Sano-san is from Shizuoka. he’s only been surfing for 1 year so when he told me he wanted to ride a 5’10, i hesitated and brought a 7’6 fun board just in case. he looked at my boards, looked at the waves at bowls, and said “i want to use a short board.” wow, i was worried. then we paddle out and he caught so many waves and surfed really good. i couldn’t believe he’s only been surfing for 1 year. after our first session, we went to eat lunch. i took him to Toda-san’s favorite shoyu chicken place, Cooke Street Diner.
i didn’t know anybody that ate more, or ate faster than Toda-san until i met Sano-san. Sano-san ate everything so fast, then we went to waiola shave ice and ate it in 2 minutes, then to leonards malasada and ate one in 2 bites.
after lunch, i asked him if he wanted to go to the north shore. he said “yes, just to watch.” if you surf with me, you know i will never go out there just to watch. if we drive all the way out there, we are surfing! haha. we pull up to off the wall, see some perfect waves, then i tell him, “hurry, grab your board, we’re going surfing!” he was nervous because it was his first time surfing there. i would be too. haha. we surfed, he caught 4 waves, and he survived. i bet none of his friends in japan will believe him. and they won’t believe that we surfed in the morning at bowls with legend surfer Dane Kealoha.
Hey Sano-san, I had fun surfing and eating with you yesterday. I can’t believe you slept 1 hour to the north shore, and 1 hour back. haha. I was stoked to see you charge, stoked to see you surf so good, and stoked to hear your funny surf stories. Have a safe flight back to japan and hope to see you again.
i ate the short rib stew at cooke street diner. $6.95 and worth every penny. i’m going back for more!
we went to hang out at the billabong house right in front of pipeline. every time i go there, i look at this house and tell myself “someday i’m going to either buy or rent this and all of my friends will be able to stay there for the winter season. we will surf all day, and bbq all night. just give me a few more years.” that’s my dream!
last, this is tohoku. i remember standing on top of the mountain taking this photo on this beautiful sunset during M4. everything below us was destroyed, but not the spirt of the people. i can’t wait to see everybody again this april.
