September 2002 Surf Journal

Home | Photo Index | Journal Index | Misc

September 2002

Sunday September 1, 2002
9:15a - 11:15a
South Shore /bowls/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5 feet (SW)
Sunny; Very light offshore winds

Small kine & inconsistent, but almost NO crowd. Traded waves with Mike Akima, occassional chest high+
.... fun little zippers across the middle to inside bowl. Kupsniel was tellin me about his "cameos" in Blue Crush. Short session.

Saturday September 7, 2002
7:30 - 10:15a
South East /dhl/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet
Partly sunny; Moderate to strong sideshore winds

Disorganized but some very good sections to be had, doubling up off the channel pretty good too. Me & Rich met Neal already out in the lineup. Neal was surfing really well on his longboard. Me and Rich shared a bunch of waves. Poor session for me, leashless - swam twice.

Sunday September 8, 2002
7:30 - 10:15a
South East /dhl/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5-6 feet
Partly sunny; Moderate to strong sideshore winds

Solo session, surf was very much like yesterday, maybe a little better. Another poor session, at least I didn't do any swimming today

Friday September 13, 2002
3:00p - 5:45p
South East /dhl/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5+ feet
Mostly sunny; Moderate sideshore winds

Surprisingly clean... waves were mostly waist to chest high. Me and Rich again. We actually had some fun messing around in the little surf. On one of the bigger waves of the session (maybe head high) I got stuck behind the foamball after an off the lip. I realized I wasn't going to make it around so I purposely pearled, thinking that my board *should* pop out the back of the wave and it would be waiting for me. It worked perfectly, except that it popped out too far back! The next wave broke & got it before I could swim to it... then I tried to block it as the whitewater flung it past me - almost breaking some fingers (I'm not a smart man) At least it was low tide and I didn't have far to swim, no dings for once ...

Saturday September 14, 2002
7:15a - 10:30a
South East /dhl/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5+ feet
Mostly sunny; Moderate sideshore winds

Better than average windswell at the usual summer spot again. This is getting real OLD. Me & Rich again. Put the leash back on. Fair session.

Sunday September 15, 2002
1:00p - 4:45p
South East /dhl/
Avg wave face 4 feet
Sets wave face 5+ feet
Sunny; Moderate sideshore winds

Better than average windswell at the usual summer spot AGAIN... some head high sets, maybe a little overhead at the peak. Solo session, wife dropped me off @ 1P and picked me up at 5P. Beautiful summer day & a nice relaxing afternoon. As far as my surfing, a fair session overall.

Saturday September 21, 2002
12:30p - 5:15p
South East /dhl/
Avg wave face 5-7 feet
Sets wave face 8 feet
Sunny; Moderate to strong sideshore winds

I had to work all morning then my son's swim class at noon in Aina Haina... so I brought my stick for an afternoon session in town... wooohooo! wow was I floored when I drove around the tip of DH from Kahala! Was planning to surf Parkside but when I saw the corduroy and conditons at the usual spot I stopped right there. Only about 6-7 people out... I was all over it. Solid 6-8+ foot faces coming in like clockwork. Surfed almost 5 hours, faaak I'm burnt.

Sunday September 22, 2002
7:30a - 10:15a
"122850" (-2/-1)
Avg wave face 6-7 feet
Sets wave face 8 feet, occ bigger
Clear sunny sky; Glass/light offshore winds. Light onshore about 10am

Yesterday was a 5 hour session, a hectic blast in non stop sets and countless waves caught - I was burnt! Slept through this
mornings alarm, phone call from my brother woke me at 6AM, he was outside waiting to pick me up. Quick 'net check of the buoys and cams - still solid readings for both north and south swells... which way to go!?? I knew Neal was on it super early as usual,
and yup, there were his messages waiting on my phone from 5:15. Grabbed my gear and jumped into Rich's truck.

In our usual quest to balance quality and crowd, Neal's message said he was taking a chance, headed neither north nor south. A
quick debate, we decided that it was a good call, backed up by Rich's surf observations along the same coast while out fishing
(boat) yesterday with a friend.

There's no cell reception for the last 10 miles or so; we knew that after checking it, he'd turn around in a heartbeat if it wasn't worthwhile. 6:45, had not heard from Neal again so it was logical to assume that the surf must be at least ok.

Encouraging swellsign on the drive out... then, coming around the last mountain corner the beautiful bay opens up to our view.
Immediately we take in the sight of glassy ocean, a small crew of surfers sitting pretty far out, and a bunch of sweet lines. Yeah!

