Friday
October 1, 1999
1:30p-3:45p
Rocky Point, North Shore
Avg wave face
4-5 feet
Sets wave face
5-7 feet, few lil bigger
Clear skies; Light to
moderate offshore winds
Crew
to Crowd 1/6 (Avg)
Still wet from a stoker afternoon session. Blazing sun in a clear sky, beautiful waves pitching just a few yards away from fully exposed reef; On the beach, the usual packs of "Cujo" sized dogs running loose; A half dozen monster telephoto lens' aimed at Rocky Lefts and lots of lovely young eye candy. Ran into Johnny Gomes checking the surf at one of the beach accesses and we exchanged "eh wassup, long time no see"s. . .
Avoided the crowds by waiting for and snagging the occasional makeable wave at Rocky Rights. Overhead bone crushers were just throwing as far as they were tall, it seemed. Long tube rides are a blast even if 90% end up unmakeable. Made it out of a few of the deep backdoors I pulled into by quickly straightening out before the wall closed out. Of course then you may have one to deal with one of several rocks that stick completely out of the water before you go too far.
One of the of guys down at rocky lefts was completely killing it. Obviously the one the cameras were aimed at, but I didn't recognize him. Besides just ruling the pack, I saw him do an incredible off the lip. . .still imprinted in my mind.
My last wave was a perfect ending for the session. . .Slightly overhead wave, turned square off the bottom and straight up into the sweet spot off the top, coming back down I turned mid face to pump past the next section, but the section after closed anyway so I rode up and over onto the back; Just then a knee high backwash wave came at me and smacked the wave I was on, so I banked off of it, turning toward shore. . . now I had lots of momentum and was riding on the back of the two waves doubled up. . It gave me enough height to ride it standing to the beach, over what should have been ankle deep water! Stepped off onto the sand as if I planned the whole thing :)
Good surfing to you,
Bud
Saturday
October 2, 1999
7:15a-10:15a
Laniakea, North Shore
Avg wave face
3-4 feet
Sets wave face
4-5, few lil bigger
Clear skies; Light side-offshore
winds
Crew
to Crowd 2/6 (Avg)
I was riding shotgun with Makani and as we crossed central Oahu on the way to the country my cell phone rang at about 6:15. We were expecting a surf report from the beach at first light, but Da Sponge, Mr. Dawn Patrol himself :) had overslept and was just leaving home! The poor guy's been burning the candle at both ends these past few months, I know he's pretty frazzled.
We were hoping that the small bump that hit yesterday would still be around. When we crested the hill overlooking the North Shore- barely any whitewater showing. Bummed.
Neal musta had it floored all the way from Ewa side cause he caught up to us around Waimea Bay. I had a great session at Rocky Point yesterday so I told him to turn in at the Indian head totem pole and we'd check there first. We were bummed to see waist to chest high waves, mostly closeouts breaking right on the shelf.
Makani & I decided to head back to surf some small Lanis. Neal opted to right there at Rockys for maximum water time (close to shore fast in & out); Plus small surf at Rocky Point is much more suited for bodyboarding than small surf at Lanis.
We ended up having a very
satisfying session. The surf was very small but the early morning crowd
was super mellow. The NW direction meant several distinct sections instead
of long walls. We hung at northmost peak across from Holtons, snapping
up lefts & rights from quick little bowls that gave enough speed for
a fast lip bash and then a short wall for a couple roundhouses. Great fun
for nearly 3 hours but by 10am it seemed like someone had suddenly turned
loose 2
dozen people for their
first time surfing.
'loha,
Bud
Sunday
October 3, 1999
3:30p-6:00p
Laniakea, North Shore
Avg wave face
3 feet
Sets wave face
4 feet, few lil bigger
Partly cloudy; Light
sideshore winds
Crew
to Crowd 1/3 (Avg)
The forecasted NW never appeared but I decided to head out in the afternoon to get wet anyway. Pulled up to Lanis and saw barely shortboardable waves, with an occasional workable set coming through.
When there's surf, most people jump in on either end of the break where there's sand to the waters edge and the rip is running out. The shoreline between the ends of the break is lined by a flat lava shelf extending from the water to about 20 feet up the beach, depending on the tide and season. This flat shelf is covered with very slippery seaweed. The seaweed and the small shorebreak tend to hide much of the knee deep rivulets in the shelf
Since the surf was tiny I jumped in the water right at the middle of the shoreline fronting the beach closest to the road. No big deal to paddle the shortest distance to the lineup on such a small day. I noticed some newbies scanning the shore from the road side. It occurred to me later that they were watching to see where I entered the water. A few minutes later I was 3/4's of the way out, I turned to look shoreward just in time to see two of them go down almost simultaneously on the slippery seaweed, longboards flying. Ouch. Unless you get a foot/leg twisted in a crack, probably more embarrassing than actual injury, since the seaweed also forms a pretty good padding (they all made it to the lineup intact).
