6-10′ with bigger sets!!!
saiko!!! tube!!! big wave!!! saiko!!! merry christmas….

good morning. merry christmas swell? eddie might go again? no, just joking. but there is another 25′ swell expected on christmas day. yup, japan was cold yeah? now santa is delivering a huge christmas swell present. stay tuned… as for the wave today. the north shore came up. it looks 8-10′ and rising. still a little bumpy but looking pretty good. sunset? haleiwa? pipe is junk. town is flat. today is a north shore day. see you out there…

i had to go up to pacific heights yesterday. can you believe that after living in hawaii my whole life, yesterday was the first time i’ve ever gone up there? i guess there is a lot more about hawaii i have to investigate… i went up there to buy a long board for my surfing school and met the nicest couple… there are so many nice people in this world and i’m glad i’m finding them….

kelia came over for dinner. it’s been a while since i saw her. like usual, we had our laughs!! kelia really wants to go to japan and i hope i can make that happen. wish me luck….

i met taro tamai over 12 years ago in hokkaido. he took us up the lift at niseko to the top of the mountain, we walked to the backside where nobody else was, and had the snowboard experience of a lifetime. that’s when snow surfing was introduced to me. i remember watching taro-san carve the white powder mountain like a piece of cake. we came down, jumped in the hot spring, and talked story. i will never forget that experience because after that, i quit snowboarding. why? because i don’t know my limits and it was only a matter of time i would fall off a cliff, or hit a tree and die. so that was my last snowboarding experience and i’m glad it was with taro-san. this past summer, we went on a boat to north sumatra. i got to know taro-san much more and was impressed with his artistic ways of taking photos, and the way he flowed on a surfboard. i talked to him 2 days ago and he told me he just came back from san francisco for the premier of the new film SIGNATURES PRESENTED BY PATAGONIA. i just seen the trailer and was amazed. not surprised because i seen him surfing the mountain with my own eyes. but amazed because taro-san was in his own realm, which is the mountain….. now i’m inspired again to get a gentem stick shaped by taro-san, and go carve up hokkaido with him next year. taro-san, please take me to your backyard again!!!!

**CHECK OUT THE TRAILER FOR SIGNATURES.
**CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT SIGNATURES….

good evening. i pulled up to sandy beach this morning. i went there for 2 reasons. first, to get my timing back. i’ve been surfing perfect waves all year and ever since i got back to hawaii, my timing has been off. from taking off to doing a simple off the lip, i’m confused. i miss taking off, doing a bottom turn, and pulling into perfect barrels… anyway, surfing sandy beach is the hardest place in the world to surf. the waves are shifty, bumpy, powerful, and tricky. i remember watching kelly slater surf for the first time out there. he was lost. and he lost 1st round in a contest that he was supposed to dominate. so surfing sandy’s will get your timing back….
the second reason i went there was to go back to my roots. i grew up surfing there and it’s been a long time since i seen the boys. i was so happy to see guys like greg stubber, john morikami, and marshall crum still ripping out there this morning. the waves were 3-4′ and only 5 guys out. i usually surf for 20 minutes or so but i stayed out for 2 1/2 hours because i liked the vibe and the waves were fun. everybody is so friendly out there and it felt good to hear “happy holidays” and “merry christmas” and all the laughter. then i went to costco and seen a few friends in there. same thing, “happy holidays and merry christmas”.. gosh, i miss hawaii kai…. after today’s session, i decided to surf sandy beach more often. makes me feel the true aloha spirit without all the negative vibes i sometimes get out at the north shore. nobody needs contest points, nobody needs photos, and nobody needs fame. people surf sandy beach just to surf!!! that’s roots….

when ever i go to japan, people always give me gifts. this one is super special. junko-san from the TSSC showroom gave me this custom made piece of art. i was amazed by her skills. she carved a stamp out of an eraser. i’m not joking!! this stamp is handmade and it takes a lot of talent to do something so creative. i have it on my desk and every time i look at it, i get happy…. thank you so much junko-san!!! see you in shikoku next year!!!!

this is me. surfer/diver/photographer. look at the details in this stamp. pretty amazing…..
you know how japanese have their hand stamp or “hanko”, which they use to sign important documents and stuff. it’s like their signature. it’s usually round with their family name in kanji. well, since i don’t have a “hanko”, i’m going to use this as mine. next time i have to sign an important paper, i’m going to stamp it with this. i’m so stoked!!!