this morning i had a feeling diamond head was going to be the best spot on the island. and guess what? it was! small, but clean and beautiful!

then Ueda-san and i went to check out kewalo’s after lunch and it was pretty dam beautiful too!

perfect rights and lefts for locals only.

then i went surfing this afternoon with Nanami and her 2 sons Liam and Dustin. our 3rd session this time and i can see the progress big time!

i keep telling everybody not to stand up on the reef. why? because there is an excellent chance of stepping on sea urchin. Dustin told me he never stood up on the reef but i wasn’t too sure after i seen how deep and how many needles went into his foot. ouch! i know stepping on sea urchin is sore, but nothing is more sore than a 10′ hard long board hitting the back of your head. yeah, Dustin fell as i was trying to take some gopro video and his board hit me pretty hard in the back of the head. as long as there isn’t no blood, i’m fine.

luckily i keep vinegar in the car. if not, i would have to pee on his foot because that’s the only other thing what works. haha. see you guys again on tuesday for session 4!

surfing the past 2 mornings with Ueda-san was fun. just a super cool guy that loves to surf. yesterday we surfed bowls and rockpiles.

got a few at bowls first because it was very uncrowded. Ueda-san on my Chris Kaysen 5’8.

yes, these past few days has been picture perfect. this is paradise!

warm sun, cool trade winds, and perfect refreshing ocean temperature.

paddled over to rockpiles and the waves were good. seen this japanese girl ripping out there.

Ueda-san on his last wave before going in for a poke bowl lunch.

then this morning we went straight to diamond head. something totally different. nature and surf.

Ueda-san surfs good. nice cutback!

shaka from beautiful diamond head.

Ueda-san works for this sake company in nara. i can’t wait to try this bottle he gave me. Umenayado.

thank you Ueda-san for a fun 2 days of surf. please have a safe flight back to japan tomorrow and tell Yoshioka-san from Next Boarding Sports i said “aloha!”

i was cleaning out a box and found this photo of me when i was 13 years old. i was going to niu valley intermediate school at that time. that year, i got suspended from school twice for fighting. i use to work after school cleaning classrooms for $3/hour. i didn’t have a girlfriend or didn’t even like girls. i custom made my hair style by sleeping every night with hair clips because i wanted to look like gerry lopez. that was my favorite shirt i wore almost everyday. i didn’t have hair pubic hair yet. i use to hate my teachers. i ran away from home. i owned a moped even though it was illegal for anybody under 15. i never got allowance. all this said, i was a cherry boy searching for attention, searching for my soul, and lost as can be. i would like to think that this was the turning point in my life but it actually got worst. way worst.
so decades after, there is no wonder why my old teachers and middle school friends can’t believe i turned out not such a bad person. haha. the only things that didn’t change since then is my love for surfing, best friends, and my custom made haircut.

Awesome balance!
Good morning 5:40am.
Small waves again today.
Bowls knee high.
Waikiki knee high.
Diamond Head waist to chest high.
Light winds so super clean conditions.
Sunny and warm day.
Surfing all day again.
Have a wonderful day!