The Playing Field
Good morning 5am.
North shore 4-6′ and junky.
South shore chest high and getting better.
North/West winds at 15mph. North winds later this afternoon. Cloudy becoming sunny later.
Going sunrise surfing.
Have a wonderful day!

i was planning to go to the north shore this morning no matter what. it was one of my few days off and i really wanted to see Go-Naminori Blogger Kairi Noro. heard the kids been ripping so wanted to see it for myself.

pulled up to the billabong house in the dark. i walked in the house and 4 young haole kids freaked out when they seen a stranger in the house. i looked for Kairi but he wasn’t there. i know he’d be waking up soon so i just jumped in for a surf and waited for him.

waves were super fun and clean. scored a barrel on my first wave. then Kairi with the big smile comes paddling out. we end up surfing for 2 hours at the peak of backdoor/pipeline. there weren’t any locals out today so we scored. i kept telling Kairi to go on both backdoor and pipeline, watched him get barreled, and seen him smiling all the way out. such a cute kid! seen Satoshi Kubota getting some really good barrels too. it’s almost spring, no pros are around, and it’s just local and japanese time. the time of the year i like best.

gosh, the conditions were so clean. if it was just a few feet bigger, it would have been one of the best days of the year.

then jumped on the freeway and headed back home right around 10am. too much traffic now days with the monorail being built. out of control! i can see a lot of angry drivers on the road.

ate sushi for dinner tonight. made me miss japan so much.

took my 2 grand nephews for a walk in palolo. i keep on asking them if they want to go surfing with me but both aren’t ready yet. i never ever push kids to surf because their time will come. and when it does, uncle kirby will drop everything and take them anytime. just let me know boys!

this is why hawaiians have strong feet. because they walk barefoot from a young age. haha. waking around the block is so exciting for these 2 kids. we have our little route with flowers, grapes, dogs, cats, chickens, and sometimes rainbows. i just love this photo because this is total local style.

yesterday morning boys paddle out. Seigo-san and Yuki-san couldn’t have timed their trip any better. 3 weeks straight onshore winds before they came and just perfect weather for their 4 days here. they leave today and bad onshore winds here again for the next few days. so dam lucky!

Yuki-san kept on looking down and falling down yesterday morning. then after a while, i told him “hey Yuki-san, keep on looking down and falling down.” of course, i was joking. soon after, he looked up and never fell down after. reverse psychology? haha.

Yuki-san surfed for 3.5 hours catching wave after wave. this is the last shot before my gopro battery died.

2 days ago another golden morning surf session. i can’t explain how beautiful it is. you just have to experience it yourself. and once you do, you will understand why i like to start off my mornings in the ocean. even better than my bed.

when Seigo-san came on his first day, he could take off and just go straight to the right. but after 3 full days of boot camp, he was going up, down, side, side, and even doing cutbacks. i was also teaching him how to read and time the waves. pretty tricky, but once you can do it, you will understand the ocean and how it works. very important for surfing. good job Seigo-san.

yes, bend your knees and look forward. then you will do perfect cutbacks!

most of the island is sleeping during sunrise, not me.

the Marutaya cutback.

the Marutaya bottom turn. i think Seigo-san rode about a hundred waves on this trip. and all glassy ones!

a great 3 days with the wakayama boys. keep on surfing!