The waves were slightly blown out and the sets were scarce, but the vibe in the lineup was super mellow. . . mostly beginners out beginning. As I joined the small crowd in the northmost bowl, I was pleasantly surprised to see that at least five of the 8-10 people out were girls, all having great fun. I was feeling confident on my first wave, a shoulder high set that I patiently waited for. I worked it good, off the first bottom turn I nailed a solid smack, then a decent roundhouse off the whitewater combo. The wave was thigh high by then and as I set up for another cutback, I caught the inside rail and couldn't grab my stick before the wave took it. Phaaarq, 75 yard swim on my first friggin wave.
Slightly humbled, I worked my way back up the pecking order ;-) and was more careful about where I turned in the small surf. All in all, a fun sesh.
Good surfing to you,
Bud
Tuesday
October 5, 1999
3:00p-6:15p
Big Rights, South Shore
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 6-7 feet,
occasional 8
Sunny; Light offshore
winds
Crew
to Crowd 1/7 (Avg)
Wrapped up work early to jump into the building SSW. Friend Gavin H. (T&C airbrusher) gave me a buzz from Ala Mo beach park to tell me Big Rights was firing and the crowd was light. I broke the sound barrier driving through town and was in the water 35 minutes after his call. I paddled out through the impact zone at Concessions, came out the back of a small wave just in time to see Gavin getting barreled at BR's. . . sweet.
Tide was way high so waves
were holding back till they dumped hard over the reef. Only one or two
waves in the
inconsistent sets, but
it wasn't too bad until the crowd maxed out about 5pm. Until then, I was
getting many of them without hassle and had several stand up tubes. Overall
though, I felt a bit "off" this session; couldn't put it together. One
of my stupid mistakes caused me to get smacked by the lip and my stick
flipped over below me. Tumbling in the whitewater, a fin cut my left foot,
a rail whacked my left wrist (a golfball sized bruise/welt). When I finally
swam to the
surface, I inadvertently
came up underneath my board catching a fin with my face, giving me a nice
1" straight cut right between the eyes, across the bridge of my nose. Jeez
I was hurting all over and musta looked like both eyes were bleeding.
A friend from way back, Ronnie Yamada, (now the local Etines rep) came out and tore the place to shreds. He has this spot wired, and it shows. About then, it got incredibly crowded. It had been more than 3 hours- I was burnt to a crisp and wasn't getting many of the (scarce) sets anymore. I snagged a small insider and headed in looking forward to a cold beer or two.
'loha,
Bud
Wednesday
October 6, 1999
3:45p-6:00p
--------, South Shore
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 7-10 feet,
some bigger
Cloudy; Moderate-strong
offshore winds
Crew
to Crowd 2/0 (Avg)
Hooked up with surfbud Makani for an eve sesh at a fave secret spot. Swell was supposed to peak in the afternoon, so we were hoping that would compensate for the "too high" tide. This would be his second session of the day; He scored a west side secret spot to himself earlier in the morning, with nearly 2xoh sets.
Paddled across the channel, no one else out. . . waves had decent size but were real lumpy and out of shape. Pretty strong offshores made even harder to get into the shifty surf. Each of us got at least 2 or 3 excellent lefts, though; After a late drop, big carves on nice open faces that peeled fairly well.
Decided to head back across
the channel to sample the inner break where about 10 other guys were surfing.
We
snagged a few lefts and
rights but it just didn't seem up to par. After a last wave, we climbed
onto the breakwater and began planning tomorrow's dawn patrol..
Good surfing to you,
Bud
Thursday
October 7, 1999
7:00a-9:00a
West Shore
Avg wave face
7-8 feet
Sets wave face
8-12 feet, some bigger
Cloudy; Calm turning
light & variable
Crew
to Crowd 2/1 (Avg)
Headed out early with Makani, hoping that the swell was still big enough to make a fickle west side spot fire. Got to "-----" about 6:20am, pulled off the highway and went down the dirt road along waters edge. A few lines coming in but nothing encouraging. . . we waited to make sure it wasn't just inconsistent, but 20 minutes later nothing surfable had come in.
We were stressing about where to surf and the fact that I was kind of pressed for time didn't help. Finally decided to hit a spot further west where I knew would be catching whatever swell was still coming in. The line up at this spot is easily 300 yards+ from shore on an average day and the parking area is notorious for car break-ins; Having grown up just a mile or two away, I know the reputation is well founded.
