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November 2001

Comments or Questions?

Saturday November 3, 2001
9:00a-11:45a
North Shore
Avg wave face 6 feet
Sets wave face 7-9 feet, a few cleanups (NW)
Partly Sunny; Light to moderate side-offshore winds

Rich got back last night from a month in California (work). 6:45a we hopped into my car and later met Cyril at Ehukai, jumped in at Pipe- surprisingly uncrowded. Cyril was pretty burnt out from surfing early morning in solid Sunset, prior to the start of the Excel Pro; Still, he and Rich were rushing the sets from way deep. Waves were pretty good, but overall we had poor sessions. My best wave turned out to be a right- I backdoored a gaping Backdoor beaut. Stand up dry barrel, buried for about 4 seconds.... then spit out just before it shut down. Enough to make my day.

Still some sneaker bombs, but after a couple hours, the crowd grew to normal proportions and the surf started dying off. We let the current take us down to Gums, where we tapped a few shoulder high sandbar nuggets before heading in. On one wave here, Rich takes a late drop and a young kid bails his body board right in his path. Rich lifts his nose and had no choice but to plow right over the sponge. Board stopped like it hit a brick wall - and the instant face plant was pretty funny. I thought for sure he'd torn the fins off his brand new board, but no damage whatsoever.

Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 6 feet (NW)
Partly Sunny; Light to moderate variable winds

Me & Rich = kookfest bummer sesh.. checked all the way up to 3rds... 50+ at homegrounds. Inconsistent
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Me & Rich, poor sesh again .. cracked toe on rock getting out
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Stoked to meet and surf with Tom (of http://www.wavecam.com ) today on the North Shore. Surf was pretty solid beach break action, some sets approaching double-O. Tom was out mixing it up along with me and sponge then went in to shoot some video from the beach. I got (I hope it turns out) a disposable camera shot of sponge making an incredibly late drop on a beautiful wave, with a borrowed 7'10". A while later I got caught inside and repeatedly slammed by a set and the camera was flushed out of my pocket. Went in, scanned the shorebreak for 15 minutes. Just as I had given it up for lost.... I saw it in the sand about 75 feet down current!! What luck -  first time that I've ever found one after losing it like that.

I spent the last hour trying to surf with a badly bruised toe that I re-injured on a rock while getting drilled again. Hurt like a sonofabitch, esp when I bottom turned.

Surfbud MM scored at Sunset later the same day and here's what he had to say about his session via email (used with permission)-

i ended up at sunset, didnt bother looking anywhere else. the waves were SICK!! i snapped my leash on my first wave, so i ended up surfing the whole sesh leashsless. was riding my 7-0 could've rode a little bigger board, but was still surprisingly getting me into alot of waves. lost my stick a couple times and battled with the current to find it, mike ho paddled it out to me once. i got one stand-up backside barrel in the bowl. man! some of the regular foot guys were getting some deep gappers. there was one time when i lost my board right in the impact zone in the bowl and the next wave i watched love hodell as long as i could, he pulled into a pit almost right on my head, i ended up taking the lip square and got pounded to the bottom against a coral head. got scraped up on my hand and leg and then had a long swim for my board while trying to shake off the pain. by the time i got my board i was ready for more. i ended up surfing the bowl for the last hour and got some good ones and watched some good ones too.

Aloha,
Makani
 
 
 

Met Tom again at Ehukai; Paddled out to Pupukea/Gas Chambers again. My toe was still hurting but not as bad as the last time. Swell was a mixture of directions so we were were chasing waves all up & down the breaks, looking for the makeable ones. Conditions were excellent and early on the crowd was very light. Occ bombs kept things interesting and getting caught inside was very potentially a board breaking situation.

The other day Tom picked up a new used 7'8" that worked much better for him than the snub nosed 6'6" he brought with him. Tom is a charger and is fully revved to be surfing here. He's been all over the place and racking up serious water time. He spent
much of the session waiting in the bomb zone near Gas Chambers looking for the elusive makeable lefts. Unfortunately going left meant paying a big price in trying to get back out. Both of us got severely drilled many times but sometimes the lefts were just too sweet to pass up. Plus very few others were around to partake of them.

I took off too deep on some, but scored many others from behind the peak giving a fat fast wall and a nice rush dropping in. My last ride turned out to be my best, a sweet overhead and a half wave going right. After a late take off and flying through two
long sections, I surprised myself by nailing 3 consecutive roundhouse rebounds in the steep pocket section. Kept the inside
rail deep and the board held all the way through the turns, banking high off the whitewater each time. Finished it off by
popping the top on the shorebreak closeout, straightened out just before the beach and stepped off my stick onto the sand with a big smile to myself....

