**http://oneill.wetsand.com/

good morning. gosh, last night’s party for todd was freakin awesome. the vibe, the people, the everything. it was well put together and hopefully galen will send me some photos so you can see the support for our local surfers here in hawaii.

there was a silent auction that had the coolest things. some lucky winners were todd mitsui with the nice koa box, nick mita with the poke tray, toru-san with the koa bowl, and happy me with my yokoji 3 prong. and who ever won the wade tokoro surfboard, shane hanamoto gyukaku prints, kayak, and other 100 cool stuff scored big time….

this is a photo of yuko, bethany hamilton, and jeannie chesser. bethany is another shark attack victim that turned something bad into good. todd must have been stoked she showed up to support him. i was stoked myself…. more stories later but gotta get in the water to shake off the 7 steinlager pure’s and 3 jack and cokes…. ahhhhh…..

THE PERFECT DAY: DATE: JUNE 2, 2008 LOCATION: INDIAN OCEAN PHOTO: JEFF DIVINE
get this story. we all boarded our boat in timor for the start of our indonesia boat trip. matt wakabayashi brought the current surfing magazine along with him. there was a spread in there of this secret spot somewhere in the indian ocean. we asked our captain where it was and he had no idea. it would be pretty much impossible to find it sailing around but it was always in our mind. especially because there was only 2 surfing magazines on the boat for 2 weeks. i must have seen this spread over and over, along with everybody else….. then it was our last day on the boat. we pulled up into this bay for a morning surf and it was where we were going to get picked up for a 2 hour night time hell drive over some of the most dangerous mountains in indonesia back to the airport. matt was lying down reading the same magazine, probably his 10th time. then he yells “WAIT”. looks back, and says “THIS IS THE SPOT!!” we all ran to him to see for ourselves. and yes, it was indeed the exact same spot….

THE BUSTED DAY: DATE: OCTOBER 1, 2008 LOCATION: INDIAN OCEAN PHOTO: KIRBY FUKUNAGA
so we get out our cameras and document the weirdest thing. landing in the same secret surf spot that millions of surfers are probably searching for. if it wasn’t for matt, we would all still be wondering where the heck that spot was…..

look good. by chance? i don’t think so. IF YOU DON’T GO, YOU WON’T KNOW. and i think everybody that was from hawaii on the boat would agree with that. that’s the kind of moments that make traveling worth it. thanks matt for being so observant in finding out a secret spot that 12 people in hawaii now know about….
**by the way, the north shore is going off again today. pipe/backdoor 8′ and epic…. see ya…

good evening. the best backdoor so far this year today. if i would have to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10. i would rate it a 9.5. if the crowd was a little more mellow, it would be a 10 for sure. perfect sunny 4-6′ a-frame barrels both backdoor and pipe. the crowd? bruce irons, shane dorian, ross williams, tamayo perry, marcus hickman, jamie o’brien, ikaika kalama, myles padaca, kahea hart, tj barron, and many more to name. it was packed with locals and today was a sign on how the rest of the year will be out there; crowded. oh yeah, shimpei horiguchi was out and scored a pretty nice backdoor wave. as for foreigners trying to get a wave out there today? forget it. it was good to see everybody surfing so dam good. and good to be back in the lineup talking story. diving, hunting, whatever. i can’t wait till the next good day. i’m going out earlier. have a great evening….
**after all these years visiting so many countries, my ultimate memories are not the waves, not the fish, or not the weather. it’s the experiences with the local people. interacting with the local people in their countries is the exciting. don’t get me wrong, i love the 5 star hotels and stuff but if you want the experience of a lifetime, you have to live out the real local life. so when i found out i was staying with a local family on the remote atoll of manihi in tahiti, i was really excited….

family gatherings in front of the barbecue. something you won’t experience at hotels. i was watching everybody prepare for dinner that whole day and i was amazed on how they all worked together. if i can sum it up in a few words, it’s food from the heart….

so before dinner, we all gather around to say grace. we give thanks for the food and are healthy lives. and every time we did that, i felt like part of the family. i felt so welcomed and so at ease. i felt like i was at my own home…..

the whole family came to the airport to see us off. they gave us leis again that smelt so sweet. when i got on the plane, i was tired so i started to doze off. then as we were taking off, i seen at the corner of my eye Fabienne riding her bicycle along the road waving goodbye. gosh, that was touching…

then right ahead of her was joseph standing on the roof of the speeding bus jumping up and saying goodbye. yeah, very touching…

to the right is Gilles. Gilies is the man of household with one big heart. before we left his house to the airport, we gathered around in a circle all holding hands before our last meal together. this is what he said with his calm voice, “i want to thank everybody that came to my house and spent this wonderful time with my family. when you came into my house, we were strangers, now WE ARE BROTHERS….” holy cow…. those were the most touching words i’ve ever heard in my life. there were 10 grown men standing there and i swear, i wasn’t the only who had tears in his eyes… i had the most awesome family lifestyle experience on the island of manihi that i’ll remember forever. just by meeting and staying with my new brothers for that week changed my life. it made me want to reach out to more people and be nice to everybody that comes to hawaii.
oh, before i forget, the tahitian on the left is Aravina. one night i was falling asleep at the dinner table because i was so tired from diving all day. aravina looked at me and told me “kirby, if you go to sleep, i’m going to shave off your eyebrows…” and he was serious. so i went in my room, locked the door, and slept…. haha…