sunny, light variable wind

(Makan, small crowd, Walter G., Rights across bay)

Tuesday January 4, 2000
11:00a-1:30pm
North Shore /silva/
Avg wave face 2-3 feet
Sets wave face 4 feet
Sunny, light variable wind

(Rich, leashless, no crowd)

Sunday January 9, 2000
1:00p- 3:30p
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5 feet, few lil bigger
Partly sunny, light variable wind

Relaxing afternoon, tripped with da wife and nephew on the beach with a borrowed body board from Sponge. Surfed a solid couple hours, having a blast in the small waves and surfing well imo. The inside corner was packed with newbies on logs; Managed the whole session without losing my leashless board.

Wednesday January 12, 2000
8:45a - 11:30a
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 7
Partly sunny; windless, later turning light side-off
shore

Went to work super early, wearing surf shorts and with my stick in the truck. I got a couple hours of paperwork done before Rich picked me up at my office for a mid morning run to the country.

Pulling up beachside, the small north bump looked so sweet- we were surprised to see overhead waves with good direction- and only four or five surfers out. We decided on another leashless session and then hit the water running.

The whole morning turned out to be a blast. Both of us were "on" and catching lots of waves without being hogs (at least from my perspective). Most of the lineup was made up of friends and familiar faces for us- many smiling conversations and encouraging hoots.

Early on, I was milking everything I caught without holding back. Mid session I suffered a string of flubs; bungling an off the lip or catching a rail and losing my board toward the end of the ride. . . on three consecutive waves! Each one resulted in probably a 75-100 yard swim. Even so, it didn't bum me out at all. All the swimming was kind of invigorating and I soon got back into another groove in the surf.

Brother Rich was on fire, being a bit more patient and selective than me, scoring hot waves and killing them all morning. Flying across fast sections and throwing vertical snaps all over the place. He definitely has his new board wired.

Looks like a steady flow of mostly northerly swellage on tap for the next several days . Might even get some semi-juice for the weekend. . . Stoked!

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Saturday January 15, 2000
7:00a- 10:00a
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 10-13 feet
Sets wave face 14-17 feet, bigger bombs +/- 20 minutes
Cloudy, raining; Blazing offshore winds

Neal couldn't make it; so me & brother Rich piled in with MM and we headed north at 0600. Arrived at the spot 35 minutes
later and were surprised to see the dirt lot almost full with vehicles already. As it became light enough to see, we realized quickly that most were still watching from inside their cars; the surf and conditions looked mean. The wind was almost straight offshore but it must have been blowing at 30mph plus.

The straight north swell direction is good for this spot, but not for most of the "name" spots that need at least some westerly bump, so we jumped in without too much hesitation here. Many others were doing the same and it was pretty crowded by the time the sun came over the mountain. However, the three of us noticed that less than an hour later, by 7:45am, the crowd had thinned at least by half! Most of the people who paddled out at dawn didn't last very long. For those unfamiliar, judging the wave size from shore is very deceiving, and when it's gets over 2xoh, you're so far from shore that you don't realize the current is always moving you where you don't want to be. Getting caught inside wears you down real fast.

The wind was fierce! Out in the lineup, it was blowing almost the same direction as the current, so you had to paddle against it continuously just to stay in position. Eyes burning with salt spray made the simplest take-off an effort, and the late ones ultra critical. There were many scary moments for lots of surfers.

Very few of the crowd actually surf from the outermost peak because it's difficult to make the outer-to-middle section. But the biggest waves start there, and on a north swell there's potential for incredibly long, smokin' rides. Plus if you make that sketchy section, you're already up & flying uncontested when you approach the middle where 75% of the people wait to catch waves. Otoh, if you eat it or are forced to kick out prior to making it past, you're smack in the worst place to be, taking it on the head.

Although I had a disposable camera on me, the waves had such short periods that it made it pretty much impossible for me
to take any shots from the impact zone. I really wanted to get a few pics but could never get close enough in time. No biggie though, the three of us each had a great session on our guns. Between the rip, getting caught inside and paddling out after super long rides, we were completely surfed out after 3 hours.

