good evening. it started off as a rainy day but as soon as the sun came out, it got really nice. went to go longboard bowls and the waves were perfect. long rides and lots of fun!!! north/west swell on the way with south winds so epic conditions coming up on the north shore. see you out there!!!

atsuko-san made this dish the last time we ate dinner on the north shore. i forgot what it was called but it was sooooo good. i wish i got the recipe…

this is alicia gonzalves and kelia moniz. two roxy girls growing up with the “bling bling” cell phones…

it was good to see family friend aaron naluai ripping up velzyland the other day. this guy is the local underground surfer that turns heads. he’s what you call a power surfer!!! tam, send this photo to aaron… thanks.

yes, all the photos i posted last week and now are from the 1.5 hour session at the epic day at vland. i still can’t believe no pro’s or no photographers were out. oh well, just might have to wait another 22 years….

good morning. 7 am on this aloha friday!! still cold so i know the north winds are still blowing. north shore is probably super junky again so i’m not going to check. town is clean but back to normal for this time of year, which is flat. i was watching the olympic snowboarding competition and seen some amazing stuff. then i started to get bummed that surfing isn’t, and will probably never be an olympic sport. if there was a wave machine that would produce waves like pipeline in a stadium, it could happen. but until then, no chance. oh well…. but gosh, that guy shaun white who won the gold medal was amazing. he was doing some crazy stuff that i thought only sony play station games could do…
anyway, still working and keeping busy. got so many things going on now. better get going. have a nice day!!!

here is another mentawai surf report from matsu. this was hideaways yesterday. i guess mentawai is all year around too? scientists may be baffled about our weird weather pattern this year, but surfers are stoked!!! endless summer everywhere!!!

i came across this june 22, 2009 issue of time magazine. have any of you read it???

there is an article in there called Postcard: Tojinbo Cliffs… it’s about the increasing suicide rate in japan and how one man is making the difference….
did you know that japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world?
each year over the past decade, more than 30,000 have killed themselves.
and a lot have done it from jumping off the tojinbo cliffs in fukui prefecture.
well, this 65 year old man named yukio shige has made the difference. has been scoping the cliffs 3x a day since 2004 looking for potential suicides. he’s actually tapped people on the shoulder and talked them down. then he would comfort them with a friendly chat or offer them some hot tea. it’s so amazing how somebody can spare lives like this. this man has a great gift and is using it in the right way. and the good news is that the japanese government found out about this true angel and granted him $100 million dollars over the next 3 years for his support. one amazing story!!!
suicide is a touchy subject. it’s not much talked about and i get sad even when i hear the word. i’ve known people who took their own lives or talk about taking their own lives. but in the end, guess who suffers? yeah, the family and loved ones left behind…..
life is short, live it out to the fullest. don’t let monetary things or this recession get you down. grab a surfboard and jump in the ocean. it will clean your body and soul. think positive and live a happy life….[:?????$B!x(B???:]
and someday i’d like to go to tojinbo cliffs to meet the man who saved many of lives. just going there to shake his hand would be well worth the trip….

i was looking through some old galleries today and came across some cool photos. this was shikoku on august 31, 2009. that day was pretty dam good!!! i still can’t get tamaki-san’s barrel out of my head. i wish that was me…. haha..

this is kaishu’s father enjoying a barrel right in front of his house…

the last big day out at pipe, my friend chris won broke his bodyboard in 2 pieces. what? that was the first time i’ve seen something like that. how the heck can a sponge break into 2 pieces??? anyway, if you don’t know chris, he’s the one in the movie “North Shore” that made him famous. cool guy….

and last, reika noro is really photogenic. i took 162 photos of her today and i only had to delete 2. and that’s because it was out of focus. my bad. even for this photo, i was just testing out my camera. since the first time i met this girl, i knew she had the looks and talent to get to most places girls her age can only dream of. reika’s getting cuter and cuter and her surfing is getting better and better. mark my words, “this girls going to be famous.”