Round 2

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Go-Naminori!

HAWAII BIG WEDNESDAY


after drowning 3 underwater cameras and losing 1, i bought another one. why? because i get too many emails from people wanting more and more. no, i don’t own a camera company, but i guess if it’s making people happy, it’s all worth it.
so yesterday, i document one of the biggest south swells in years. yeah, in years. i don’t even remember the last time the waves got this big on the south shore. for me, it’s exciting. for me, i’m surfing no matter what!

so i paddle out to my favorite spot in town, big rights. 2 days ago, the waves were 1-2′ and small. 20 hungry surfers fighting for anything that breaks. i catch one wave, and i’m done. yesterday was a different story. like always, when the waves get over 4′, the crowd thins out. i’m not catching only one wave, in fact, i don’t even want to go in. i wait for waves out there like this for months after months and when it’s big, you know where to find me.
i take my camera out planning to film a video. i get out, see the waves, stick it in my pocket, and never look back. i was just too excited to surf and couldn’t see myself sitting in the channel. i wanted to surf and i felt like i needed to get barreled. so forget the video for now. i’ll try to get more footage today.
this is sunny garcia. sunny’s my good friend for the past 20 + years. i love the guy, but at the same time, hate to surf with him. why? because he catches all the good waves and doesn’t know how to take turns. i guess it’s ok for a former world champion. but like always, it’s good to see sunny and all the boys out at big rights. we’ve been surfing out there for the past 25 years and seen it all. even though we all go our separate ways on land, we know where to be when the waves are big. remember the movie Big Wednesday? yeah, same thing! for as long as i can stand up, i’ll be surfing big rights on the biggest days. and so will all the boys!
STAY TUNED FOR VIDEO OF THE BIGGEST SOUTH SWELL OF 2011

THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR


as i lay half asleep in a freezing car on the top of a mountain in ishinomaki, matsu opens the door and says, good morning. it was 4:30 am and as i looked out the window, i seen the most amazing full moon. i grabbed my camera and got off this shot. isn’t it amazing?
as i was at hokulani elementary school last week, some of the 5th grade students ran in from the park because it started raining. i was standing on the sidewalk when one of the kid says to another, “why did it have to rain on our last day of school?” the other kid answers “it’s ok, maybe it is a message?”
it hit me. is all these things happening around me a message? if so, i want to know what it is.

maybe the message was “it’s my turn to give back!” yeah, after all i’ve received by the wonderful people of japan for half my life, it’s time for me to give. the message is clear.