Surf Report: Building 8-12 foot Hawaiian
Weather: Sunny then stormy
Water: Warm
Winds: Off shore
After Jillee and Justin take off in the morning, Francis shows up. He took days off of his work in order to surf with me on my vacation, for I am forever grateful - it wouldn't have been the same without him surfing with me at V-land.
He informs me there is no surf at all. It's just flat. I make us smoothies, and we decide what to do. "Wanna hike?" he asks, with his raised eyebrows and widened eyes.
So, we go hike up the Pu'u O Mahuka Heiau, a historic site of where an ancient Hawaiian village used to be. There is only the rock structures left now, and we take a moment to breathe in the mana of the land.
Francis says, "Imagine, you're working up here, and you see a huge foreign boat just pull up into the Bay, and they tell you, 'Your beliefs are wrong, your way of living is wrong, surrender now and follow our beliefs and ways, or be killed.'"
We hike to a spot that overlooks the bay, and we see butterflies fluttering.
"You know, when I was a kid, I used to think butterflies were my dead relatives reincarnated," says Francis. "So I always liked seeing butterflies around me."
We overlook the Bay, and he asks, "You wanna jump off the rock?"
"Yea, let's do that, I've never done it."
We walk back to the Heiau, and I bow to pay my respects to the past. We then drive to Waimea Bay.
We are walking down to the Bay, where families are hanging out. Some waves are coming into the Bay, and are pushing the shoreline further up. We climb up the rock, and get to the top. Francis looks at me and says, "You wanna go first?"
"Sure, let's do this!" I say. I jump off.... cannon-balling. Whoa... this drop is long... I think to myself. I start to tilt on my side because the drop is so long.
SMACK!!!
I land on my side, and almost get the wind knocked out of me. FUCK THAT HURT.
It could have been worse... I could have really injured myself. We swim in.
"Let's try that again," I tell Francis.
We inspired other people to jump off the rock. A group of young girls start climbing on the rock, and we follow them up. I tell Francis how I landed on my side, and he points out that my whole left side is bright red.
"You should go feet first. Sorry I should've told you that huh?"
So, next one... feet first. feet first. feet first.
I jump in, feet first. Clean dip into the water. Success!!
We swim to a different rock and climb up. We chill and watch the water move below us. We jump again, and let the water carry us in. The shore line is littered with shells, so we start shell hunting. An Uncle is shell hunting too, looking for Sunrise Shells. They are bright red, pink, or yellow. They look beautiful.
We head back to the house, and contemplate our next move. We can see people crossing the street to paddle out. Perhaps the waves have arrived on this "building swell?"
Should we surf? Or should we eat? Then surf?
"Let's go surf," says Francis.
So, we grab our big boards, and head out to V-land, the last time I am going to surf here this trip.
When we get to the beach, it's firing. Not only is it firing, but it's a zoo. Kids must have ditched class because it's only noon and there are a lot of groms out. I see the usual Uncles out, but it's hard to be in the line up knowing that there are a lot of groms on the inside of us.
We hear a big BOOOOOOM and the ensuing roar of the white water. We start gunning for the outside, and see an eight foot white water wall rolling towards us. We duck dive, and wait for a wave.
The swell was a WNW, so it was hitting V-land a little wide. A lot of waves would swing closer to Freddy's, and so we would all be out of position for them.
"Hey, that's Kahea Hart right there, coach of the Hawaii surf team."
Indeed, it's him, and he's talking to Seth Moniz regarding his GoPro.
I start paddling for a medium sized wave, a ten footer, and start to pick up speed. Kahea then whistles me off, and I back out. Damn it.
I wait further outside with the Uncles. I hear a loud BOOOOOOOOOOOOM and start gunning for the outside. Another ten foot white water wall is roaring at us. I can see behind it, another ten footer is feathering its ugly peak. You can just feel the rumble of the Ocean as we paddle towards it. I start chanting in my head, "LEFT, LEFT, LEFT RIGHT LEFT. LEFT, LEFT, LEFT RIGHT LEFT."