Makani had not surfed here before and was excited to see the loooong walls standing up from waaaay behind the point. This spot has given me the longest rides off my life, so far. . . . I told him that it is possible to surf from that far behind, and that you'd probably live if you didn't fall. It was already 2xoh but it needed to be bigger to "safely" surf from that far back. The water in that part of the point hides dozens and dozens of pillar-like coral heads just below the surface. It's actually more dangerous at high tide cause you can't see them till it's too late.
We hopped off the edge
of the reef at the end of the tiny concrete breakwater and skirted the
inside reef on the way
around the end of the
lefts breaking into the bay. We joined about 5 others spread out along
the middle and end peaks.
The wave is very hard
to judge- it will look like it's going to pitch then suddenly it'll completely
back off and reform
further in- so alot of
them go unridden.
We probably caught around dozen waves each in the 2 hours we were out, but the length of the rides made up for the lack of quantity. The smooth, big open faces were just begging to be carved up and we gladly obliged. We even scored a bunch of wicked rights from the middle on some of the smaller sets.
It's been a week full of surf and now there's a NNW on the way too!
Good surfing to you,
Bud
Saturday
October 9, 1999
8:45a-11:30a
Laniakea, North Shore
Avg wave face 5-7 feet
Sets wave face 8-11 feet,
few lil bigger
Sunny; Light offshores
turning to strong sideshores about 10:15
Crew
to Crowd 2/6 (Avg)
Hooked up with surfbud
Makani for a mid-morning attack on the North Shore. Felt fully energized
with the extra hour &
half of much needed sleep.
Laniakea was excellent! Fast walls were just racing from the outer peak.
I knew that it
would be less an less
makeable as the tide dropped. . but for our first hour & a half
it was on fire.
Makani was taking off
deep and flying through snap after straight up snap. He even backdoored
a sweet barrel in front
of the pack, a backside
railgrab that looked too deep to make until he burst out at the end, to
the hoots from all those paddling out. I was blown away by Rochelle Ballard
who was completely shredding too; Makani introduced me and said they were
close friends, growing up surfing in Kauai from "small keed time."
As for me, I was "clicking" on most of my waves on this day. . . felt like I was putting it together pretty well. Was nailing many in the lip take-offs and surprised myself by making some super long sections, with lots of snaps thrown in too. The new stick is really feeling like it could be "the one."
'loha,
Bud
Sunday
October 10, 1999
6:15a-8:45a
Laniakea, North Shore
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 6-7 feet
Cloudy; Light-moderate
sideshores
Crew
to Crowd 2/7 (Avg)
Neal had just returned
from the mainland and we exchanged e-mails on Saturday night about a Sunday
dawn patrol. That nut was heading up to the country before 5am! (This time
of year it's mostly dark till about 6am). On my way up, he
called to tell me that
he had already checked the coast- not much happening- so he was jumping
in at Lanis. Sounded good to me.
The parking area already
had about 10 cars when I pulled in and many more came as I prepped to go
out. Conditions
weren't so hot but the
waves were great fun. Most waves were shutting down between the two ends,
but some were very makeable all the way across. It's always a rush to take
off and race a long wall stretched out ahead of you, ready to peel.
Paddled out between Holtons and spotted Sponge on his longboard in the outer lineup. After a week without surf I knew he was jonesing. I noticed he was pretty aggressive this morning, doing a good job of jockeying with the others in the northmost peak. He even seemed to be turning the longboard quicker, pumping it through sections and cutting back sharply.
The surf was dropping
fast and it was ripe for a monster Sunday crowd. I had another decent session.
. . probably got
more than my fair share
of waves before I decided to head in. Scanning the shore and saw so many
people on their way out I couldn't believe it; But every time I told myself
this was my last wave, I be so stoked on the ride I'd go back out for another.
Finally I snagged a hot
one, an overhead zipper that I blazed across the middle on, smacking the
lip several times
before bungling it in
the whitewater on the closeout rebound. As I was getting smacked around
in the impact zone-
rather than go back out,
I forced myself to paddle over to the west end and catch a shoulder to
shore.
Good surfing to you,
Bud
Wednesday
October 13, 1999
3:30p-6:45p
Laniakea, North Shore
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 6-7 feet
Cloudy; Light offshores
Crew
to Crowd 2/8 (Avg)
(Makani
lefts, blazing start/fizzle finish, Aipa, late crowd)
Sunday
October 17, 1999
8:00a-11:15a
Sunset Point-Backyards,
North Shore
Avg wave face 3-4 feet
Sets wave face 5 feet,
few lil bigger
Sunny; Light offshores
Crew
to Crowd 2/5 (Avg)
"Oh shit" Makani said. "I locked the keys in the car. . . oh well, guess we'll worry about it when we're done surfing. . . ."
