good evening. been having trouble with my new cell phone. the technology is just too much for me. still trying to figure things out but i just don’t like to input text with it. too freakin small keys. anyway, just got back from a long day. check out some photos….

the contest was on today and it was pretty boring. the waves were 3-4′, windy, and crappy. if there wasn’t a contest today, nobody would probably be surfing. that’s how junk it was. went to watch a few heats and they finally cancelled it at 12pm. good call. there are no waves for a while but i think contest surf forecaster bernie baker can see something way out there. japan is freezing cold now so we shall see. but so far, this has been the worst season in hawaii for waves, and also the worst pipeline masters ever….

brought the boys back with me to town today. the waves on the north shore was super junky and will be worst tomorrow so we’re going to have some fun in town. just as we were getting in my car, somebody called me. shit, it was Mega…. i didn’t even know he was here. he said he came yesterday and will be here for 2 weeks. check out mega’s 50 Cents hand sign. bali gang style…

when we left the north shore, i asked the kids if they wanted to sightsee on the way back to town. they said yes so we took the long way home around the island…. stopped by perry dane’s house on the way to check out his new boat. and to check out some surf spots and dive spots. next time those south/west winds come, i’m there… i don’t think these kids realize that north shore local perry dane is most japanese pro surfers nightmare. when he paddles out to backdoor, off the wall, or v-land, it’s better to paddle in. but maybe now, ryota and shun can get a wave from him…. check out the kids shaka’s…. learning fast….

we came back to town and had time to get in a session at kewalo’s. it was windy but the waves were head high for the boys and fun. there was only 2 other surfers out when they paddled out. they were getting barreled and having such a great time. then carissa moore paddled out and pulled a sick backside 306 right in front of them. the were surprised to see a girl surf that good. and surprised that carissa spoke japanese to them. later in the session, carissa told me that those 2 kids surf really good. i think so too…

and last, here are the kids taking photos again. cool rubbish cans… haha….
**well, gotta get going. have a great evening…..

Study/Surf. Smart kids!!!!

** i was flipping through some old magazines and came across this article in surf1st. brought back some memories. it was only last year but seemed so long ago. sorry for the blurry photos but my phone camera sucks. getting a new one soon so things should get better. but even though it’s blurry, you get the picture….

this place is called “shotgun” and is located in chiba. never been there before, never seen it break before, but just heard a lot about it. heard that it’s nuts, heard that kelly slater paddled out there on a 6′ day and got barreled, heard that some waves are impossible to ride. pulled up there before sunrise on the biggest wave day of japan history. the waves were 10-15′ and sucking up. made tahiti look like waikiki. remember that huge typhoon that tracked from mexico all the way to japan? yeah, that one. anyway, got dropped off out the back on a jet ski with japanese big waver misao tako. i remember it being dark with huge mountains rolling in from the horizon. it was the two of us verses the pacific ocean. tako-san broke his board in the first 15 minutes so the jet ski picked him up and took him in. then it was only me and my 8’6 in the lineup. was i scared? yes i was. i usually don’t get scared but i was scared that day because i was at a spot in another country, surfing it for my first time, and knowing that the waves were only going to get bigger and bigger. i was out there alone for about 40 minutes but felt like hours. managed to catch a few waves and started getting confident. after a while, all the chiba boys paddled out so it was pretty cool. what’s funny is that when the waves are small, everybody talks story while waiting for a wave. but when it’s big, nobody talks. it’s pretty much silent out there. we were having an unreal session, some guys were getting sick ones, and kinsan was on the jetski shooting photos. it got sunny, clean, and everybody started getting happy….

i remember sitting the deepest waiting for my last wave of the day. all of a sudden, i seen guys paddling to the shoulder racing for their lives. i couldn’t see what was behind the first swell but after i paddled over it. oh shit!!! a freak 15’+ set started sucking up on the outside and i started paddling as fast as i could to get outside. no luck. the wave broke on my head so i let my board go and dove under. my leash snapped and my board broke in half. then 3 more sets broke on my head. it was nuts!!! almost everybody got cleaned up and there were broken boards and freaked out surfers all scattered around. i swam to the outside to have the jetski pick me up and i was out of there. that was by far the biggest and craziest day of surfing for me in japan. if you asked me that day if i wanted to do it again, i would have said “no way”…. but now when i look back and think about it, i want to try again. next time, i’ll have a longer surfboard and bigger balls…. kinsan took these photos that day. look at those surfboards in the photos. those are 10′ long so imagine how big and thick the waves were….

the day before, we were surfing this inside reef and the waves were 8′ or so. on the outside of the bay, there were waves that looked 15′ breaking and heard that nobody surfed there before. maybe because the cliffs are 150 feet in front of the wave? anyway, hayato and i jumped on the ski to go check it out. figure go try to catch one so we got dropped off between sets. no waves were breaking so we paddled into the lineup. was looking around and hayato told me “i think we’re sitting too inside”. right as i was about to say “yeah”, this huge set came in and broke on our heads. cleaned us up and that was it. we have to be more careful in the future. but oh my gosh, those 2 days were “unforgettable”…..