"This is the NORTH SHOOOOORE!" I scream at Francis.
I swing for an outside set, and catch the wave. However, there is an Uncle right behind me, so I have to kick out immediately. There's another wave behind it, and I scramble for the shoulder to get out of the way of another Uncle.
I see Francis paddle for a shoulder. There's a bodyboarder on it already, but he just takes off and takes the wave. Yes, he snaked him, but hey, you gotta just take the wave. NO questions asked. Eat or be eaten.
I kept getting snaked by Uncles or having to kick out because the Uncles were on it. I just couldn't bring myself to snake them.
The crowd was unbearable at this point. It was too much. I suggest we try Freddy's instead, and Francis obliged.
We paddled to Freddy's, and a group of girls plus a few groms show up immediately. Where did they paddle from? Sunset?
I go for a right, and get snaked by one of the groms. He looks back, and continues snaking me. I get stuck on the inside as sets pound me on my head. I can't get back to the line up. I try to paddle to the channel, but the sets wash me further and further inside. I duck dive countless times. Still, no progress.
On the millionth duck dive, my right peck starts to SCREAM at me.
STOP PADDLING. JUST STOP, I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE. YOU'VE PUSHED YOURSELF TO THE LIMIT. STOP PADDLING NOW!!!!
I obliged. It was time for me to get out. I proved to myself, I can catch these big waves, I can surf with a building Hawaiian swell, and I can surf with the Uncles. I was done. My body was done. After surfing hours on end on the North Shore, my shoulders and body just gave out. STOP. NOW!!!
I try to motion to Francis I was going in, but he was busy on the outside. I paddle in. No shame, no sorrow. Just tired. And sore. So very very sore.
I wait for Francis to come in. I'm just laying on the sand, feeling the sun bake me. My right peck is yearning for some ice. I think back to the waves I had to kick out on and the waves I got snaked on today. I wished I could have gotten a decent ride, but it just wasn't meant to be. And surprisingly, I was ok with this. I had come off of an injured shoulder from October, and now, right here, I was on the North Shore of Oahu, the proving grounds of surfing, paddling into 10-12 foot waves. That's all that mattered to me. I had set a goal of being able to surf by my trip, and I exceeded my goal by far. I was satisfied.
Francis came in, and we walk back to my house. I ice my shoulder as I had done every surf session, and fix us some late lunch.
That night, Nicole came over to spend the night. We stopped by Foodland only to find that all the food had been bought up. It was friggin 6 PM!! All the food was GONE. Damn.
So, we go to the Elephant Truck, a Thai food truck, right by the Foodland. There, I saw Kelia Moniz, Bruna Shmitz, and another surfer girl. I congratulated Sister (Kelia, as she is called by most) on her second longboarding champion title. She said thank you, and Bruna smiled also.
As I waited for our food, a guy with beady, nervous eyes with long hair wearing a blue hoodie and backpack walked up to the truck. He didn't make eye contact with anybody, just looked around. His eyes seemed to have seen a lot of things he wish he hadn't in his younger days. They looked youthful, but at the same time, aged and hardened. The guy who took our orders came from the back of the truck to take the next person's order.
"Hey Jason," said the man.
"Hey," Jason replied. He reached into his cash box, took out a $20 bill, and handed it to him.
The man nodded, and went off to the Waimea Valley darkness.
Now, that could have been a simple donation to a man in need. He could have been hungry, or needed some money for whatever he may need. But, to me, it was a tell-tale sign that not all things on the North Shore are what it seems to be. I am guessing that the $20 was "rent" to do business on the North Shore that the food truck had to pay. This guy was a collector for who knows, but most likely, Da Hui.
We get back home with our food, and gourge our food rigorously. We pop in Man of Steel and watch that for the night. The crickets chirped and the mosquitoes buzzed. The waves will be firing tomorrow, and we need to get up early in order to watch the Pipe Masters.
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