It was one of those lazy, laid back days where locking the keys in the car could not be a downer. A glorious day, even by Hawaii standards. Blazing sun in the bluest sky, light crowd on the beautiful beach, the ocean was like glass and the warm water was sooo incredibly clear. Waist to almost head high surf was peeling all along the coast.
We jumped in just up from Val's Reef and joined the small crowd of (90%) beginners at Sunset Point. We intended to catch a few there before our paddle down to 'yards, but we noticed right away that no one was taking off from the peak. The tide was way high but everyone was on the end -- peak after sweet little peak was sizzling off the shallow shelf before shouldering off near the pack. By taking off way deeper, we were all over the tubular bowls *and* ended up getting into the waves long before anyone else could.
Makani ended up spending the whole session there, pretty much unhassled for any wave he went for; After an hour I paddled northward, sampling waves from the point all the way to the lefts at backyards. I had fun looking around for makeable waves over the knee deep reef, the closest other surfer usually a 50-100 yards away.
Eventually I made my way back to the point and finished off the session there. By this time the pack was getting a bit ridiculous. Mostly because of the cluelessness of the players, sitting wide-eyed in the impact zone whenever a set came through- can you say "s-l-a-l-o-m?"
On shore, Makani spent 30 minutes going car to car looking for a wire hanger. The pavement was hot enough to bake skin; My slippers were "safely" locked in the truck, so I wasn't much help. The lifeguards turned out to be totally unhelpful. Finally, I yelled at a pair of preteens on bicycles with an offer of $5 to produce a wire hangar to break into "my" truck. . . they looked at me like I was a freak and rode away.
About 10 minutes later they came back with a wire hanger and floored me- "you don't have to give us the five dollars mister, it's cool." Wow. Very close to a warm fuzzy for a second. I said "stick around, I'll give you the bucks as soon as we get the door open."
Of course, the next second Makani came trotting down the hill, waving a wire hanger (he found Owl Chapman's house & knocked on the door for it!). About five minutes later Makani popped the lock on the driver's side. I waved the bicycle kids back over and gave 'em the dough- they were stoked, as we were. . . . Tiny surf but a great day in the country, for sure.
Good surfing to you,
Bud
Tuesday
October 19, 1999
10:00a-12:15p
Laniakea, North Shore
Avg wave face 10-12 feet
Sets wave face 14-17
feet, bigger bombs every 15min or so
Cloudy, raining; Light-moderate
side-offshores
Crew
to Crowd 2/0
Around midnight last night Buoy #1 had wave heights at 11.5' and swell periods of 13 seconds; By late morning the NWS report for the north shore said 4-8' with occasional 10' (Hawaiian) sets. I picked Neal up and we barreled through an incredible downpour almost the whole drive to the country.
We were greeted with storm surf along the whole coast, cleaner in some places, pretty bad at others. Disorganized, lumpy and generally lots of big water moving around. Huge waves were slamming the reef fronting Foodland. Checked Pipe/Ehukai (4-5 bodyboarders were giving it a shot), then went on down to Sunset. A few people in the water but no one getting anything decent that I saw. Cleaner than the "lower' coast but not much to work with- nasty closeouts among rip currents running amok.
Headed back down to Laniakea. My truck was the only vehicle in the lot. From shore, we figured it was easily 2xoh but the stormy conditions made it hard to tell. From home, my prediction had been for 10 foot faces, so I had packed my 6'4".
The wind/air was cold but the ocean felt like a heated pool. As usual, turtles everywhere. The out going rip made the initial paddle out pretty easy, it also made staying in good position almost impossible. Once past the inner reef and out in the open, it didn't take long to see that the sets were pretty huge. Many were breaking on the outer reef, hundreds of yards out from Holtons and threatening to close out all the way across I spent the first 30 minutes scratching for lots of waves but I was way under-sticked. It forced me too far in and too deep; I ended up getting drilled repeatedly by the bombs coming through. Often, I was paddling just to keep in one spot, up to my ears in yellowish bubbly wave-froth.
Most of the time I couldn't see where Neal was and had to strain to spot him in the mutant storm surf. I had a disposable camera with me and I was determined to get a few pics. Finally, I was able to snap a few shots of Neal dropping into some huge walls (I hope they come out!). He mentioned that the sets were pushing his limits size-wise but he looked totally in control to me; Fully rushing the big ones too.
