**free diving is a very dangerous sport. i think it’s much more dangerous then surfing because there are so many things that can go wrong at any given time. shark attack? stuck in a cave? spearing each other? rip currents? shallow water blackout? there are a lot more free diving deaths than surfing. so it’s a good idea to keep an eye on each other….

when doing deep blue water dives, you should take turns and watch each other on every decent. that’s hayato going deep into the blue. i’m on the side watching him…
so here’s the question.
Q: if a diver blacks out and starts falling into the deep blue, what should you do if you can’t dive deep enough to reach him?
A: spear him and bring him up like a fish. and i ain’t joking….
i always tell hayato that if something happens to me and i’m disappearing into the deep blue, please spear me in the leg and pull me up. and please don’t miss. he laughs at me all the time but that’s the best and only way….

with every extreme sport, there are risks, and with risks, there are rewards. this is the reward for free divers. hayato maki bringing home dinner for the boys!!! itadakimasu!!!
**anyway, if you start diving, get a dive buddy. find somebody who you can trust with your life and somebody that will risk theirs to save yours….

and i’m stoked to see jasmin is waiting for our arrival. see you in chiba…..
**CLICK HERE FOR JASMIN’S BLOG…

order wetsuit time…

good morning. i spent 3 days this past weekend almost fainting 5 times from the hot sun. i wouldn’t do it for anything else but i did it because i needed to know where kids surfing was going in japan. from the firewire asp junior pro to the saiko series grom contest, i watched it all and was really impressed….

what impressed me the most was the ’09 shonan saiko cup yesterday. tomo-san couldn’t have done a better job at making kids and their families happy. can you believe that the entree fee was free? and free surf school? and free lunch? and free tshirt? this contest was made for the kids and i think every kid and parent appreciated everything….

who ever signed up for the free surf lesson by pro surfers scored. these opportunities don’t happen too often….

then you have an autograph session for the kids? that was cool….

then you have guys like kenji sakaguchi coming down to support the contest? great for the sport of surfing….

the autograph line was so long that it was going down to the water. i grabbed a poster and tshirt signed by everyone that will be on the go-naminori presents next month. so if you didn’t get the chance to go down there, you will have one more lucky chance to get one… thanks tomo-san for putting on such a great event for the kids. seeing all the smiles made me a happy surfer!!