imagine walking to the beach for a contest and checking the waves at first light. must be nerve racking. i remember those days and i don’t miss it at all….

can you find out what’s wrong?

roll call at 6am. gosh, this contest is getting bigger and better. i’m stoked to be a part of it…..

here ishino-san is giving the rules. top 2 waves beach start. oh, 12 minute heats…..

barrels surfing school. the customers of barrels are so lucky to have a cool teacher like ishino-san….

the ladies division was awesome. the waves were powerful and kind of dangerous but these girls were ripping. check out the cool dove wetsuits…..

barrels = barbecue. barrels = fun…..

there was a smile on every single face at this barbecue. thanks for the great time and great food….

congratulations to saiki-san for winning the senior class division….

congratulations to takenaka-san for winning the open division. yusuke got second….

congratulations to kaito for winning the beginner class…

and congratulations to aki-chan for winning the women’s class. that’s 2 years in a row. and look at cutie 7 year old kona-chan. she got second. i got the cutest photos of her surfing. i’ll post them later…..
**once again, congratulations to all the competitors. you guys and girls did great!! and thank you to ishino-san for putting on such a happy fun event. can’t wait till next year…. next year will be a lobster and isidai for every person…. well, if the water is clean….

good morning. 6:30am here in beautiful osaka. heading to shikoku today to get barreled. have a nice day and keep cool because it’s going to be a hot day. i’m sweating in my hotel room….. out of hea…..

garrett mcnamara nad kealii mamala are two crazy hawaiians. when i seen the video clip for this, i freaked out. they sat and waited near an ice mountain in alaska melting away. when the glacier came crashing down into the lake, they freaking towed into the tsunami waves. that’s freaking nuts…. what the hell is next??? CHECK IT OUT…

“saiko” in japanese means unreal or awesome. saiko was one of the first words i learned when i came to japan. i must have used it a million of times since. saiko is how i will describe my trip to shizuoka….

right off the train to the beach. the waves were flat but nobody here was complaining. in fact, we were stoked because it was dive time… saiko….

we call these “bugs” in hawaii. hard to come by in hawaii now days. but in japan, loaded…. saiko….

a mixed bag of fish and stuff. these are “isidai”. best for sashimi. saiko….

makaki from REAL WESTSIDE MOVEMENT prepared this awesome dish….. saiko….

everything on this plate was swimming in the water just a few hours before. fish, shell fish, and lobster sashimi…. saiko….

sashimi along with a barbecue? saiko….
**wanted to thank masaki, his family, and the boys at real west side movement. doomo arigato gozaimashita. anyway, that’s how my day ended of the first day in shizuoka. shizuoka saiko……