good morning. i went for an afternoon session yesterday at this spot on the south shore that catches all kinds of swells. i knew there was a solid south swell, and also a west swell wrapping around the island. so i pull up at 3 pm and hardly see any cars. good sign because that means nobody out. then i see a surfer running his fastest down the hill like he was running away from a monster. there are no monsters there so i figured out he was running because the waves were going off. so i grabbed my board and ran down the hill too. i’m glad i didn’t fall down. when i got to the bottom. oh my gosh!! solid surf with only a couple of surfers out. i was letting the south swells go and was waiting for the west wrap around swells because those were the longer and more perfect waves. and when they came, they came. solid 5′ and barreling. i seen a guy go over the falls like he was surfing inside sunset bowl or something. i caught so many good long waves. maybe 5-6 turns on each and even a barrel. yup, a great session away from the crowd. speaking of crowds, i heard every where else was packed!!! lucky me….
as for today. north shore still huge!! by the way, i heard my nephew micah moniz was out at pipeline yesterday morning charging. if any of you photographers have his photo, i’ll buy it. please let me know. town is shoulder/head high and offshore. windy weather for the next week. i’m going surfing!! have a nice day!!!
**i was talking to kelly slater in the water. we were talking about surfers getting hurt or dying out at pipeline and backdoor. he knows very well how shallow and dangerous it is out there. kelly also mentioned about seeing too many surfers taking risks out there pulling into closeouts just for the photo. he thinks that’s pretty crazy. it’s good to hear it straight from a 9 X world champion….
no, this is not waimea bay during the eddie aikau contest. this is the other big pipe/backdoor day. the locals were calling backdoor the heaviest it can ever be. it was big, thick, and barreling over 3′ of water. as i was walking down the beach early that morning in the dark, i seen yumie sitting on a log watching the waves. she asked me if the waves were too big for her. i told her, “no, you can handle. just paddle out and sit on the shoulder.” then as i was about to jump into the water, i seen a 15′ closeout 3rd reef set break way out and wash out everybody in the lineup. i almost turned around and went home. and if i didn’t already change into my trunks, i would have. was i nervous? yeah, just a little. nobody wants to paddle out before the sun rises and dodge 20′ balls of whitewash. as for yumie, i’m glad she made the right decision and didn’t go out. i heard from a couple of friends that tried to paddle out but couldn’t make it. it was a pretty heavy day at the office….
anyway, i was out for 3 1/2 hours and was surprised nobody got hurt. see that yellow thing crashing down with the lip? that’s a 8′ surfboard. time that by 4 and that’s a 35′ face? there was one of these monsters early in the morning coming for me, i took a look at, i paddled for it, looked down the face, and said “no thank you.” i love my life too much…
how’s this wipeout? this is not a photoshop trick. this is a guy getting ready to see his fate. live or die?
