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May 2000

Monday May 1, 2000
2:15p - 4:30p
North Shore - Rocky Point
Avg wave face 3-4 feet    Photo (Courtesy Neal aka Sponge)
Sets wave face 5-6 feet, occ lil bigger
Mostly sunny; Light to moderate side-offshore winds

Small NW bump had arrived on schedule. Met Sponge at my office, we jumped in my truck and hit the country for an
afternoon sesh. We were hoping for some of the late season action we got this time last year at Backyards, but it just wasn't happening. Even V-land looked like crap. The sand situation put the Ehukai beach breaks pretty much out of the question, but Rocky Point looked head high and decent. We were on it.

We jumped in just north of Ehukai, nabbing a couple at Gas Chambers before paddling down to Rocky Rights. Most of the
waves would quickly close out, but they had punch and the ultra shallow (exposed) reef shelf kept the crowd fairly light. Neal was hanging outside and deep, scoring a bunch of of the bigger sets. He got burned by stand-ups a couple times, but he also nailed some killer airborne el-rollos. Toward the end of our session I watched in amazement as he tagged a sweet little wave - maybe ribcage high- he gets fully barreled twice, then carves it up all the way into ankle deep water.

I ended up having a decent time. The board was working pretty well, feeling real solid turning hard off the bottom.

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Thursday May 4, 2000
4:15p - 7:00p
South Shore - "Bongs/RBs/Deaths"
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet, a few lil bigger
Mostly sunny; Moderate side-offshore winds

Brother Rich picked me up for an eve surf in town. The SSW was still hitting but never really got as big as some predicted. Our usual spot looked pretty small and blown out so we decided to do something different - we parked by the archery range and walked to the breakwall at Bongs.

We jumped in at the breakwall stairway; Rich paddled down to Deaths while I stuck it out at Bongs & RB's. The spot was
complete chaos, especially when the fairly regular overhead set plowed through. Beginner central; People bailing all over; Dozens of longboards flippin & floppin around everywhere. Early on, a kook dropped in on me, I popped the top behind him, he panics and bails. I turn away in time to miss going over him but in the whitewater on the way down, his board clips mine, giving my new stick a half-dollar sized hole. Oh well....Overall, a below averagesesh for me.

On another note, the day before I had sold two boards to a guy, and by chance saw him out surfing here!

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Saturday May 6, 2000
8:00a - 10:30a
South Shore - "BRs, Snackbars"
Avg wave face 3-4 feet
Sets wave face 4-5 feet
Mostly sunny; Light offshore winds

Picked up MM at his house. Feeling like something different this morning and since MM had never surfed there before, we
decided to hit the Ala Mo Park area. Fairly light crowd at the park for a Sunday & we scored a decent parking spot.

As we made the mid-tide reef walk out to BRs, we gladly noticed that lots of people were on their way in. The small surf turned out to be loads of fun, but very inconsistent. Wasn't bad at all until the late morning boat crowd started taking over. This spot is a right hand freight train and a well known tube fest when it gets bigger. I tapped into several sweet slots on chest high waves, and managed to put lots of solid snaps together too. MM was killing it and pretty stoked on the rippable little waves also, mentioning that it was easy to see how great the spot could be, especially with a bigger push.

Eventually we moved over to Snackbars and sampled some great little lefts. The crowd continued to build so we called it a
day after a half dozen or so waves there.

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Sunday May 7, 2000
7:30a - 11:30a
South Shore /dhl/
Avg wave face 3-4 feet
Sets wave face 4-5 feet, a few lil bigger
Sunny; Light-moderate side offshore winds

None of the crew could hook up so I headed out for a leisurely solo run to "Old Faithful." Super sunny day and the waist to head high surf looked like loads of fun from the cliff. Only 2-3 others out, but decided it was better to use a leash since much of the reef was already exposed and the tide was still dropping. If you chose your waves well, you'd be rewarded with nice little peaks that wedged into a fully workable wall before it eventually closed out over the inside shelf.

When I first went out, the 3 other surfers were friends, 2 of them just learning with longboards. On one wave, I took off behind a head high peak as one of the  beginners was paddling over the opposite shoulder. As I bottom turned around the section, apparently the lip hooked his longboard and he let go. All I saw was a flash of blue surfboard before it hit me hard across the thigh of my right leg and then down  across the deck of my stick. Then that sickening THUD of boards hitting.. . .faaaaak!