The waves were breaking everywhere and most were full on closeouts. Eventually I windmilled my way into about a dozen waves overall. Although I had to be very careful at the bottom, my board held on surprisingly well. I had a bunch of adrenaline spiked drops and nailed some sweet carves the few times the racing wall would let up a bit.
Toward the end of the second hour, a few really *massive* waves broke on the outer reef, reformed and then broke on my head. I had no qualms about diving for the bottom but I was seriously worried about the leash or the plug giving way. Having to swim in from that far out, in that kind of current would be no small feat.
Neal must have read my mind 'cause exactly when he said he was looking for a wave in was just when I felt I had had enough. His last wave was a killer wall (I saw it from the impact zone again-arrrgh!) and he flew across the big open face, then carved a big turn in the pocket as I attempted to duck the wave.
Two people had tried to come out while we were in the surf but they didn't make it out. We were the only people out the whole time. I think we both felt the big surf and nasty conditions was a respectable test for the upcoming winter season; I could tell Neal was really pumped about it, and so was I.
Good surfing to you,
Bud
Thursday
October 21, 1999
2:15p-4:45p
Laniakea, North Shore
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet
Overcast; Light offshores
Crew
to Crowd 2/8 (Avg)
(Lance,
Colin, Tom, head dip, good sesh)
Sunday
October 24, 1999
9:30a-12:00p
Laniakea, North Shore
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 8-10 feet,
dropping to 6-7 feet by 11am
Mostly sunny; Light side-offshores
Crew
to Crowd 2/8 (Avg)
(Colin,
Jimmy, mega crowd, excellent form-direction, started off good, fizzled)
Friday
October 29, 1999
3:45p-6:00p
Laniakea, North Shore
Avg wave face
5-7 feet
Sets wave face
8-12 feet
Mostly cloudy; Very light
side-offshore winds
Crew
to Crowd 2/12 (Avg)
It was my wife calling
from her job when I my cell phone rang about 2:30- "Hey, I thought you
were surfing this afternoon?" so I grumbled- "morning was all f**ked up
and everything at work took twice as long as it should have" then she sez
"what. . . is it too late?" so I started mumbling crap like "well, gets
dark right after 6pm I'll only be able to surf for 2 hours, didn't have
my stick with me. . blah blah. . . " So she tells me "you should go surf,
you know you'll feel better if
you do. . ."
What the hell was I thinking? Of course she was right as usual. Instead of going back to the office, I pulled a yuey at the next light, wenthomegrabbedmystickshortstowelfedthedogjumpedbackinmytruckandbrokethesoundbarriertothecountry
The surf at Laniakea was
going OFF. The parking lot was PACKED. There must have been at least 60
surfers out, and a bunch more getting ready to go out, as I was. The sets
were 2xoh and just firing all the way across from Holtons. It seemed like
there was hardly any west element in the swell at all. Smooth & sweet.
..afternoon glass doesn't happen too often in the country but the winds
have been weird lately. I managed to pick off back to back set waves in
my first 15
minutes; Kicked out with
jellied legs after multitudinous <g> carves & snaps on long fast
walls.
The pack was crazy, if you managed to snag a wave, you'd slalom through the people at the same time keeping your eye on the shoulder hoppers. There they were like vultures, all down the line, boards cocked, ready to spring at the first sign of a slip.
It was quite a zoo, but it was one of those days where everyone would hoot as they paddled over/through the sweet waves that people were scoring. More than a few times I ducked in the impact zone while a guy bottom turned above me, fins whizzing just above the nose of my board and past my face. All the pros are in town for the winter contest season and a big chunk of them were out, so the performance level was way up.
Some people were all smiles while others were pulling their hair out. There were lots of guys who were taking off real deep, but most were getting stuffed repeatedly by others who would deny them any chance to make an "iffy" section. I was in a groove and having a blast; At least the big crowd gave me a chance to say "hey" to a bunch of friends I haven't seen in a while.
The sun was setting and I was paddling back out after a long ride. I was ducking a breaking wave and the guy who was paddling ahead of me sat up on his stick as he came down the back. I came up underneath him quicker than I expected. I couldn't react fast enough when I realized the nose of my board would not clear the bottom of his board and they connected with a sickening kerrrunch. I thought my nose had pierced his bottom, but actually his trailing fin had gone 95% through my nose! New stick, virgin no more. Sick.
He apologized and even offered to throw down some cash for repair!? Wow. . .Don't know why he felt bad, if you had to lay fault anywhere it was prolly more mine than his. I shrugged it off and told him "thanks that's cool but no way it was your fault. No worries."
Still, it was a super session in great waves. The new hole in my board was clean and looked like an easy repair- it should be dry by Sunday when my wife and I get back from Maui :-)
Good surfing to you,
Bud