good morning. had a blast last night at darren tatsuno’s house with friends from all over japan. muramatsu-san and everybody from von-zipper/rlm knows how to have a good time….

never a dull moment…. shohei from sendai, aaron from hawaii, muramatsu-san from chigasaki, and bruddah luiz and brazil grom….. had a great time boys…

it was aaron, derek, and brandon’s birthday party too[:??$B!^(B??????:][:??$B!^(B??????:] that was a pretty sick cake. congratulations boys. many more surfing years to come….
as for the waves today. windy small waves around the island. i’m stoked because i need a break from driving out to the north shore. the long drive, the traffic, and the gas is starting to get to me. i’m staying in town and having a relaxing sunday. if you want to surf, bowls is your best bet in town but got over 15 guys on it already. not too crowded out at the park and there’s still some waist/chest high sets coming in. north shore is 2′ with 4 hungry surfers out at pipe. windy, bumpy, over it… waves coming up tomorrow so stay tuned. hope you have a nice day!!!
**and last, you guys want to see some craziest shit? this is the big wave tow-in surfing of diving. gosh, now i’m amped.. i want to go!!!! thanks craig for sending the clip…. where’s the sashimi?? haha….

good evening. pulled up to backdoor early this morning again and the waves weren’t as good as i expected. it dropped a lot from yesterday and the wind was making the waves bumpy and junky. but i figured i’m out there so may as well get a session in. ended up surfing for over 3 hours…. it was freezing cold but glad i paddled out and stayed out. usually i would get a couple, come in and grab my camera. but not today. i was waiting too long for a day like today. all i wanted to do was surf….

wanted to thank gordinho for sending me these photos from today. i paddled out at 7am before the sun came out. waited and waited. got a couple good ones but wanted a sick one. so i just kept on waiting and waiting. then it came, a perfect a-frame set right to me. here’s the take off…

no, i’m not making dodo, i wanted to stall into the barrel, that’s why i was dragging my hand. but there was a little section that would have broke on my head so last minute, i decided to go around it….

went to the bottom to set up the bottom turn. i remember seeing this big wall building up. i knew i was going to get barreled but didn’t know what would happen next…

pulled in and rode a high line so i could get speed in the barrel…

i could feel the spit shooting at my back from behind.. it felt pretty dam good….

5 years ago, at this point, i would have jumped off my board because i didn’t think i would make it out of the barrel, and plus, i could see somebody paddling out in front of me…

but i held on instead and closed my eyes… haha…

and when i came out, i was pretty stoked. this is how one wave can make a surfers day….
**the waves weren’t that good at all this morning. in fact, it was shitty and really cloudy. there wasn’t even one photographer on the beach when i paddled out. but who cares. i use to sit on the beach and wait until the sun comes out and the photographers show up. by then, it’s to late. the trick with backdoor is you got to just go out and try. rain or shine, wind or cold, just go. yeah, it’s crowded and there aren’t too many good waves, but if you don’t go out and try, you will never know. i paddle out on the worst days sometimes and get some of the best waves of my life. that’s surfing.. great things can happen when you least expect it. and when it does, nobody can wipe that smile off your face. nobody!!! thanks again gordinho for taking this sequence this morning. i thought nobody got it… now i’m happier than i was when i came out of that barrel….

good morning. 5:30am. couldn’t sleep well. can’t stop thinking about the guy throwing the baby onto the freeway. passed there last night on the way home from the north shore and seen the balloons and stuffed animal memorial. it’s still shocking to me and probably everybody living in hawaii. and i drive by there every single day. babies are so innocent and precious so it hits hard. i’m still lost for words….
as for the surf. it looks pretty good. north shore is still big and good. town still has some chest/shoulder high sets. the winds are light and the skies are clear. i’m going straight to pipe…. have a safe and nice day…

check out these line-up shots i took yesterday at pipe. the conditions were perfect, the weather was perfect, and the waves were perfect. perfect for line-up shots…. snapped this one from the billabong house living room in the morning….

here’s a shot from ehukai beach park in the afternoon. what a huge difference yeah? the waves are twice the size. imagine coming to hawaii from the mainland where there is no ocean and walking up to this. all i could hear at ehukai beach park was “oh my gosh, oh my gosh”…. sounded like me… haha.. but “oh my gosh”, you should have been there. the waves were amazing…. stuck my 7’6 in my car so better prepared today….

and last, check out this ad in the newest surfing life magazine. hungup systems? the smartest idea yet. stick this hanger in the fcs plugs and hand the board up. got to get this system set up in my garage. where can i order 20 hangers for my boards????