here are some photos from yesterday…..

4 groms. 2 hawaiians, and 2 japanese…. when these kids first met each other, they were pretty shy. but when they seen the waves, it was a different story..

this was kewalos yesterday around lunch time. 3′, off shore, and super fun….

getting into the water at kewalos is tricky. you have to jump off the rocks and time the waves perfectly. i made sure the 4 kids got in safely and didn’t get hurt. then it was my turn. i slipped off the rock and put a deep cut in my toe. shit!!! that hurted. i’m just glad none of the kids seen me. haha… but i’ve been surfing here for so long and this was my first time i got hurt. oh well…. if i showed you a photo of it now, you would freak. there’s a lot of sand and mud stuck in there. i better get in the water to get it cleaned out…

like i said, when these kids met a few hours before this, they were totally shy. my nephews can’t speak any japanese and the 2 yugawara kids can’t speak any english. so how do they communicate? through surfing…. when i first went to japan, i couldn’t speak any japanese. but through surfing, i’ve made lifetime friends… i hope these kids do the same….
*check out some snaps from the kewalos session. i took video off my dig camera so the quality isn’t that great….

this is shun on a 4’11 TSSC matchi shape….

this is joshua on a 5’2 HIC eric arakawa shape…

this is ryota on a 4’9 LEFT naka-san shape…

and this is seth on a 4’5 TSSC mike woo shape…

good morning. 6:30am on this windy morning. tradewinds up and waves down. north shore is only 2-3′. little morning sickness but the winds are going to get even stronger so it probably won’t clean up that much. nobody out at pipe and no contest today. they need 3 more days of competition and only one weak swell forecasted on tomorrow. this year might be the pipe/ehukai masters. i remember one year pipe was so small that they held the contest at ehukai beach park. might be the case this year. town still has some waves. a little smaller than yesterday but still some chest/shoulder high sets at bowls. looks really clean and only a couple guys out. going to look for some surf somewhere and check out this Canon seminar tonight in town. 4 hour seminar so hope to learn something new. have a nice day….
**for all of you who’s not here in hawaii and thinking of hawaii. check out this one. makes you miss here a lot more. this is a classic from keola and kapono beamer called “honolulu city lights”…..
**and for those of you who don’t know who keola and kapono beamer are, maybe this will refresh your memory. “only good times” was the ending credit for the best surf movie ever produced: Big Wednesday. watching that movie makes me want to butter me up and jump into the oven….

good evening. what a long day. it’s 8pm and i just got home from the north shore. this morning, i went to pick up matchi, and the two yugawara boys from the airport. i’m stoked when my friends come to hawaii. now i have more people to surf with….

this is their first time to hawaii. shun is 10 and ryota is 11. they were so happy to be in hawaii that they started acting like tourists. they were so cute….

when they got to my house, they we saying “wow, wow, wow”. i asked “wow what?” and they said everything “wow”…. then they got their cameras out and started taking photos of the sky, mountains, and trees around my house. when their parents see the photos they take, they are going to laugh….. they are staying on the north shore for the next 10 days so figure while their in town, break them in and surf some town waves. so i went to pick up my two nephews seth 10 and josh 11. pulled up to kewalos and the waves were going off!!! 3′ and perfect. the kids were having so much fun. and they were all ripping. josh and seth told me “wow, they surf good”. i was pretty surprised on how good they got since the last time i seen them surf in japan. kewalos was going off and the kids didn’t want to come in. they looked bummed when i told them one more wave. we had to get out to the north shore to watch the pipe masters and surf v-land….

we scored and found a parking right in front of the billabong house at pipe. bobby was outside so we got the free escort onto the billabong house lawn. on the way, taj burrow and dave rastavich were hanging out. the kids freaked out that their heros they see on videos were right in front of them. it was funny…. we watched a few heats from the billabong house. this is something not too many kids can experience… that is pipeline breaking right in front. and look at the two tourists shun and ryota taking photos again. haha….
the waves at pipe were junk and the contest was kind of boring so we headed up to v-land. and yes indeed, v-land was the spot. 4′ and perfect. so many barrels but so many people. the two kids got their taste of a north shore session. it was a fun day and we got in two perfect surf sessions. i took some photos and video with my dig. camera and will try to post it tomorrow. right now, i’m sunburned and too tired to do anything. good night….

oh, we ate lunch at taco bell. check out my hot sauce. i was looking at one and it had the writing “i’m taking the day off. see next packet”. what? so i grabbed the next packet and read it, “i collect straws”. what?? what does this mean? i was confused. so after i drank my 40oz. big gulp of caffeine mountain dew and got all loaded up. i took all the straws out of the dispenser and put it in my pocket. now, “i collect straws”…..