good morning. wow, going to mentawai tomorrow and finally have the time to get excited. the swell forecast looking good and so is the diving forecast. went to the 100 store to buy wasabi and shoyu. i’m going to try to chance taking one gun through malaysia and padang. if it gets taken away, oh well. at least i tried. since i got to japan, the weathers been crazy. hot, cold, hot, cold. i was wearing a tshirt two days ago and yesterday, i was wearing a thick winter jacket. what’s going on with our planet?
well, got a long day of packing and stuff. my baggage should weight around 55 kilos. wish me luck in getting it all the way to the mentawai’s without paying thousands of dollars in excess baggage. have a great day!!!

yoron style barbecue is awesome. ti-leaf for plates? the setup, the barbecue, and the good company can’t be beat. i brought that bottle of jacksan and guess what? it was gone in 2 rounds….

in yoron, you eat what you catch. there’s no such thing as going shopping for seafood. the store is in the ocean so you dive and catch what you feel like eating. cool yeah….

the yoron locals with big hearts!!! oh, see that girl on the left? that is sayo-san who lives in okinawa. sayo-san free dives 40 meters or 120 feet. and she can hold her breath for 4.5 minutes. amazing… i asked her how she learned to free dive and guess what she told me? youtube… you got to be kidding….

and last, when you go somewhere, i advise everybody to maximize your time there. even though your nights go all night long, wake up early and go see what mother nature has to offer. this day, the sunrise was freaking insane. i would have kicked myself in the ass if i missed it….

**my friend matsu sent me this video and after watching it, i couldn’t agree more. i’m a little ashamed to be part of the american government corruption. just wanted to say sorry to toyota and japan…..

good morning. 3 more days and i’m out of here. and 4 more days till i’m on the boat exploring indonesia. i better start packing. have a nice day!!!

i’m starting to miss my nashi champur… all this for $2? yasui ne….

yoron island style…

if you want to be a good surfer, you have to be tuned in with your shaper, and if you want to be a good shaper, you have to be tuned with your surfer. surfer/shaper relationships are really important if you want a magic board that will take you to places you only dream of. want to do an aerial? want to get barreled? if you say yes to both of these questions, stay away from boards made in china, and stay away from boards you can buy at costco. i always stress to beginners that if you create a good relationship with your shaper, you have a much greater chance of getting the right board for you. and if your riding the right board for you, your surfing will improve a lot faster. believe me…
seth and matchi have a great surfer/shaper relationship. seth feels confident with his boards and if you have confidence, you can do what ever you want. matchi works really hard on getting the right boards to the right people. i can see him building a good relationship with his customers and when all the made in china cheap board hype dies, it’s shapers like matchi that will rule the world….
**and last, just threw this video together of isaiah and seth winning the grom contest in bali a few weeks ago. gosh, it feels like years ago…. when i was watching it, i couldn’t stop laughing at myself because i was yelling and yelling. what’s funny is while i was shooting this video, i was telling myself to be quiet for the first time. but i couldn’t because i was too dam happy. my two nephews made me really proud in their level of surfing, and their sportsmanship. that day will have to be in the top 10 of the happiest days of my life. it was never in my wildest dreams to travel the world with my nephews and see them winning such a big contest. somebody slap my face and wake me up!!!

and wanted to thank each one of you who congratulated the kids by emails and by mouth. thanks for all your support!!