Pulling up, we spotted Neal in the lineup right away. Me & Rich grew up out here, at the guard tower were several old friends
from our early surfing days, hanging out getting ready to surf. Some stoked "howzits" and such, then we were out there.

More old friends greeted in the water and of course Neal mixing it up with the braddahs - Santos, Hawaiian Brian, Maxwell,
Badget, Hoptong, Freddy et al. Very respectable tube time had by all. The first hour or so was kinda crowded, maybe 10 people.
Later on, it dwindled to just 5-7 surfers. By the time me and Rich had to leave, there were only 2-3. A few lulls, but the Surf
was Pretty Damn Good. Glassy clear warm wellll overhead and 4-5 waves to a set. Swell direction (straight south) opened up the
normally super treacherous rights. The beach was much more eroded than last time so the backwash wasn't as bad as usual. Riding the lefts all the way in, there was a sandbar/reef section that had formed right off the beach that was pitching even more square than the "main" reef.

Rich said he was disappointed in his surfing today, but I couldn't tell he was off his game, looked like ripping to me. For myself, I noticed such a contrast to yesterdays marathon non stop workout session in town. Though there were some fairly serious
waves coming in, today the atmosphere seemed so laid back and easy going, almost slow motion. Even Neal, always the one with
100% serious concentration, looked content to "hang loose" a bit - in between air-drops & barrel rolls, of course :)

Prior commitment cut the session short, still a memorable surf and an unbelievably gorgeous day. Lucky Live Hawaii, as they say.

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Thursday September 26, 2002
11:00a - 2:00p
North Shore /rp/
Avg wave face 4-5 feet
Sets wave face 6-7 feet, a few bigger sets
Clear sunny sky; Light variable winds turning light onshore about 1pm

3 hour SESSION in the country around lunchtime today. Chest to 3' overhead on the sets, calm with very light seabreeze but still tubin pretty damn good. Execllent fun! Too many pros & cameras (Ross Williams, Pancho Sullivan, Sean Yano, Daniel Jones, all on fire) but I had a blast surfing the rights in front of "the rock" @ Rocky Point. Felt good to surf strong fast waves again.

Snapped 2 quick shots with the digi cam before I jumped in, I was in hurry to get out there and didn't wait for
sets, which were bigger & better -

http://www.wavelust.com/bsl/092602a.jpg
http://www.wavelust.com/bsl/092602c.jpg

Soooo much fun... On one particular set, I got a long, long pigdog barrel that had me grinning ear to ear :)

Good surfing to you,

Bud

Saturday September 28, 2002
7:30a - 10:30a
North Shore /rp/
Avg wave face 6-7 feet
Sets wave face 8-9 feet, occ bigger sets
Clear sunny sky; Light variable winds turning light side offshore about 930a

Rich overslept a bit, but we made good time on the highway. Waves were bloody sweet and the pros & cameras were out in force.
The local up n comers really stood out, especially Daniel Jones, Joel Centio, (TJ?) Barron... Liam Mcnamera (sp?) & eastside Edrick dominating the lefts. The rights were not that crowded at all, mainly because only about 50% were makeable and getting caught inside was not fun, especially with the rock and all (good crowd control though). Plus it was tough jockeying for the good waves with the high performance crew. Still, I got more than my share and came away from the session pretty stoked. Me & Rich dropped in together on one nice right, a wave few feet over head, we were full on racing the wall and I was eating spray the whole time. The wave was heaving and I pulled up into a gaping barrel right behind him, but the lip eventually crushed me. Took a few good pics afterward.

Sunday September 29, 2002
2:00p - 4:30p
North Shore /rp/
Avg wave face 5-6 feet
Sets wave face 7-8 feet, occ lil bigger
Overcast; Light to moderate side- offshore winds

Family day at the beach for the Bud Clan. Wife & son Joey cruising on the beach while I surfed nice over head waves a few dozen yards away, tube after tube - dosen't get any better than this. I'd pop in over the reef to hang for a while then go back out again. One of us always had to stay right by the kid (19months), as soon as I'd turn away he was constantly headed for the water, fearlessly (clueless?) walking into the shorebreak. Stoked to chat with Buttons, first time in a couple years I'd run into him out surfing. East side Edrick was out ripping it up again, as well as some small kid on ancient beat up stick who looks to be a future star if he keeps up with it.

Wife & son had a blast playing with the some of the infamous north shore beach dogs. This one mutt would not stop bringing his stick back for another throw. Later we discovered he would catch it mid air, pretty amazing. Lucky live Hawaii, Great Fun this day was.