had a great time surfing and talking with Atsushi-san. super cool surfer dude from tokushima, shikoku. surfing for 25 years and same age as me so a lot of surfer knowledge. last night, we decided to surf earlier than planned because i knew the onshore winds were coming early today. picked him up at 6:30am, pulled up to epic diamond head! 4′ sets and perfect! got a solid morning session in before the winds came and messed up the conditions around 10am. just as expected. excellent surfing and perfect timing!

then we went to diamond head grill to eat the loco moco. probably one of the best locomoco’s i’ve ever eaten on the island.

thank you Atsushi-san for the japanese food and for the fun time this morning. keep on surfing and hope all your dreams come true!

want to thank Maki-san for the photos of the other day. Hayato, Kimura-san, and Kyle. super fun day fishing, diving, and laughing. it was great to be out in the ocean that day! can’t wait to do it again.

when i catch fish, i love fishing. when i don’t catch fish, i hate fishing. this day, i loved fishing.

i can’t tell from this photo if Kimura-san loves fishing, or hates fishing? haha.

i shot all the women’s heats on day 2 of the contest. i’d have to say that Mari-chan caught the set of the day, or set of the event for the women’s. a huge 5′ freak set came in, she paddled in, late take off, bottom turn, grab rail, and rode it perfectly. if i were a judge, i’d give her a perfect 10 points for this wave.

here is the grab rail. perfect wave, perfect surfing for Mari-chan.

i was routing for Sara-chan. such a cute girl that surfs really smart. if you give her a wave, she will destroy it! i saw her rip a medium size wave up and probably got a 9.0. great surfing Sara-chan!

and it wasn’t easy sitting in the channel watching hundreds of unridden barrels. i’d have to say that Local Motion scored this year. all the competitors were calling this the best 4 days of surfing ever for a contest. i agree.
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CLICK HERE FOR ALL THE ACTION OF THE GIRLS ON DAY 2…

Diamond Head was so good!!!

between my morning and afternoon surf sessions yesterday, i had a 20 minute break. i was so sleepy after surfing in the morning and eating a poke bowl and shave ice. so i parked my car at ala moana park, climbed in the back seat, and slept. i couldn’t sleep well. i woke up 3x! how? i woke up to my own snoring! 3x in the 20 minutes. haha. i must have been really tired.

then i feel fresh again. pick up Matsui-san. we drive to bowls and i could see some change in the conditions. the earlier onshore winds made it really ugly, but i felt a slight chill in the air. that means, north winds! the winds switched from straight onshore to straight offshore. nobody around! only 3 guys out at bowls, and nobody out at rock piles! so we paddle to rock piles and surf alone. look how glassy the waves are! this is called “epic conditions!”

before we paddled out, Matsui-san told me the biggest wave he surfed in his life was chest high. i told him “today is your lucky day! the smallest wave out there is chest high.” haha. he looked nervous but i’m good at pushing people past their limits.

after 30 or so biggest waves in his life, Matsui-san felt like a reborn surfer. i was laughing after each wave he caught because i know that feeling all too well. then he would paddle back out with the biggest smile.

been watching this turtle swim up to me every time i go to rock piles. i’m thinking about naming her. such a cute baby turtle.

since nobody was out, i thought i’d grab a few waves too. always looking for the barrel.

in the soup, in the barrel.

imagine coming to hawaii and all of a sudden begin challenged to the biggest waves of your life? Matsui-san did wonderful going up over the big sets.

and when he couldn’t go over the waves, i taught him how to go under the waves. i swear there were some way overhead sets up to 4′. i would have been freaking out if i were him.

the afternoon was cloudy so it was pretty dark under water. look at Matsui-san diving under the hugest freak set!

by the end of the 3 hour session, Matsui-san surfed like a professional. good style and good balance. this is perfect surfing!

i’m sure when Matsui-san goes back to japan, the waves are going to feel tiny. good job surfer dude!