good morning. 6 am super bowl sunday. i think the football game starts at 1:30 pm so most of america will be glued to the tv. me? i’ll be surfing in some empty lineup. every super bowl, i plan to be in the water at kickoff. i’ve been doing it for the past 10 years and let me tell you, it’s uncrowded…. as for the waves? pitch dark so can’t see a thing. i can hear the waves pounding on the beach from my window. it’s cold here on the north shore so i’ll put on my warm wetsuit, and jump into my office. i’m guessing 4-6′ and epic pipe/backdoor/off the wall. see you there…
pipeline is the one of the most heaviest and dangerous waves in the world. and yesterday was one of those days. it’s a place where it can make you, or break you. everybody has their own reasons why they surf there. for me, i’m looking for the backdoor wave. when pipe is huge, there are a few 10′ backdoor waves that barrel like monsters. i’ll sit out there all morning and just wait, wait, and wait. if it comes, good. if it doesn’t, i’ll go back out and wait again. sometimes i get cleaned up by a second reef wave or waves. i don’t have patience but when it comes to backdoor, i’ll wait all my life. because nothing in the world can beat the feeling of getting the biggest right hander barrel of your life!!!
there is a show on the discovery channel called “World Most Dangerous Jobs.” they feature all kinds of dangerous jobs but to me, water photographers have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. yeah, who the heck wants to be in the impact zone where you can either get hit by a surfboard, or hit the reef. world known photographers get hurt all the time, and some even die on the job. because i’m a surfer, i’ve worked with so many water photographers throughout the years. they risk their lives in the impact zone, the zone nobody wants to be in. and now that i started shooting, i respect each and every one a lot more. their putting their life on the line to make people famous. good job guys!!!
by the way, that’s kenji sahara diving under a 6′ off the wall set last week. go kenji!!!
18 years ago, i went to tonga. i had one of those underwater disposable film cameras. i’d swim with my mask underwater trying to get a shot. nothing came out but those images were in my mind since then. from that trip, the underwater world fascinated me. and that’s one of the main reasons i put on my mask, and go underwater. personally, i think it’s more beautiful than the real world…..
by the way, i took some cool photos from yesteday’s pipe big day. hopefully i have the energy to download and post them tonight….
