KKs Vacay: V-Land and Mauli Ola Foundation 121213

Surf Report: 2-4 Feet (4-8 on the face)
Water: Warm
Winds: light off shore
Atmosphere: Sunny

I'm sick and tired of this perfect weather!

Said nobody ever.

Waimea Bay Rainbow

Sunny skies, with the occasional chance of rainbows.  It's just so perfect in Hawaii.

Francis, Alex and I walk to V-land once again... It's another uncrowded morning since it is an in between day for surf.  There's a little bit of swell in the water still.

We paddle out as usual, and see the Uncles, and the surfer lady again.  She's out here EVERY SINGLE FUCKING DAY.  Crazy.

I've grown accustomed to the line up here, and I guess the locals have seen me enough to let me have some set waves.  I go for a nice set, and the surfer lady snakes me.  But, she sees me approaching her from behind, and kicks out.  I bottom turn up the face, and do a cut back.  I pump a few more times, and cut back again.

I thank her later in the line up for the wave.  She smiles.  I compliment her for her wave yesterday in Japanese.  She was taken back a little bit.

"Oh you speak Japanese?"

"Yes I do," I told her.

"That's great.  Yea, that wave yesterday, I had to go on.  There won't be an end to the shit I might hear if I didn't go for that wave," she said.  Wow, she is a charger.  Not only that, but she's actually really good at surfing too.

"Where are you from?" I ask her in Japanese.

"Kanagawa," she says.

"Oh, that's great, did you move here?"

"Yes, we moved here a few months ago.  Well, my husband and I finally got green cards, so we were able to move here, finally."

"Oh, what does your husband do?"

"He's... ummm. Do you know Takayuki Wakita?"

"UH YEA?? He's one of my favorite Pipe surfers!"

"Oh, that's great!  He's my husband.  We finally moved here."

"WHAT??? You're Wakita's wife??"  How crazy is that?  Wakita has a spot in Pipeline named after him, because he surfs that bowl all the time.  It's a really crazy drop, and no one surfs it but him.  Hence, the Wakita Bowl.

"Wow, it's an honor to meet you.  I love your husband's surfing.  That helmet, and the way he curls his back when taking off, it's so sick," I tell her.

"Aw thank you.  He'll be so happy to hear he has fans.  He's doing the commentating for the Pipeline Masters' Japanese broadcast"

"Oh is he? That's great, because the past commentators have all sucked.  They don't even speak Japanese, it's more Hawaiian Japanese.  My friend and I always say we could do a better job commentating on this."

She laughs, and says that she'll tell her husband that so he won't mess up and disappoint the Japanese listeners.

There were tons of waves today too, and as always, the Soft Top Bandito was taking a lot of waves.  Alex... he just charges.

Francis was going for the barrel again.  He had some sick turns going right too.  V-land is definitely a playground for any surfer.

There was this girl named Heather that I started talking to.  She had a cute black bikini on.  She is a graphic designer from Ventura who moved here about a month ago.  She said she's only here temporarily, but loves it so far.  I told her that I surfed C Street before leaving for Hawaii, and she said, "Wow, small world."

I got this one right where I stalled for the barrel.  It was so beautiful, the wave face just stood up like a wall.  However, the lip never curled over.  It just kinda mushed out where I was.  I was stalling and stalling and waiting and waiting, but this wave never curled.  It was just a green wall of glass.

We surfed three hours this day, and called it a day.  Alex and Francis went back to Town, and then Justin and Jillee came up.  They took me to the North Shore Farmers Market.

We later bought some beers and drank on the beach near Sharks Cove and watched the sunset.

Cheers!

Sunset

Blazing Horizon

This never gets old

Then, we jammed up to the Turtle Bay Resort, and went to the Mauli Ola Foundation's 2nd Annual benefit concert.  We got to see Donavan Frankenreiter, Tahitian dance, a local reggae band, Makua Rothman, and The Green.  This night was so epic, I couldn't believe it.

Sunny Garcia

I got to meet Sunny Garcia that night, along with Makua Rothman, Kala Alexander (he made a very heart-warming speech for the Foundation - I even saw him in the hallway and shook his hand), and tons of girls.  The girls... they seemed bored at this benefit concert, checking their phones and trying to distract themselves.  We never once took out our phones to distract ourselves that night.  We had so much fun just laughing, joking, dancing, and partying it up.  My phone died, so I couldn't take many photos, but as Justin said, "You have your HD camera in your head bro!"

We even became "part of the band" by making our empty cups full of ice into shakers and playing music with Donavan.

When Makua was about to go on stage, I saw him in the hallway.  I gave him a hand shake, and said that we surfed at V-land yesterday, and that I looked forward to hearing him sing that night.  When he came on stage, he shouted out, "How many of you guys surfed at V-land with me yesterday??"  A personal shout out for me?  How nice!!

F-f-f-f-f-f-front Row Seats for Donavan!!

During the Green Band set, we were rocking out.  We danced our asses off.  Didn't care who was watching, we were vibing with the music.  We were in the front row for god sakes!!  It was amazing.  My ears were ringing at the end of the night.  The Green Band's main guitarist gave me his guitar pick and shook our hands.  He definitely appreciated us dancing our asses off.  

Chris Cote and Jesse Billauer

At the end of the night, we were too tired to go to the after party at the Surfer Bar.  So, we went home.

A wonderful night at the Mauli Ola Foundation

Justin and Jillee were headed back into Town because Jillee had work, and they needed to get some gas.  I told them there are two gas stations on their way home.  We said good nights and I went to bed...

I get a call from Justin, saying that none of the gas stations are open.  So, they slept on the futon couch that night.