this morning was day 2 boot camp and Oshima-san was ripping!   better waves and better surfing!   riding past me so fast that i couldn’t keep up.  top speed!   and super powerful bottom turn.  this is how you do it!!!   you surfed so good today Oshima-san!  good job!   then straight back in and straight back out with the boys.  i just love teaching kids how to surf!   starting off with 15 year old Renta-kun.  it’s been a few years since we surfed together, but he didn’t forget a thing.   then Take-kun up next on a big one!  smooth and long ride… i just love to see kids enjoying surfing so much like this.  it was so fun! Renta-kun’s last wave of the day.  super cool and super smooth.

thanks boys for the awesome time.  keep on surfing!

opps, i forgot to post this last night.  here it is!!!!

 so happy to surf with Oshima-san again!  this man always makes me happy!   we just laugh and laugh at each other.  in this particular case, i’m laughing because look how stoked he is!   nice style Oshima-san!   and get ready for Boot Camp Day 2 tomorrow morning!  waves should be super good again!   when the waves get big, i tell everyone to throw their board and dive under.  but when you dive, make sure you don’t dive too deep or you might hit your face on the reef.  scary!   then went back out this afternoon with the boys.  glassy conditions and perfect waves.  just like Indonesia!   when John John Florence won the Bells contest, Seth was one of the first ones down to the beach to congratulate him.  waving the Hawaiian flag very proudly and showing his support for his fellow surfer from Hawaii.  that’s the kind of kid Seth is.   this is heart, and this is respect.   one proud Hawaiian!  Seth flew back home this morning and went straight to surf Bowls.  i heard people in the parking lot saying “Seth is out!.”  haha.  the boy is a superstar!  ranked #7 in the whole wide world!!!

Mateus was watching Seth’s heats too and cheering him on.  i asked Mateus if he wants to be like Seth and he said “yes, i want to surf like Seth.”   you’re on the right track buddy…check out this monster house in Kalihi.  there are some of these popping up around my neighborhood too.  all the neighbors are pissed!   the Chinese buy the property, demolish the house, build this monster house, then rent it out to make money and money.  they think it’s business, but us locals think it’s greed.   and it’s also illegal.  where once a cozy 1 story 2 bedroom house once existed, it’s been replaced by this ugly 6 story 20 bedroom house.    so sad to see what people from other countries are doing to our island…

 had a great time with the boys yesterday afternoon.  the waves and conditions were absolutely perfect! it was Kobayashi-san’s first time surfing here in Hawaii.  i couldn’t believe how much energy he had!  look at him ride this wave all alone… a little turtle was popping up all round us.  so cute and so free!  Hattori-san is getting better and better.  he’s been riding all different kinds of boards so he’s realizing which is best for each situation.  i just love these shots.  nice smooth wave with Diamond Head in the back?  super cool!   Hattori-san averages 20 waves per session.  i catch about 10 waves per session and i’m tired.  i don’t know how he does it… and Kobayashi-san surfing so calm and so smooth.  i’m pretty sure he’ll be surfing in Hawaii again.  you can’t beat this feeling…  Snapper Rocks had a dream sandbar for foilers.  we were out there every day multiple of times loving life.  after the first week, we heard a rumor that Kai Lenny was flying over to foil it.  really?   honestly, i was pretty dam excited.  excited because i want to get better in foiling and the only to get better is to foil with the best.  and yes, Kai Lenny is the best! Peter King texted me and said that he and Kai Lenny were going to foil.  so i dropped everything and grabbed my foil, ran to the beach, and paddled out to meet them.  i was like a kid in school as the best professor in the world flew by me.  i was watching every single detail as he was flying over the surface like a bird.  to be honest, i wasn’t in awe about his foiling skills, i was in awe about the way he read the ocean.   he was connecting ripples, swells, and little bumps like a puzzle, then using the wind and ocean energy to his advantage.  that’s the part that fascinates me, that’s the part where i want to improve.   i think i have a good wide vision on where i want to go, but his was much wider.  i could see him looking even further out than a normal human beings eye can even reach.  it was an eye opener, and it was something that i’m try to apply right now in my foiling.  so i’ll be looking past Molokai next time i’m foiling, then if i run you over along the way, i’m very sorry.  haha…