We left the water all smiles. It was quite a scene on shore; we spent the rest of the morning talking surf story with friends around our cars.

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Sunday January 16, 2000
7:00a- 10:30a
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 9-12 feet
Sets wave face 13-15 feet, occ bigger bombs
Mostly cloudy; Blazing side-offshore winds

A full "crew" for the first time in quite a while - Neal had been dry for too long and he was itching to get wet. We all met at my place, Neal jumped in with me in my truck and MM rode with Rich in his truck. The howling NE wind had not let up from the past few days, in fact it seemed a bit stronger this morning than before. . .Very *cold* weather for us "Hawaiians" <g>

Pulled up to the spot under similar circumstances as yesterday- pre dawn & parking lot full of surfers in their cars watching the surf. Conditions looked worse than yesterday, and the surf just a bit smaller. MM & Rich weren't quite as gung ho about rushing into the surf as Neal and I. . .maybe it was because we all know this wave so well, but it wasn't long into our session
before we all realized the surf was way better than it looked from shore.

Another humongous wave spray, burning-eyes-as you're-held-at-the-top-of-the-lip, day. Especially hard for Neal who, surfing with his longboard, had extra "sail" factor. One of his first waves was easily a 2xoh outside peak that he took way too late. He valiantly stayed with the board as he became one with the lip- the whole lineup went ooOOOoooow!! He recovered quickly
and even caught the very next wave, scoring a great ride.

Only a few of us at the outermost peak again today, we were taking off almost from Jockos. During lulls I chatted again with Mark from Oz (Newcastle) who has a cool style and holds his own in the juice. He was telling me today that this was his 22nd trip to the north shore in 22 years. "So how's this compare to Australia?" I asked. And he sez "Oz has tons of incredible surf. . . but *this* is where it's at."

Eyes so burnt from 3 days of blistering salt spray, brother Rich came out wearing a psycho smile *and* a pair of neon green swimming goggles around his neck- he put them on while paddling around in between waves. Whenever he was within earshot, I felt it necessary to launch a barrage of good natured mockery- "Help goggle boy, HELP!," etc. . . .Good for smiles all around.
"Super hero" persona aside, he surfed like a machine, tagging sets all morning and milking them on his new 7'9".

I felt I was doing pretty well too, even though I have come to realize my 7'0" is much too thick for my weight; kinda hard to bury a rail to redirect speed. Made me especially surprised when I got slammed trying to duck a macker that sent me *and* my too thick seven-oh spinning to the bottom- holding my rails all the way! I was ducking in the impact zone for the outer
peak (where it must be 10+ feet deep) when I hit the reef perpendicular, scraping up both feet and slicing a painful cut on the inside of my left foot. At least my board didn't hit.

Towards late morning, I "ran into" Makani who commented that despite how it looked from shore, the waves were wicked and he was having a great session. All I could think was- "no shit! I've seen you killing all morning!"- I nodded and said "by the way have you seen Neal lately? About 20 minutes ago he said he was going to surf the middle but I haven't seen him at all"
"Nope" he replied. "It was about that long ago when I saw him take off too late and get launched real bad. I saw him come up afterward but I haven't seen him since.".

A bit later I found Rich and asked if he'd seen Neal lately (no). Each of us still with aching muscles from yesterday; today's additional rigorous 2.5 hours made it easy to agree to look for a last wave and. . .  find Neal!

Makani & I came in about the same time; we spent 15 minutes scanning the ocean, the beach and parking lot looking for Neal, no luck. If he had already come in, his tank would have been  sticking out from underneath the tonneau cover in the back of my truck. Bit later, Makani called me from behind my truck - "Fuuuuck! his board is in the back of your truck!" (snapped, of
course). I asked a friend who had just got out of the water if he'd seen our friend with the tank - "Yeah! I saw him out there, swimming without a board for a long time!." Oh, Sheeeit! - we were seriously getting worried. We didn't know where he was *now*, or if he was hurt, or what.

