good morning. 7 am and the waves are huge on the north shore. second reef pipe with 12 surfers on it. seen a few monster barrels. town is chest or maybe head high on this new south swell. 50 guys at the park already and 18 out at bowls. expecting a high surf advisory for the south shore tonight so say thanks to our endless summer. there’s surf for everyone so get on it early. have a nice day!!!
**i’ve been surfing for 36 years so i know pretty much who is who and what is what. i remember looking through surfer magazines in the late 70’s and memorizing every single surfer and every single surf spot. my peechee folders in intermediate school had nothing but surfing photos. my memories of watching waimea bay break in the early 70’s to watching free ride and other surf movies at the king theatre in kaimuki in the early 80’s seemed like yesterday. i almost failed high school because i couldn’t memorize my history books but if my teacher ever asked us anything about surfing, i would be the first to raise my hand. anyway, here we are in 2010 and when i opened up my email the other day, a couple of photos gave me chicken skin…..
maki-san sent me a couple of photos that i stared at for hours. here is a photo of the locals in the bowls parking lot back in the 70’s or 80’s. look where they are standing. and look at all the classic old cars. this is surfing history and i will bet you a million dollars that only 1 out of 10 surfers today at bowls knows about this. and i bet you that 1 out of 10 surfers at bowls wasn’t even born…
and i got even more chicken skin when i opened up this photo. this is a DOVE SURFING WETSUIT ad of mark liddel and buttons a long long time ago. i didn’t even know that they use to be sponsored by dove. it’s amazing how far tokura-san went to making dove wetsuits a common name in hawaii. guys like mark, buttons, tony moniz, calvin maeda, and dane kealoha has paved the way for guys like me. yeah, i’m already proud to be sponsored by dove wetsuits but after seeing this photo, i’m much more prouder to be part of surfing history in hawaii and japan. thanks dove wetsuits and tokura-san for taking care of me for the past 18 years….
