good evening. surf in the morning, work in the afternoon. that was how my day went. oh, and watching the michael jackson memorial. gosh, his music touched so many people around the world. especially “we are the world”. do you remember where you were when every radio station in the world played that song at the same time? i do. i was camping at makapuu beach with my high school friends… anyway, better get back to work…

12 year old shun is here!! he came to hawaii for an intensive 24 day training program with coach tony moniz. the kid rips already and if his surfing improves in these coming weeks, he’ll go back to japan for contest season and blow minds. after i picked shun up from the airport, the first thing he said was “i want to surf”… so i took him straight to bowls. it was head high for shun and perfect….

shun, gen, and isaiah all surfed bowls with me this morning. i was so happy to see them all surfing so good….

and i wanted to thank shun’s mama and papa for the present all the way from japan. fresh fish!!! yeah!!! i’m so happy!!!

now i have dinner for the rest of the week!! itadakimasu!!!!
**here it is. WE ARE THE WORLD changed this world. michael jackson wrote it for a fundraiser for the hunger in africa. he got the top artists from the 80’s and pulled off one of the hugest successful fundraisers to date. “WE ARE THE WORLD, WE ARE THE CHILDREN”…… [:????$B”L(B?:][:????$B”L(B?:][:????$B”L(B?:] don’t forget it….

Welcome to Hawaii Shun… Kore kara surfing umaku narimasu yo…

good morning. 6am and i’m pretty excited. why? because i’m going to pick up 12 year old shun murakami right now from the airport. shun is coming by himself and will be staying here for 24 days. training with tony moniz, surfing with the boys, and taking his surfing up another level. after i pick him up, i’m taking him straight to ala moana bowls. it’s overhead for him so i’m going to sit in the channel and video him. i can’t wait to watch him surf… well, better get going. have a great day!!!
oh, by the way, 3 guys are out at bowls and it’s chest high for me, and overhead for shun. the conditions are clean. there is the rip curl grom contest this weekend at kewalo’s so better start practicing. see ya….

it was our last day in north sumatra. we only had 2 hours before we were pulling up the anchor and going back to padang on a 15 hour voyage. there’s no way better to finish up a trip with a good last dinner. i suited up, headed toward the rocks sticking up in the middle of the ocean with waves breaking around it. tim and ishino-san were on the dingy as i jumped in. bang, bang, and bang. 30 minutes later, i had 3 fish on the table. 2 GT’s and one golden snapper. that’s all we needed……

that night, it was sashimi for every one. something like this would cost you an arm and a leg in tokyo. but that wasn’t tokyo. that was our refrigerator in the middle of the indian ocean. a refrigerator that fed us fresh sashimi for the whole trip. i cant’ wait to go back again….
**oh, on the way back to padang, another fishing tale. that’s coming soon….
**and last, satoshi kubota started diving. i asked him how the fish he catches taste. he said “soooo good” and then asked me “why?”. i told him “NO FISH TASTES BETTER THAN THE FISH YOU CATCH YOURSELF”….. AND THAT’S A FACT!!! I BETTER GO DIVING AGAIN SOON….