Few minutes later, I asked another surfbud who just left the water if he'd seen Neal- "yeah, that nut is out there swimming, looking for you guys, to take pictures." Insane is more like it- without so much as a pair of fins, in that current and a 1/4 mile out. . .we couldn't believe it- Sponge lives <g>!!

Soon, Rich came ashore, said Neal was "ok" and that he was on his way in (we finally saw his head bobbing around in the rip about 100 yards offshore).

Another memorable session in juicy surf. . . unfortunately no chance to take any decent pictures, again.

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Monday January 17, 2000
2:00p- 4:30p
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 6-7 feet
Partly sunny; Moderate side-offshore winds

Hooked up with MM for an afternoon run to the country. Knew the swell was almost gone but headed out hoping for the best. Pulled up to the north swell spot and as expected, saw a pretty big holiday crowd. Solid overhead sets still coming through, but mostly chest to head high. We really wanted to surf leashless and debated a few minutes. . .decided to wear 'em due to the crowd factor.

Bottom of left foot still cut & bleeding pretty bad from reef incident yesterday. Prior to leaving home I rolled a sterile gauze pad into the size of a thin cigarette, laid it into the gash and duct taped that buggah down good. Kept the dirt & sand out while
heading to the water. . .it actually stayed on for most of the sesh, too.

Unbelievable, the difference in the crowd compared to the past few days. The surf had dropped quickly from 2.5xoh+ powerful north swell to head high mostly gutless local wind swell. In the small surf I found myself struggling to keep cool and smiling among the horde of clueless and downright rude.

Overall, the session turned out well for us. I started out real strong, a string of short rides with solid snaps. . .then fizzled the last hour, my timing seemed to disappear - always in the wrong place. MM kept a low profile in the beginning, looking for a groove. Didn't take him too long before he found it.

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Thursday January 20, 2000
7:30a-10:00a
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 5-8 feet
Overcast; Moderate side-offshore wind

Waves were solidly overhead but very lumpy and disorganized. Everyone was telling me - "shoulda been here *yesterday*. .
.where were you *yesterday*?. . .*yesterday* was happening." Sheeeit.

About a half dozen Japanese surfers paddled out with the first light, a couple of them were surfing pretty damn good.

This spot can get very crowded but it's always pretty mellow in the lineup. Rarely any confrontations or people shouting. So, when a young female came out (on a shortboard) being very loud and super aggressive, she really stood out. Especially since she could not surf very well, imo. Chat among regulars in the lineup was along the line of - "eh, wassup wit her?" etc. She would start yelling people off long before even close to catching the wave she was paddling for - half the time she'd end up missing the wave or would
back off from it. . .

For me it was one of "those" days- just couldn't put it together. Felt out of synch and found myself paddling in circles in the crowded morning lineup - I'd watch nice waves hitting the middle peak, so I paddle over - of course the next set hits the peak I just left. And so on. A frustrating two and a half hours of picking bad waves then digging rails and bogging cutbacks. Planted a couple solid lip cracks, but ended up going in after a mediocre ride on chest high mushburger.

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Saturday January 22, 2000
1:30p - 4:15pm
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 5-7 feet
Mostly cloudy; Moderate side-offshore wind

(Kei/Rich/Chris, another bungle fest)

Sunday January 23, 2000
9:00a - 11:15a
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 5-7 feet
Mostly cloudy; Moderate side-offshore wind

(another bungle fest)

Thursday January 27, 2000
9:30a - 11:45a
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 8-10 feet, a few bigger sets
Mostly cloudy; Strong side-offshore wind

(Rios, Mcguire, another bungle fest)

Saturday January 29, 2000
12:00p - 3:15p
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 7-8
Sunny; Moderate side-offshore wind

(Solo, Francis, good session)

Sunday January 30, 2000
9:45a-1:30p
North Shore /silva/
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 6-8 feet
Cloudless Sky; Super light variable wind

(Rich, Makan, small crowd, super consistent, fight, Steel)