The sudden collision took me down immediately and I came out the back of the wave swearing loudly. The friend that could
surf was paddling nearby; He saw what happened and asked if I was ok. The kid had already pulled his board back and did
not even realize what he did until his friend told him. I was completely SICK, expecting to see my board with a huge crush or even cracked in half. But. . .I couldn't believe it- nothing besides a nominal bruise on my thigh and a new 8" long (but shallow) pressure on the deck! I guess my leg took most of the hit. The kid apologized profusely and I brushed it off, just emphasizing the importance of hanging on to your board in the surf.

The kids went in soon after and the rest of my long session was a blast. Most of my waves were good ones and I was
having an "on" day. The late morning lineup never got more than 4-5 others, and for a long time more than half of that
"crowd" was young and female :-)

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Wednesday May 10, 2000
4:30p - 7:45p
South Shore
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet
Mostly sunny; Light-moderate offshore winds

Got a call from L with an offer of another boat trip out to "his" spot so I wrapped things up at work and ran home early. Grabbed my stick, removed the decal covering the ding I got last Thursday and quickly sanded the half dollar sized area. Filled it half way with some suncure, carefully pressed a quarter sized piece of glass (I had already cut) into it, then topped it off with more suncure. 8-9 minutes later I was sanding the thing down. I loaded my truck and blazed to meet MM at the boat landing. As MM and I waited for L and his brother, we watched the surf all along the outer reefs while I finished sanding the patch. When the brothers arrived, we had the small boat loaded with our boards and in the water within a couple minutes. 15 minutes after that, we were jumping overboard, about 25 yards from the chunk of reef that creates the nice little left I got to know last summer (thanks to L and his boat!).

Perfect timing- the two others surfers out before us were catching last waves back to their boat, leaving the lineup to the four of us (me, MM, L and his brother LL). At first the surf was kinda sloppy and disorganized, but it got better and better as the eve progressed. Very consistent, ranging from stomach high to a foot or so overhead. We all went to work on the fun little waves right away, hooting for each other the whole time.

About an hour into our session, as the tide peaked and the biggest sets were coming in, I clearly saw the blacktip reef shark cruising inside the wave coming toward me. The wave was standing up but I was beyond where it would break so I didn't have to duck it. For a second I froze, but then the shark disappeared and the wave passed me. I sat up and carefully looked in the same area; When the very next wave came I saw it again, even closer (maybe 25 feet away), I spoke calmly but clearly to MM (he was about 40 feet further out than me)- "SHARK, about six feet long or so - I'M NOT KIDDING." We both started paddling toward the exposed reef about 30 feet in, but I quickly realized and mentioned to MM that it was mostly likely the same shark I saw here last year; the same one that L says is *always* here and is "harmless."

MM asked if I was sure it was it was a blacktip, not a tigershark (I had no doubt). Then I yelled across to L and his brother but they just smiled and shrugged it off. We pretty much continued where we left off but MM and I rarely sat up on our boards for the rest of the eve. About half an hour later, two new guys in a small boat joined us for about 45 minutes. The first thing they said to me was that a medium sized reef shark had scared them from the water and they were hoping for other surfers to be out for their evening round.

Despite the "interruptions" we were having a blast and the surf kept improving. Makani was tearing it up and even tagged several sweet tubes. L and his brother hugged the shallowest part of the shelf, blazing the snappy double ups that wedged all the way across.

To us, it was too dark to see at around 7:40p (plus it was waaay creepy by then), so MM and I each caught a wave in. We sat in the boat and tried to watch while the brothers stayed out till 8pm, catching a few under starlight.

'loha,

Bud

Friday May 12, 2000
4:45p - 7:15p
South Shore /dhl/
Avg wave face 3-4 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet
Partly sunny; Moderate side-offshore winds

(Makani, Rich, tide too high, overall junk session)

Sunday May 14, 2000
7:30a - 10:00a
South Shore /dhl/
Avg wave face 3-4 feet
Sets wave face 5 feet
Clear & sunny; Light offshore winds

(Solo. low tide, leashless, first hour sit, last part on fire)

Tuesday May 16, 2000
2:30p - 5:40p
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet, dropping fast
Mostly sunny; Moderate onshore winds, turning variable

(Rich, Hiram, Ben, no crowd then boom, leashless, me & Rich good sesh)

Thursday May 18, 2000
6:00a - 9:15a
South Shore /trees/
Avg wave face 3-4 feet
Sets wave face 4-5 feet, few lil bigger
Cloudless sky; Dead calm, turning slight onshore around 8:45

(Rich, Aipa, small crowd, sweet lil waves, leashless, me & Rich good sesh)

Friday May 19, 2000
4:30p - 6:45p
South Shore /dhl/
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet, a few lil bigger
Mostly Sunny; Moderate sideshore winds (trades)

Choked on a big piece of humble pie today.

