Typhoon Chasing from Shikoku to Wakayama
July 24th, 2014 | by kirbyfukunaga
yesterday’s waves were incredible! big waves and good wind all day long. surfed 3 rounds, took 2 naps, and had such a beautiful day. i’ve been doing this for 22 years and i’m still in love with it! this is a secret river mouth in shikoku that i will never ever say the name. secrets are best kept secrets. want to thank the locals there for being so nice and sharing the waves with me. stoked!
Matchi is a shikoku local and we’ve had some of the best surfing experiences together back in the days when there was no cell phone and no internet. we would just drive around for hours and hours looking for the perfect wave. and we’d always find it!
Matchi took a few photos of me when i jumped in. i was staying in the inside trying to find the hollow waves that break right along the sandbar.
and yes, my new Minami 5’10 is working pretty dam good! stoked to always have magic boards from TSSC.
yesterday i had 2 choices. one to stay in shikoku for an early morning surf, then travel by car, ferry, and train for 11 hours to get to tokyo in time. another choice was to start driving, head to wakayama, wake up early, surf, then take my time heading back to tokyo. i chose the second choice and it was the right one. yeah, it took 6 hours 10 minutes by myself to get here but it was well worth it.
look what this morning looked like. in fact, this was just 2 hours ago. i’m packed and ready to head to the train station for a long journey back to tokyo. then when tomorrow comes, i will start yet another long journey. i’ve only been here for 3 days but it feels like 3 months already. and guess what? there is another typhoon heading this way right now! if i can surf another good typhoon swell, i will be the luckiest surfer in the world. stay tuned!
Japan surf report.
July 24th, 2014 | by gonaminori
5:30am.
Another day, another wave!
Typhoon swell continues.
Score!!!!
I’m going surfing!
Shikoku Surfing Expressway
July 23rd, 2014 | by kirbyfukunaga
today was an awesome day. started up at 3am and drove 3 hours to the other side of shikoku. i could smell the salt air from the water and hear the waves breaking in the dark as i drove along the beach coast. i had my hawaiian music keeping me awake. then when i pulled up to the spot as it started to get lighted, i couldn’t believe how solid the swell was. everybody was expecting head high for this typhoon but it was way over that. solid 5′ and maybe some 6′ freak sets. but the best ones would be in the inside along the sandbar. the only problem was waiting there and getting hit by ghost sets. broken boards, leashes, and some panic at times. i surfed 3 rounds and am totally surfed out, burnt, and so happy. threw my board back in the van at 3pm, drove 3 hours to the ferry port, and now i’m sitting on the ferry downloading photos from today. gotta be back in tokyo tomorrow so had to leave. tomorrow morning will be good too but i’ll try to find some surf on the way home.
imagine catching an airplane, driving for hours, and pulling up to this? this is the part of surfing i love the most. it’s total excitement and i’m actually shaking when i’m waxing up my board. i’m pretty sure this was the best spot in all japan today and i was very happy to be there. river mouth barrels!
here’s even a better photo. there weren’t too many of these but when you find one, you will scream!
wanted to thank Matchi for buying me lunch today. we went to eat katsuo tataki and it was so good!
the drive home was awesome! i took the back expressway that i’ve never been on before. the scenery was amazing! driving for 2 hours on the expressway listening to neil diamond over and over. i was in a great place!
going to take a nap and once i arrive in wakayama, i’m going to drink a nice cold draft beer. then sleep, wake up early, quick surf, and jump on the train back to the concrete jungle. i love it all!
