good morning. 6:30am and it’s raining again. trade winds blowing and supposed to get stronger. the waves on the north shore dropped in the 2-4′ range. i hate to say it but yesterday was the day. if you missed it, you missed it. if you surfed it, you scored big time. i see a little small swell in town. chest high if you know where to look. it’s the 2nd day of the year and i’m going surfing all day again… see you in the water.. and wanted to say thanks to everybody for the new years cards and emails. sorry for my late response but another one of my new years resolutions was to stay off my computer as much as i can. i’ll try to get back to you all soon. have a beautiful day!!!
**more photos from yesterday’s awesome day….

shinpei wasn’t using a leash so when he lost his board, kaishu went to grab it for him. japanese team work….

this is keiji murata. i remember this little kid hanging around ikumi beach in shikoku just a few years ago. now he’s grown up kid…

this is yasuko shinozuka from a secret spot in japan. i’d have to kill you if i told you where that was. go-naminori interview coming soon….

this is my friend yukari-san’s son, kaisa kawamura. kaisa got some good waves at pipe yesterday…

this is young shikoku boy kaishu tanaka taking off on a pretty big wave. he’s still a grom but can pick off a set at backdoor with a 6’0. that’s pretty impressive….

hi yukari-san. your son is fine here in hawaii. happy new year!!

good evening. i wanted to start off 2009 with a bang so i stuck in my ear plugs in last night at 9pm and went to sleep. this was the first new years for the past 30 years that i didn’t wait for the countdown. and i’m glad i didn’t. i set off at 5:30am in search of a new years barrel. it was raining so hard, the roads were flooded, and there was lightning. i was ready to turn around but that wasn’t one of my choices. so i pulled up to backdoor/pipe and it was still dark. grabbed my 7’0 and paddled out without even checking it. i’ve been surfing there for so long that i already knew it was going to be good before i slept last night. and good it was. the sky cleared up, the sun came out, and it was a beautiful day. i surfed for 2 hours with hardly anybody out. then came in to take some photos, then surfed again. it’s the first day of the year for me and i already got my barrel of my year. nothing can beat my job….

japanese boys kaisa kawamura and kaishu tanaka got a lot of waves this morning. smart kids to be out there….

this is the best shot i took today. and i’m glad it was shinpei horiguchi…. check out the sand bar line in the photo. that’s how close the waves were breaking to the beach today. the only thing separating shinpei and the beach are rocks, reef, and rocks….

here’s my wave of the year. i took off, looked down the line, bottom turned, got into the barrel, stood straight up so i could claim it as a stand up barrel, and smiled my ass off. my sister took this photo along with the other 22 photos in this barrel sequence. i’m going to say it again. i love my job….

when you make a long perfect barrel like that at backdoor, it’s time to come in. i could have won a million dollar jackpot, i could have got a new toy, i could have bought a new car. but nothing would make me any happier than getting barreled on jan. 1st, 2009. it’s going to be a great year. i can feel it…. hope all your dreams come true too. SURF YOUR DREAM…

backdoor/pipe going off!!! 3-5′ and perfect barrels this morning.
sunny skies and happy faces…
kesa no backdoor/pipe wa sugoi yokatta desu. tenki ga ii, minna
happy dayo. 2009 saiko!!!!