Now that I'm living in Kapolei, town seems like the other side of the world. But last week there were a few good days of swell, so I couldn't resist visiting some friends. Of course, I needed to schedule some work/board "meetings" in town. Hahaha! Good times with good friends. Good surf was an added bonus! Thanks to the CDP crew for having me back :)
We made a last minute trip back to Kona for the weekend. This is Kaliko's first time on an airplane and she was awesome! Playing with a tutu sitting next to her and smiling at everyone around. Now it's time to enjoy the ohana, good food, and relaxation!!!
I gave the GoPro a hana hou today. Turns out the swell was a little inconsistent and combined with the really low tide, the waves weren't all that great. But, on the always elusive "last wave" or "wave in", I managed to catch one that stay open for a little bit, letting me pull off a small cutback before giving me a closeout to try and hit.
Since I lived in San Diego for 6 years, surfing lots of beachbreaks, I've grown to love a good closeout section. Some people will kick out before it, but I love trying to go up off the lip or doing something with it. The way I see it, you only have one shot at every wave you catch, so might as well make it count!
Terry Reis, from Surf Shooter Hawaii, just happened to be photographing and he got my "last wave". Nothing too impressive, but I liked the shot. Mahalos Terry!!!
South swell is starting to come down a little so I figured it was time to take out the GoPro without fear of losing it (that would've made 2 lost at sea). Surfed far away from the crowd and it was a little sketchy at times when I was taking a beating in some deep water, 1000 yards away from my nearest rescuer. Not because of the "No Can Swim" factor... more like the, "What's Watching Me From Below" factor. Here's some screenshots... enjoy!
YEAH RIGHT!!! South swell is still around and with the light winds, my neck of the woods has been super glassy and all-time. It's been 6 straight days of back to back to back to back pulses.
Surfed a big, glassy right way south of white plains today. A random lady snapped this picture of my board before I headed out.
Get some before the swell train leaves town!!!
So the south swell hit today, and by every account, town was FIRING! Town wasn't an option for me today, and Ewa was blown out from the strong tradewinds. My last resort: around the bend to the westside.
Wasn't as nearly as big as town, but had a good wrap and small kine combo swell. First time I surfed this spot, and it was super shallow but really fun. Maybe my new morning spot....?
So if you're a surfer and were living under a rock last summer, it was basically the worst summer of surf in a few years. I think the best swell was a late/out of season (maybe September-October) swell. This summer season is about to kick-off this week/weekend with a series of solid swells coming up from the South Pacific. Right now, the swell charts are showing 3 good sized storms churning. Supposedly, swell should be arriving Thursday/Friday, and lasting into mid-next week. All I have to say is, "HELLS TO THE YES!!!!!"
Today, I took a lunch time field trip down into Campbell Industrial Park in search of food trucks. Found this one on Komohana Street: Lanie's Lunchwagon. $6 Kalua Pig & Cabbage plate. Buggah was winnahs and I was ready for a nap after I was pau!!! Round 2 next week!
Kapolei has some mean sunlight. Our PV system is able to turn that sun into some crazy amounts of energy. I'm debating if an electric car is worth the sticker price... but we have enough excess energy to make it worth it (I think).
Here's what we've done in 3 months...
After a couple weeks of searching Craigslist, I came across this gem, and it's what I was looking for.
T&C Mini Tank (egg) by Glenn Pang. The dimensions are 6'4" x 20-1/4" x 2-3/4". I've been wanting to learn to surf smaller boards for a while and I think this will be a good transition from my 7'2" HIC funboard.
Best part about smaller boards: fits in the bed of my truck so I can lock it up. Cheeeee!!!
More pictures and stories to come...
