good evening. today was the best day of the whole winter season that started back in october. it was sunny, the water was clean, the waves were clean, no winds, and a lot of happy faces…. i pulled up to backdoor at 7:20am, grabbed my board and was out there. i got another pretty sick barrel today. even better than yesterday so i was stoked. it got crowded after a while so i went in and grabbed my camera. check out these photos….. these ARE NOT the best shots. i’m sending those in to a magazine so you will have to wait.. gomen ne…

this is tony moniz. tony is the reason why i’m surfing the north shore. if i didn’t meet him back in the 80’s, i would be still surfing diamond head everyday…. thanks tony….

this kid is 11 years old and from japan. i think he’s the youngest japanese surfer to get barreled at backdoor. shinpei is taking care of him so he’s in good hands. expect this kid to blow up….

gosh, the kids are getting younger and younger. these 3 groms don’t know how lucky they are to come to hawaii and surf the north shore while their classmates are in japan playing jun ken po….

this is ushikoshi. he’s been here for a while finally got some sun and good surf today….

shinpei can surf from knee high beach breaks in japan to 25′ waimea bay. keep an eye on him….

japanese surfers always hang out on the beach after they surf. they seemed happy and i hope they were because today was the best day of the season so far. pro surfers matchi, ushikoshi, shimpei, and yukio. see you guys tomorrow…..

and last, the traffic is crazy out on the north shore. this is about 3pm on the way out of haleiwa today. this is by the stoplight and it’s stop and go all the way past chun’s reef….. be patient because it will take over an hour to move 2 miles….
**anyway, super tired and sunburned so i’m going to sleep now. it’s only 8pm but lights out…. more photos from backdoor tomorrow morning….

good sunday morning. 5:45am and i’m out of here. it’s overcast and the waves don’t look that good. but i’m up already so i’m going surfing…. looks 2-3′ and still pitch dark outside. solid north/west swell expected thursday with light winds. gosh, after getting barreled yesterday, i want more. i went to sleep last night with a big smile on my face. hope that’s the case again tonight. have a nice day….

i went with carter to the gun range in hawaii kai 8 years or so ago. it was my first time shooting a target at 100 yards away. i used his 9mm and this was my target paper. this is not a bb gun, it’s a real gun. so next time you drop in, you might get a 9mm round up your butt…. haha… just joking. maybe just in your foot….

the new surf1st calendar just came out. it’s pretty sick… this is shinpei horiguchi on the cover taking off on a pretty sick ass wave at waimea bay. i tell all my friends in hawaii that shinpei charges and here’s the proof. give him a few more years and i think he will get invited to the eddie aikau at waimea. if he doesn’t, it’s because quiksilver is scared.. because shinpei can win it….

and last, heineken came out with a new marketing slogan. “Keep Hawaii Green”…. that’s some good marketing because all you see now days are green cans and bottles. especially at the UH football games…. check out the new mini-kegs they came out with. $18 for 5 liters of draft beer in one can. i tried one the other night and it’s pretty dam good….

good evening. got back late this evening from the north shore. gosh, the waves were GOOD… i pulled up to backdoor around lunch time and got a few good waves…

it was 3-4′ and pretty dam good. not too many guys were out so i got a lot of waves. then i hung around on the beach for a couple of hours just watching the waves. it would be good, then junk, then good. it was doing that all day so i waited until it got good again. and yeah, 3pm got good and i was out there. i just went out and sat and waited for a good one cause i knew it was coming. so i waited and waited and then this a-frame 4′ backdoor set came in. this bodyboarder was paddling on the shoulder and was going to drop in but i yelled “ho, ho ho. merry christmas” and he pulled back. haha… just joking. it was just the ho, ho ho part. i pulled in behind the peak, got deep, and couldn’t see the exit but i just stayed on my board. then after a few seconds after, i got spit out. i was so stoked that i went in, jumped into my car, and had a happy drive all the way back to town. it was my first real barrel of the season and gosh, it felt dam good. getting barreled is the best feeling in the world…… can’t wait for tomorrow…. good night….

oh, while i was waiting between sessions, i seen these 2 girls riding horses on the beach… i was thinking what people would think if i was riding kalua on the beach like that. that would be classic..[:??$B”y(B???:][:??$B”y(B???:][:??$B”y(B???:]

isaiah moniz getting a taste of pipeline. broken boards are a part of surfing on the north shore so better get use to it….

shawn caught this fish the other week. this is called an “ishigakidai” in japanese and called the “knife jaw” in hawaii. shawn speared this on the island of oahu and came in 3/4lbs. short of the state record. this one was 55cm long. a big boy… somebody told me that these fish swam here from japan? really? all i know is that they are hard to find here and if you do, please spear it and give it to me. haha. i love this fish…. the white meat sashimi is so good….

this is the one i speared in japan a few years ago… it was 44 cm….

and this is what it looked like when morimoto-san cut it up for us…. so good…..