waves good, food good, good friends. all i can say is that i’m having a blast here in chiba. loving life….. good night….

wow, the tssc contest after party was nuts. live music, awesome food, happy faces, and a lot of fun….. check out the snapshots…

i was so surprised to see my friend koji-san from osaka. he owns a bar called isoko and i often go there for a few drinks…. small world man…

there was even a hula show. gosh, made me feel like i was in hawaii…. except, hawaii doesn’t get that cold… it was freezing until jacksan kicked in…

i see customers coming back every year. it’s such an awesome event….. what’s up boys…

the kids were running around the place all night. these kids will be long time friends for sure… and that’s pretty dam cool….

and the adults were having fun too. these are all good people….

this couple told me that they just got engaged. so i gave them some advise. guy, keep on surfing. girl, be patient because your boyfriend is a surfer and surfing will always be #1. and if you can understand that, you will both be happy forever…. haha…. wish you both the best life ahead….

then this live group called SPIA B-ILL played live. gosh, the were soooooo goooood… i was hopping all around the place…..

live music, cherry blossoms and good friends. what more could you ask for? this night was the bomb….

this is tokura-san and akazawa-san. lifetime friends…..

some people came from tokyo just to see this group live. it was like jack johnson in shikoku…. awesome….

more of the happy faces….

and last, i was a little pissed at the end of the night because these guys drank all my jack-san. haha. just joking… but they really did….
anyway, wanted to wish tssc and the customers another happy year of surfing…. see you in the water…

good morning. by the time your reading this, i should be in chiba already. i gotta surf… rain, storm, snow, boots, gloves, or anything, i just got to get in the water. i feel like a fish that was taken out of the ocean. i’m having a hard time breathing…. have a nice day and see you in the water…

holy cow!! check out this sick bottom turn by wade tokoro at pipe this winter. kenji sahara took this sick shot. and since kenji didn’t write a comment on the photo, i will write it for him. “this is wade tokoro. wade tokoro is a top world shaper. wade rips and is a really nice guy”. anyway, i found this photo on the GO-NAMINORI PHOTOGRAPHERS BLOG…. click here to check it out… also wanted to congratulate photographer nakajima-san on the birth if his new baby… congratulations!!!!
***i remember the first time i surfed a river mouth. it was back in 1992 somewhere near the seisho bypass. the waves were waist high and perfect. i just got off the plane and didn’t know where i was going. but i found this spot and paddled out. there were 8 guys out and on my first wave, i got dropped in on. then on my second wave, i got dropped in on again. but the second time was different, the guy actually looked back at me while riding the wave and laughed. i caught 8 waves that day and got dropped in on 8 times. i was tripping out. then i told my friend in japan where i surfed that day and he told me “oh my gosh, that spot has the heaviest locals in japan”. and the funny thing is they were telling me something after every wave. i couldn’t understand japanese back then but now i know what they were saying. they were saying “go home”. haha… i’ve been going back there ever since and those very same guys that dropped in on me are now my friends. thanks guys for understanding i was just a foreigner lost in japan….

10 year old seth moniz got a better first experience surfing a river mouth. we pulled up and there were only 3 local guys out. had a few locals in the parking lot too but everybody welcomed seth. i’m glad he had a better experience than me….

seth paddled out in freezing river water. his wetsuit was really thin, too big for him, and took in a lot of water. but he managed to catch a few waves before freezing do death…. this is seth moniz’s first wave at a river mouth in japan. gosh, i wish i had a photo of me on my first wave too. but then somebody would have been riding in front of me…. haha..

seth paddled in across the freezing cold river again and was so cold, his face was red…. i hope he never forgets his first experience. and it sure ain’t going to be his last…. thanks to the locals for the warm welcome….
**check out seth’s first river mouth experience on video. click on the play button…