Got a call from Glenn saying my new stick was ready. Flew out to the factory in the afternoon to get it. Peeked into Cino's
shaping bay and we chatted for a while. The new board looks excellent, outline is more of continuous curve and a new bottom
config that Glenn says is really working well. Kinda bummed my boards from him now have to have a big T&C logo; Apaprently his new contract with them says no more using his personal label. Oh well, I cannot wait to get it wet!
 
 

Drove out in my car with Neal & Rich. Met Tom again at Ehukai. Pipe/Backdoor was going off in the pre-sunrise glass but already packed to the hilt and looking mean. The abundance of surf is moving the beach around and 2xoh waves were breaking very close to dry sand, sucking out and eating people up. Not exactly what I was looking for with my first run on a virgin 6'3"

Rich and Neal couldn't wait to go out and get some and Tom wanted to film the heavy action. I decided to walk down to Rocky Rights for some workable walls. Jumped in at Pupukea and let the current take me down. 6-8 foot faces and the surf is just going off! A couple head high test waves and I realize immediately - The new stick is sweet! Now if I could just keep it off the rocks....

The sun came over the mountain and the surf suddenly started to pick up. For an hour and a half, relentless and solid double-o sets poured through. Several water photogs in the impact zone. The beach at Rocky Pt was lined with dozens of still and movie photographers; A helicopter filmed/hovered above for a while too. It was incredible. There were several pros who were doing some amazing things in the intense surf, most of the faces look familiar but I can't put names to 'em. I saw some of the deepest and longest tube rides I've ever seen in person. When you weren't scrambling for the horizon, you were hooting at _gaping_ barrels, reeling across the break. Took a major commitment to drop into a wave, especially if you rode it for more than several seconds - knowing that paddling back out was gonna be hell.

I hung out on the rights in front of "the rock" and was constantly getting creamed by bigger and bigger sets, mostly closing out. Once I even got slammed and dragged onto the reef, right in front of the photog gallery, how embarrassing. At least I was not alone and I kept my board from drydocking! A bit later I tagged a sweet 1.5xoh bowl and backdoored it... easily the longest tube ride I've had all year. Standing erect and hand dragging the wall, room to spare all around. Going, going and going. Found I was holding my breath - when I straightened out just before it shut down I took a huge gasp of air. Had to control myself from throwing my hands into the air hahaha. Man I was stoked. On the paddle back out, I tried to duck a set and got thrown back into the whitewater and ragdolled to the bottom with a deathgrip on my board. My left hand, hip and knee looks like a wildcat tore me up... somehow my board escaped damage though. Big pain and lots of blood, I was thinking I might have broken my hand so I let myself get pushed back onto the reef and limped across the shallows to shore. Sat on the beach for 15 minutes to take a breather and assess my wounds. Hip and knee were minor, gashed and swollen knuckles unable to make a fist with my hand. Hurt like a mofo but no breakage & still surfable. Sitting on the beach I saw that Rich had come down from Pipe. He caught a big left from Gas Chambers, riding it all the way to "the rock" at Rocky Rights - working his 7'9" with big snaps and long bottom turns around fast sections. Yeehaa!

Back out for round two, a little more conservative. The surf was dropping fast, the last hour of my sesh none of the big sets at all. A very light onshore wind kicked in. Eventually me and Rich started working our way back up the coast to end the morning closer to Ehukai. Later, we ran into Neal who came down from Pipe too; Then Tom paddled out to join us at Pupukea for a few waves just before we called it a day.
 
 

Sweet session on the new stick! The surf was much, much better than it looked from shore. Pure glass and fast walls. The new board is like riding on rails. Surprised a guy (he thought I went down with the lip) when I airdropped into a big set behind him. Lots of people on the end, but basically no crowd at the outer peak, just me, Aipa and a few others. Current was very strong. Sets were sizeable but dropped quickly late in the morning.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Sweet conditions and light crowd at the ol stompin grounds. Quite a workout paddling the chip against all the water moving around and sets washing through. The reform sets and the in between waves were SO MUCH FUN .... and the new board is working great. Mel Puu was buzzing around on a ski, he was surpised to see me when paddled up to him and said 'sup. Haven't run into him for many years. Also chatted with Val from Hale Nalu and a howdy to Brian K. who had his hands full with a newbie friend he was trying to guide through the surf.

Walking up to rinse off I got an ego boost when another surfer complimented my last wave and the off the lip I timed with the backwash.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hoooo boy, top to bottom barrelage and pure glass all morning at 'yards. Me, Rich, Neal, Cyril and Sharif parked at Sunset and paddled around the point.... psycho almost beef, couple long clean barrels but no exit..
 

With Rich, pick up Cyril, meet Neal, pure glass all morning, seemed extra powerful
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

NICE Waves, STRONG current, very hollow, very UNcrowded! .... Me & Rich, fair sesh, Barry & Gary, Brazil girl pros. Cuple times thought for sure I had snapped my board