i slept at 8:45pm last night. tossing and turning in bed thinking about this mornings early session. i knew it was going to be super good and that’s why i was so excited. woke up at 3:45am and got ready for a beautiful day! empty early morning roads. you either have to be hard core, or you have to be crazy. i’m a bit of both.
you see totally different faces at the beach early in the morning. most surfers have to work normal jobs so the morning is the only time for them to surf. all cool surfers in the professional working world.
it was Hashimoto-san’s first time dawn patrol ever so i think he was a little nervous. you couldn’t see the waves, but you could hear them. we both knew it was going to still be big!
Hashimoto-san gets really nervous when the waves are big. so today, i told him to meditate for 5 minutes on the beach. this will bring down your heart rate and you will then have a more relaxed time. very important to be relaxed in surfing.
paddling out when the sky is turning purple. this is my favorite time of day because you will see all different kinds of colors. and the cool thing is every morning is different.
we get out and it is totally perfect. still some overhead sets and the best conditions you could ever imagine. it was like surfing on an oil painting. i haven’t done this in a while so i was so stoked!
then as the sun creeps over waikiki, you will surf into the most golden moment of your life. Hashimoto-san was super stoked and smiling the whole time. look at the beautiful colors in this photo. it’s even better looking at it with the naked eye.
i haven’t seen so many unridden waves in my life this past week. so many waves and so little surfers. it feels like i’m on some kind of surf trip. why go indonesia when indonesia is in your backyard? that’s what we were all talking about today. haha.
we were in at 8:30am, very happy and very content. Hashimoto-san had a flight to catch back to japan so i dropped him back off at his hotel. then as i was driving home, i thought to myself “why go home? why not surf again?” so i did a u turn, went back to the beach, paddled out, and had the session of my life. my total surf time was 4.5 hours today. thank you Hashimoto-san for the wonderful week of surfing this big swell. i’m super proud of your progress and please remember everything you learned, especially on being calm and confident.
then came home, got a juicy ripe mango out of my refrigerator, and ate it with the biggest smile on my face. then i took a nap and experienced the most satisfied feeling in the world.
dawn patrol isn’t for everyone. some people like it, some people don’t. the people who don’t like it usually never experienced it here in hawaii before. it’s different here. the colors are amazing, the people are amazing, the waves are amazing, and the rest of your day will be amazing. if you want to try, let me know and i’ll take you there!
