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January 2001
January 2001
Tuesday January 2, 2001
3:45p-6:00p
East Shore /NB/
Avg wave face 4-6 feet
Sets wave face 6-8 feet, occ lil bigger
Overcast; Calm to light variable wind
Saturday January 6, 2001
10:00a-1:00p
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 4-6 feet
Sets wave face 6-8 feet, occ lil bigger
Clear & sunny; Calm to very light variable wind
Solo,
pure glass all morning. loooong barrel, session started good then I fizzled
Sunday January 7, 2001
7:30a-10:00a
North Shore - Pupukea/Gas Chambers
Avg wave face 6-7 feet
Sets wave face 8-10 feet, occ 11+
Clear & sunny; Calm & glassy
Me driving, we (MM and I) flew out to the country at 0600. Surf on the decline but still pretty solid, we guesstimated possible 5, maybe 6 footers (Hawaiian). Neal had emailed that he was on it too, going early to shoot the Mike Stewart Pipeline Pro from the beach (he's still recovering from injury). Said that if we were in the area, he'd shoot us for a while. Yeah!
We all met on the beach at Ehukai and freaked at the barrel fest going on all up & down the coast, but especially Backdoor & Pipe. The beach & lineup at Pipe was 99.9% bodyboarders getting ready for the contest. It was nuts, the performance level *and* the amount of people in the narrow Pipe lineup. Gaping tubes and glassy conditions everywhere.
Of course we wanted some of that too, so after gawking for about 15 minutes we decided on Pupukea, about 400 yards north. Neal went ahead, wisely taking Ke Nui Road rather than going all the way on the beach with his crutches & camera gear.
It was clear why only a couple people were out down here; The shorepound was a freak of nature. Actually, the whole place was a "shorebreak" - it seemed to me that the shifty lineup was never more than 75 feet from shore at the furthest. It came down to picking out the gems and avoiding getting creamed.
But there *were* lotsa gems! Crystal clear water & beautiful blue skies framing incredible tubage all around us. Plus, mostly an empty lineup. Several people were denied entry by the rip & poundings, while a few others paddled over from other breaks. The feeling of cautiousness in the lineup was very evident, most were not taking any chances, backing away from late take offs, etc. Board breaking conditions, for sure.
Later in the sesh, MM and I split a peak on one of the bigger sets of the morning, he left, me right. I managed to just squeak over the ledge and bottom turn only to be faced with a monster closeout, forcing me to straighten out & bail. A few minutes later he paddled over to me; With a far away look in his eyes he whispered- "that last wave was the best barrel I've had all year." At the same time I overheard another surfer telling his friend about the "fucking insane tube that guy just had....."
For me, another mediocre session on the borrowed stick. The board often spins out under pressure so I end up "babying" cutbacks and bottom turns. Off the top tail slide snaps are fun though.. I had a few sweet tube rides but only exited a couple. At the end of one wave that I rode nearly to the beach, before I realized it the wave sucked out and completely disappeared below me as I snapped off the top. Had quite a long and unexpected fall into very shallow water.
As the sun came over the mountain, Neal moved down to catch the contest action at Pipe. The tide was filling in and "our" spot was degenerating. The backwash started ruining all the waves and the sandbars up the beach were looking better. By 9:45, me & MM had to get going but the "last wave" syndrome caught us full on. Finally out of frustration I caught a reform just off shore and it ended up being a short, but good ride... as I walked up the beach, I turned in time to see MM rip his last wave to the sand.
Good surfing to you,
Bud
Saturday January 13, 2001
10:00a-1:00p
Avg wave face 6-7 feet
Sets wave face 8-9 feet, occ lil bigger
Offshore & clear; Later became onshore & raining
Headed out mid morning with MM, looking for something fun to surf and we found it. Solid over head and maybe 3-4 people out. MM volunteered to first take a few shots with my digicam so I hurried to the shore. Scrambled down the lava wall to the water, taking extra care with my beautiful new ride that I picked up last night-
Waves weren't all that hot but I had fun, feeling out the new board. Every so often there were some solid 9-10 foot faces coming through; mostly a bit smaller. Early on I had a pretty decent tube... gave me a good vision for several seconds before it outran me.
Around 20 minutes later MM put the cam away and joined the lineup. About this time I caught a set from deep and two guys dropped in. They both stood before they saw me around the section. The guy closer to me kicked out right away but the other guy kept going, staying high and just looked at me as I tried to pass him from below. He could not surf that well and it seemed like he was gonna get pitched at any second, so I was forced to straighten out, ruining the wave for both of us. Didn't want anything to happen to my board on its *first* day.....
MM was blowing minds as usual, doing his patented square bottom turns into straight up lip blasts; He had put on a set of smaller fins that he had not used in several years. Said they seemed to work good.
About an hour later, I could not believe it- my incredible bad luck - kookness, whatever- with surfboards continues. I tagged a real nice right, about 1.5xoh and nailed a solid snap right in the sweet spot of the hook. Stoked! Right after that, I took a couple pumps through the next section and set up for a short floater over the last part of the breaking lip. While on the back of the wave, I was badly positioned on the lip and the board got yanked out from under me. The board flipped over on the way down and I landed on it at the bottom. My elbow gouged a hole the size of a baseball 2/3's through the board and crushed a 5 inch portion of the rail. So f**king bummed I cannot describe it. Headed in to get the board out of the water and take a few pics from shore. Suddenly clouds moved in, it started pouring and the winds turned straight onshore. Figures :-/
Later I took my board to a local shop to have it repaired right, but (because of the size & place of the damage) I'm worried the board will be even more susceptible to snappage. Just my luck.
Bud
MM drive, first day new stick- works good, argue with Channel Islands, show how to go in, MAJOR damage to board, naluwai/barton
Saturday January 20, 2001
8:30a-11:30a
North Shore /kea/
Avg wave face 6-7 feet
Sets wave face 9-12 feet, occ lil bigger
Clear & sunny; Light variable winds
Solo,
board repaired, MM later, swell mix W & N, Holtons sizeable, first
3 waves sweet vert + long barrel. MM on fire, Aipa frustarted. Tokyo crew
ripping. Finbox at exit.
Saturday January 27, 2001
7:30a-10:45a
North Shore /jox/holt/kea/
Avg wave face 5-7 feet
Sets wave face 8-9 feet, occ lil bigger early, dropping fast
Partly clear; Light variable winds
Rich
on his 7'9" me on his 6'3" K. Jaquias rip, Aipa, Miles
Sunday January 28, 2001
7:00a-9:30a
North Shore /chunks/
Avg wave face 3-5 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet, occ lil bigger early, dropping
Partly clear; Light variable winds
Rich
on his 7'9" me on his 6'3". good fun slop. last wave multi vert