For the past week or so, I've been on a string of good sessions, surfing leashless in small (waist to slightly overhead) surf without falling. So I was feeling pretty full of myself when the three of us (MM & Rich) prepped to go out. The surf looked decent but the full moon tide was maxing out, making the waves very lumpy and backoffish, until it dumped on the reef. The wind (sideshore here) had jumped a few notches from the past few days too. The boys dogged me, shaking their heads and warning me - "eh, I'm not going after your board, kook" etc., but I blew it off and trotted down the trail with a smug smile.

I knew that the wind would make things tricky, but I was confident I wouldn't fall. *If* by chance I did lose my stick, I knew the super high tide would make the long swim over the (usually exposed) reef much easier.

Chatting in the lineup about an hour into the sesh, none of us were feeling too hot about the surf & conditions- kind of a "blah" day overall. Caught one a few minutes later and my board slipped from my hands as I kicked out, the wind caught it pushed it back into the wave. I was close to the end of the break so the swim was only about 75 yards.

Perhaps an hour after that, the sun was getting close to the horizon and the conditions had not improved. I mentioned to Rich that if I caught a decent wave, I'd probably ride it in. Right then a set came in (we were furthest outside), Rich paddled for the first one and I didn't hassle him for it, counting on the next one to be better. The second wave was bigger, probably a couple feet overhead at the peak and I took it late. Turned and cocked my board midface, making the drop and trying to gain control as I bottom turned through wind chop.

The wave closed out on both sides of me but I knew it would back off a bit and reform across the middle - IF I could stay with it till then. I crouched and continued trying to get past the section; The head high whitewater was knocking me all around, at the same time I was negotiating the pack that had been caught inside by the first wave (MM was among them and later said he thought for sure I was going down!). Finally made it past, just as the wave reformed and stood up, exactly as I expected. Whew.

Stoked to be in the clear, I was just about to pump down the line when out of nowhere, a chunk of whitewater ripped my stick out from beneath me.....faaaaaaak. I could not see where it went so I had to swim in the general direction until I could stand on the reef. When I finally reached waist deep water and stood, the board was no where in sight! I figured the wind might have taken it to the west but the glare from the setting sun made it nearly impossible to see in that direction. More likely (I thought) the small inner waves might have taken it close to shore. I started swimming in, across the deep section between the surf spot and the beach.

Thirty minutes later, I had swum a haphazrd zig zag pattern going downwind along the beach but still no sight of my stick! By now I knew the wind had it. Wasn't sure if I should if I should swim all the way in and look from shore, but I was afraid I'd lose too much ground. Plus, people on the cliff face were pointing me out toward the setting sun - I knew they could see it but I could not. I was swimming over unfamiliar reefs with surf breaking all around and I was started to get seriously worried that I was going to fucking lose my stick this way!

Nearly 40 minutes of swimming I finally got a glimpse of the board when some clouds blocked the sun. Somehow it had been blown back out, almost outside of the breaking surf! Damn! I did not consider that would have been possible. It was still downwind at least 200 yards away and moving pretty good. I swam like a maniac, got all the way out and within a few feet of it when a wave broke and took it all the way back in. I feeling murderous and screamed in frustration underwater.

The board stopped only after the tiny whitewater could not push it an inch further. When I climbed onto my board I had calmed down. . . . Sat up and looked around me - I had swam quite a distance from the surf spot! Took a deep breath- I was pretty well spent but started paddling back right away.

Half way back I debated going back out for a last wave, but decided to go in :-)

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Sunday May 21, 2000
2:30p - 4:30p
East Shore /pr/
Avg wave face 2-3 feet
Sets wave face 4 feet
Mostly Sunny; Light to moderate onshore winds

(Rich, Chris, Cake & Mick, beer beach)

Friday May 26, 2000
3:00p - 6:30p
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 3-4 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet, occ 7-8 feet
Mostly Sunny; Light side-offshore winds

(Solo, caliwags, closeouts, current)

Saturday May 27, 2000
6:30a - 10:30a
North Shore /cops/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 4-5 feet
Mostly Sunny; Light side-offshore winds

(Rich, Hiram, Bones, reef dance)

Sunday May 28, 2000
12:00p - 2:00p
South Shore /dhl/
Avg wave face 3 feet
Sets wave face 4 feet, a few lil bigger
Sunny; Light to moderate sideshore winds (trades)

(Solo, no others out, leashless, tiny but fun)

Monday May 29, 2000 (Memorial Day)
2:30p - 4:30p
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 3-4 feet
Sets wave face 4-5 feet
Sunny; Light to moderate sideshore winds (trades)

(Rich/Chris/Cake, bentobeachfest, leashless, tiny but super fun)