two days ago i was surfing at bowls. there is the harbor entrance with a small channel so i see boats go in and out everyday. well, the waves were small and i seen this nice sailboat park right outside of magic island, anchor, and the guy took his dingy into the harbor. i thought it was kind of close but the nice tradewinds were blowing his boat nicely offshore as his anchor held. then i thought to myself “wait! the south/east winds are coming later that night, and the swell is supposed to pick up to advisory levels.” that means his boat will get even closer to the rocks when the wind changes, and the building swell will probably snap his anchor line and his boat will go into the rocks. i was just imagining the worst case scenario. then i went home and came went back yesterday morning for a surf. yes, the south/east winds where here, and the south swell was huge just as predicted. i looked out to the channel and never seen the boat. thank goodness, the guy got back and probably moved it. WRONG!!!! i seen the sail sticking up from underwater near the rocks. the boat broke into 3 pieces and was totally demolished. bye bye sailboat! carelessness? inexperienced? i think inexperienced. the shores in the hawaiian islands are probably the most treacherous in the world. from the huge swells to the tides, to the winds. any one can change at any minute. you make one small mistake and you’re done! that wasn’t the first sailboat that sank in the channel and won’t be the last. sail safe!
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super happy to see the shonan surfers scoring perfect typhoon waves for 8 days straight. thank you Eri-chan for sending me the photo and update. see you in hawaii!
last, i get lot’s of people asking me how we measure waves. well take this wave for example. i’m about 5’11 or almost 2 meters. figure it out. i’d say solid 10-12′ hawaiian scale or 25′ face? either way, it’s pretty big and when this photo was taken in 1988, which was 24 years ago, i still remember taking off. this is pipeline during a contest i was competing in. i was out in the ocean alone as the other competitors took off on the waves before me. then from the second reef, i see a mountain coming right to me. i turn, paddle, and think “if i go, i might die. but if i don’t go, the boys will tease me for the rest of my life. i’d rather die. peer pressure pushed me into this wave as i got the barrel of my life! photo by john callahan.
