Thank you Neal Miyake for the nice photo.  The best summer ever!

Good morning 3:10am.
Ala Moana waist high and good.
Diamond Head chest high and bumpy.
Trade winds at 15mph.
Sunny and warm.
Going to the sea.
Have a wonderful day!

Round 1:  Dawn patrol.  Shoulder high sets and clean conditions.  No jellyfish today.  A perfect day for Yosuke-san and Ayaka-san.

Finally the trade winds are back so smooth morning conditions.  Clear skies and warm water.

The rising sun ride.

Yosuke-san caught some really big waves today.  The biggest of his life!

Very calm and cool riding.

Ayaka-san also caught the biggest waves of her life.  Look how beautiful this wave is!

The turtles were everywhere.  This one came up to say good morning to Yosuke-san.

I’ve been seeing 5-8 turtles every single day.

The perfect wave.  The perfect rides.  The perfect smiles.  And the perfect day!

Thank you Yana-san for sending me more of these memorable photos from the magazines back in the 1990’s.  Every summer on Oahu, we’d do a photo shoot and I’d take my Japanese pro surfers to all the secret spots on the south shore.  This particular spot is very dangerous because there is dry reef sticking up in front of the wave.  If you don’t make it out of the barrel, you will hit the reef.  A huge gamble but always worth the photo.  

Bottom left:  We’d shoot at Kewalo’s a lot too.  Look at the background and notice there were no buildings.  Look today and it’s a concrete jungle.  

Top left:  Then once typhoon season started, I’d get a call and jump on the next flight to Japan.  We would surf the most protected and localized surf spots all over Japan.  The surf culture back then was “surf all day, party all night!”  The parties were so good that I can’t remember a single thing that happened.  Haha.    

After typhoon season ended, it was back home to Hawaii for me.  Any swell over 5′, I’d be at Backdoor getting barreled.  Any swell under 5′, I’d be at Rocky Point doing turns.  Life was so simple back then.  No cell phones, no internet, no social media, and no stress.  My job was to surf all day and party all night.  The best job in the world!  Those were the best years of my life.