i woke up early and drove down to the beach. first south swell of the year so no parking anywhere! so i decided to jump on Mayuki, which turned out to be the best decision i made all year.
heading out i stopped to shoot some photos while i checked out the waves. seen Gregg Nakamura on a good one.
then seen Ray on a late take off. the waves were building and building.
Nick Mita was out too. haven’t seen him in a while so stoked to see him ripping.
Uncle Billy B.
seen so many good waves so decided to park the boat and enter the lineup. omg, the waves were so good! surfed for 2.5 hours and caught some really good waves.
all the boys out getting their fair share.
the best front row seat in the ocean. i could have parked there all day and watched my friends rip it up.
even the bodyboarders having fun.
seen Keoni Yan bust the huge air@!! sick photo@!!!!
got super crowded so paddled over to the big bowl, waited and waited. then a freak set comes right to me and i scored a nice backside barrel! after that, i knew it was time for me to go in.
then went to check out big rights. was already surfed out but after seeing my longtime good friend Ronnie Yamada out, i had to go say hi and catch a few with him. the waves started pumping and got some nice barrels. i was super stoked surfing 4 hours in the morning. went in for a quick lunch.
then straight back out. now it was really crowded so i decided to go head to my secret spot.
seen Kinsan on magic island shooting all the action.
it was so weird how early in the morning it was so empty. then all of a sudden, everybody from everywhere started showing up.
i’d say the biggest wave of the day was solid 5′ hawaiian scale, or 12′ faces.
threesome. omg!
twosome. omg! dropping in is not cool at all.
this kid looked like Isaiah but ended up being some other ripper kid.
the wave of the day had to go to Makua Rothman. i was sitting front row with my camera and got the shot.
prefect grab rail barrel surfing. Makua happens to be the current WSL Big Wave Champion. so this wave was probably tiny for him.
Makua and Ronnie. locals only!
the drop in’s continued all day. welcome to bowls!
so i wanted so surf alone. the only place for that is my secret spot pretty far away. i knew nobody would be out because nobody is usually out. i’m pretty sure it’s because of the huge tiger sharks. i anchor Mayuki far away in the deep blue ocean. i get out my 5’8′ single fin, and ride the wave of my summer.
i was in the ocean from 8am to 5:30pm just scoring my best 3 sessions of the summer. i’m super stoked, and super sunburnt. and super tired. 9pm and i’m going down. good night.
Surfing South Swell Hawaii: My Longest Ocean Day!
Bowls Going OFF!
Perfect waves today.
Surf all day!
The Lone Wicked Tuna
did you ever watch the Wicked Tuna on tv before? it’s a very popular show about fishermen catching huge tuna and it’s filmed like a reality show. well, that use to be a very interesting show and i use to watch it sometimes. but after panama, i’m no longer interested in Wicked Tuna. i’m more interested in Hawaii Skin Tuna Diver! the things i seen and experienced was far more interesting than any tv program.
if you flew from hawaii to panama, invested thousands of dollars on travel and gear, took off work for 8 days, jumped in a thousand feet of water, and told me you were trying to spear huge tuna on one breath, i’d call you crazy. this is the extreme part of spear fishing. a lot of people called me crazy, and when i think about it, i think i am crazy. haha. but hey, crazy is my life and without crazy, i’d be crazy. got it? here are us crazy guys from hawaii doing some crazy tuna hunting.
and it’s not so crazy anymore when someone on your team spears his first tuna. Demetrius got off the good shot, then another shot, then another shot. yeah, these tunas aren’t the strongest fish in the ocean for nothing.
then panama style fish market. take out the knife, filet the tuna, and take home the slabs of fillet that will make many people happy.
after i watched our captain cut up the fish, i was thinking to myself, “a lot of my japanese sushi chef friends would have a heart attack.” haha.
and if my japanese sushi chef friends seen him throw off the head, belly and bones overboard, they would all have another heart attack. haha. in japan, none of the tuna goes to waste in japan. but in panama, they throw it back in to make other tuna bigger and fatter.
can’t believe this was a year ago already. someday i will go back, and someday i will get my wicked tuna!
