woke up early, picked up hayato, and headed to the north shore. everywhere was crowded so we ended up surfing at velzyland. surfing with 40 other surfers made me miss the maldives. i think my mind as far as surfing is changing a lot recently. i really prefer surfing empty and exotic surf spots rather than the mainstream spots. i use to always want to be at the best spot at the best time but now, i could care less. i have more fun surfing by myself or with a few friends at a secret spot, rather than surfing with hungry surfers from around the world. while i was surfing crowded velzyland with aggressive surfers, i knew i was in the wrong place. you really have to have a hungry mind to catch waves out there. in the beginning, i was super mellow and hardly catching any waves. then i turned on my switch to a hungry surfer, then caught what ever came my way. and guess what, i didn’t enjoy hassling and fighting for waves. no, i’m not spoiled, i’m just burnt out of the spotlight surf spots which i have been surfing for the past 25 years. this year, i’m going to explore more, and surf places where nobody else is around. then once in a while, go paddle out to the mainstream spots and fight for my waves. i’ll see how that works for a while.
i really miss pulling up to pipeline and seeing a hundred photographers, 60 or so japanese surfers, and a huge gallery on the beach watching the waves. today, there are only a handful of photographers, and 3 japanese surfers. Teppei Tajima, Hayato Maki, and Mineto Ushikoshi. teppei and ushikoshi are JPSA champions, and hayato is a champion soul surfer. i’ve known these guys for a long time and it’s good to hang out on the beach talking story. good to see you boys!
**my email is still crashed. it’s pretty frustrating and i’m starting to hate this cyber world. i wish we can go back to the old way of sending letters and dialing the phone. hopefully it will be fixed soon.
