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March 2000

Saturday March 4, 2000
9:30a - 11:30a
North Shore /hima/kea
Avg wave face 5-8 feet (3-5 kea)
Sets wave face 9-12 feet (5-7 kea)
Sunny & clear; light variable wind

(makan, fins, beef, kea head smack, mediocre sesh, JA)

Sunday March 5, 2000
8:00a - 11:00a
North Shore /hima/kea/holt
Avg wave face 4-7 feet (3-4 kea)
Sets wave face 6-9 feet (4-6 kea)
Sunny & clear; light variable wind

(rich frustrated then good, neal later & 4 spots, inconsist hima, kook sesh)

Thursday March 9, 2000
3:30p - 5:45p
West Shore
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet
Sunny & clear; glassy/very slight onshore wind

Little too late for a run to the country so my brother and I hit the road for an eve session at an old stomping ground out west. With the Cult's "Love" CD screaming from the speakers, we blazed out to this spot that catches almost any swell.

Checked Makaha for the hell of it. . .it looked sweet at about head high, but as expected, it was p a c k e d. Turned around and headed back to <spot>. As when we first drove past, there was some guy tearing up the beach on an ATV but there was no one out surfing. . . we wasted no time getting in the water. The spot is pretty far out on a reef point, but we know this spot very well so we knew what to expect.

Head high sets, very slight onshore, but still very glassy. Rights were slopey as usual but the lefts had a nice bowl that hooked into a workable wall. A peak would pop up on one side for an easy take off, then the fast wall over/across the flat reef section was perfect for getting vertical, over and over.

I had just been thinking that my knee injury from last month was becoming less painful, then next wave I caught I flew out on the shoulder for a backside cutback, caught a rail and went flying. Hit my stick, landing on the nose along my left hip- FAAK that hurt. Big 'ol green/blue bruise over much of my outer thigh and a nasty red scrape/welt down the middle (seems it's always my left leg/ foot that gets injured).

Overall, me & Rich had a great time and surfed well in the shallow, low tide zippers. Later, a couple other surfers joined us but there was plenty to go around. Stoked.

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Saturday March 11, 2000
8:15a - 11:30a
North Shore, Rocky Pt/Pupukea/Gums/Pipe/Backdoor
Avg wave face 4-6 feet
Sets wave face 6-7 feet
Sunny & clear; glassy & calm

Ran into surfbud HJ at the bank on Friday and we made plans for a Saturday session; Made a few calls/emails to the rest of the crew but no one else could make it.

HJ picked me up in his truck at 0630. . .threw my stick in the back and we headed out, aiming at Vland. The Waimea rockslide forced us to take the long way around the east side. Flying up the leeward side of the H-3 freeway, I was watching our boards floating around loose in the open bed (I have a tonneau cover on the bed of my truck). HJ sez "eh, no worries, they ain't going anywhere!" a second later his surf shorts went flying out the back. . . . ! Quick pullover onto the shoulder then fast reverse. . lucky the freeway was mostly empty on early Saturday morning. While stopped I said "uhhh, you don't mind if I put my board under yours, do you?"

An hour or so later we took advantage of HJ's tight connections with the VLand crew and parked at one of the houses on the beach right in front of Vland. While we were checking the surf, 5-6 kids came out of the ramshackle house next door and spilled out onto the balcony. It appeared that they were the new tenants and were checking out their beachfront dive for the first time. The house looks like it could fall apart at any second, of course that didn't matter - none of the teenage groms could keep their eyes off the waves. It looked decent, but we knew that it was shitty form for Vland so we headed down to the beachbreaks.

This winter has not been very good for the sand situation along Ehukai Beach, but it was relatively uncrowded with plenty of peaks to choose from so we grabbed our sticks. Jumped in at Pupukea for a few, then paddled down to Rocky Pt. Catching waves at every chance, eventually we moved back down toward Gums, finally ending up in the pack at Backdoor.

It was unusual for the glassy calm conditions to stay so late into the morning. Even though it was kinda small, there was 4-5 photogs in the impact zone taking advantage of the perfect lighting and oily smooth surface.

Me & HJ ended up surfing all morning, nabbing a few sweet ones here and there but nothing too exciting. . . I'm not complaining though!

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Sunday March 12, 2000
1:15p - 3:00p
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 2-3 feet
Sets wave face 3-4 feet
Sunny & clear; light sideshore wind

(nephews, Rich & wife beach bums w/beers, sunburn, leashless,  backside board out, buried heads)

Tuesday March 14, 2000
8:15a - 11:30a
North Shore, Haleiwa
Avg wave face 7-11 feet
Sets wave face 12-13 feet
Sunny & clear; very light sideshore wind

(Rich, Jane's Add, heed, Aipa, Rich firing first then kooked, me good, thought contest)

Friday March 17, 2000
1:30p - 4:15p
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 3-4 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet
Sunny & clear; very strong offshore wind

(solo

Saturday March 18, 2000
2:00p - 5:00p
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 5-7 feet
Partly sunny; blazing strong offshore wind

(solo, knee, kook fest

Sunday March 19, 2000
8:15a - 11:00a
North Shore Pipe/Backdoor
Avg wave face 6-7 feet
Sets wave face 8-10 feet; occ bombs at 12+
Partly sunny, clearing; blazing strong offshore wind

(Rich & Neal tubing, bber's rule, kids ripping, knee, reef bounce, kook)

Thursday March 23, 2000
2:30p - 5:30p
North Shore Pipe/Backdoor
Avg wave face 5-7 feet
Sets wave face 7-8 feet+, new swell filling in fast
Partly sunny, clearing; strong side-offshore wind

(Note- an experienced surfer named Travis Musselman was killed surfing big Pipeline Monday 4/20/00)

I surfed Pipe/Backdoor again this afternoon, blazing wind but super fun, about 5-10 foot faces. The new swell is filling in real fast.

Talk about sobering and creepy. . . They still have not found his body, which might have explained the incredibly uncrowded conditions (3-4 others the whole 3 hours I surfed). The water is crystal clear and I kept "seeing" things on the bottom, especially every time I ducked a wave. . .

2-3 rescue types snorkeling, a SCUBA equipped diver taxied around on the back of a jetski, all within a 100 yards or less of the lineup. Lots of gawkers on the beach too. Yellow rescue chopper buzzing around. Pretty huge swell is already here- I'm sure they called off the search before dark.

I hope you can Rest in Peace, Water Brother.

Bud

Board snapped on late take off.  Second broken board this month. Pics 1, 2

(solo, same  pipe guys, beautiful day, Rusty, 2nd wave board snap)

Saturday March 25, 2000
8:00a - 11:15a
West Shore (bondage)
Avg wave face 6-7 feet
Sets wave face 8-10 feet, occ bigger
Partly sunny, clearing; light side-offshore wind

(Rich & Makan, borrowed board, freakshow)

Sunday March 26, 2000
8:30a - 1:00p
West Shore (bondage)
Avg wave face 6-8 feet
Sets wave face 9-11 feet, occ bigger
Cloudy, moderate side-onshore wind

(Rich, borrowed board, freakshow again)

Tuesday March 28, 2000
4:00p - 6:30p
South Shore (DHL)
Avg wave face 3-4 feet
Sets wave face 5 feet
Cloudy, strong & relentless sideshore wind

(solo, old stick, leashless, swim 2x, attitude, fair sesh)