good morning. wow, looks like we have another south swell. bowls is looking head high and really good. i got up at 2 am, then 3 am, then now at 6 am. i’m still tired but jumping in the water might fix me up. see you out there…
check out this cool photo that segawa-san sent me. this is somewhere in izu. hey, do you think i can go free dive there this summer?
wanted to say hello to jon from seattle. yeah, what a freakin small world. you know uncle roy? that’s cool. maybe see you on a future red sea adventure tour.
hey, why am i on the Japan Airlines black list? i get hassled everywhere i go. is it because i’m a surfer? yes!
so there i was leaving Kuala Lumpur airport in malaysia a few days ago. i go to the check in counter with my suitcase in one hand, and spearguns wrapped into my board bag in the other. i go to the counter with a smile on my face because i know that 2 flights will take me home. as i put my bags on the scale, they JAL staff starts to feel my bag. he asks me if there is a surfboard in there. i told him no because there really wasn’t one in there. i told him that it’s just my fishing poles. then another staff asks me again. i told him no. he looked at a paper that was printed out in his hand saying that MR. Kirby Fukunaga is traveling with his surfboard. what???? he said that there was a note in the computer that i would be bringing a surfboard with me. what???? i told him again that there was no surfboard in my bag and asked him if he ever seen a surfboard 8 inches thick before. he looked at me as if he didn’t even see a surfboard in his life. anyway, i had to explain to him that i had a surfboard when i came to malaysia, but broke it in indonesia so i wasn’t taking any home. they felt the bag again and looked at me as if i were lying. after the staff had a discussion in malay, they finally believed me. was that discrimination? are they targeting surfers? why would they have a note that i will be traveling with a surfboard so make sure to charge me? i was kind of bummed and would like an apology from JAL. i’m really thinking twice of using them again. i feel like i’m on the surfers blacklist and i don’t like it….
if you ever travel to malaysia from japan, use malaysian airlines. they don’t charge for surfboards. it’s free!! shame on you JAL…
*last, wanted to thank Guid Brescian from WWW.SURFCULTURE.IT for the opportunity for the interview for your wonderful mediterranean digital magazine. i just finished it. sorry it’s late as you know i’ve been kind of busy. let me know when it comes out and i’ll introduce everybody to your site. mahalo again.
