good evening. wow! good surf this morning. then the wind came onshore and junky. i was driving home at 1pm and i saw the dark clouds coming, and then i looked at the coconut trees and it was still. no wind? what? i u-turn, rush back to bowls, and i seen a perfect 4′ set peeling down the line like it was somewhere in indonesia or something. i grab my board, run to the beach, paddle my fastest out, and find out there are only a few surfers in the water. 2 locals that are my friends so we traded off set after set. on my first wave, i did 6 backside off the lips and i was super stoked. this was probably my best summer session in hawaii by far. just sitting on the outside with friends taking turns on perfect overhead waves. i felt like i was in indonesia or something. we were laughing, smiling, and talking story. i couldn’t be a happier surfer than i am right now. thank you mother nature!

i had a great time this morning with Niimura-san and Murakami-san. the waves were huge but we all managed to surf and make it back to the beach safely. it’s their second time to hawaii and they only know about waikiki so i took them outside the busy city. surf, eat, and sightsee. what a wonderful morning!

this swell was pretty powerful. the waves were super thick and had a lot of power. a few people broke boards today and i’m glad it wasn’t mine.

remember the boat i saw anchored off magic island 2 days ago? well, it’s all in pieces now and the main part is sunk right in the channel of ala moana. a dangerous place to be and the owner is going to have to pay a lot of money to get it out of there. after thinking about it, i should have paddled over to the boat that morning i saw it and moved it myself. i could have dove down, grabbed the anchor, and let the wind take it out a little farther out to a safer place. oh well, maybe next time. but it’s so weird how i imagined exactly how it was going to sink. crazy.

yesterday, a 23 year old california surfer got eaten by a shark right in front of his friend. he died. it happened at santa barbara but don’t be fooled, it can happen anywhere.
well, tomorrow i’m waking up early because the morning session is going to be super glassy. rain and thunderstorm on the way but i don’t care. i just want to surf, surf, and surf! i just can’t get enough! have a great evening and a wonderful sleep. goodnight.

two days ago i was surfing at bowls. there is the harbor entrance with a small channel so i see boats go in and out everyday. well, the waves were small and i seen this nice sailboat park right outside of magic island, anchor, and the guy took his dingy into the harbor. i thought it was kind of close but the nice tradewinds were blowing his boat nicely offshore as his anchor held. then i thought to myself “wait! the south/east winds are coming later that night, and the swell is supposed to pick up to advisory levels.” that means his boat will get even closer to the rocks when the wind changes, and the building swell will probably snap his anchor line and his boat will go into the rocks. i was just imagining the worst case scenario. then i went home and came went back yesterday morning for a surf. yes, the south/east winds where here, and the south swell was huge just as predicted. i looked out to the channel and never seen the boat. thank goodness, the guy got back and probably moved it. WRONG!!!! i seen the sail sticking up from underwater near the rocks. the boat broke into 3 pieces and was totally demolished. bye bye sailboat! carelessness? inexperienced? i think inexperienced. the shores in the hawaiian islands are probably the most treacherous in the world. from the huge swells to the tides, to the winds. any one can change at any minute. you make one small mistake and you’re done! that wasn’t the first sailboat that sank in the channel and won’t be the last. sail safe!

super happy to see the shonan surfers scoring perfect typhoon waves for 8 days straight. thank you Eri-chan for sending me the photo and update. see you in hawaii!

last, i get lot’s of people asking me how we measure waves. well take this wave for example. i’m about 5’11 or almost 2 meters. figure it out. i’d say solid 10-12′ hawaiian scale or 25′ face? either way, it’s pretty big and when this photo was taken in 1988, which was 24 years ago, i still remember taking off. this is pipeline during a contest i was competing in. i was out in the ocean alone as the other competitors took off on the waves before me. then from the second reef, i see a mountain coming right to me. i turn, paddle, and think “if i go, i might die. but if i don’t go, the boys will tease me for the rest of my life. i’d rather die. peer pressure pushed me into this wave as i got the barrel of my life! photo by john callahan.