Water: Warm
Winds: Off shore
Atmosphere: Clear
Francis came over in the morning and we walked over to V-land again. As we made our way out to the uncrowded line up, I see a guy bottom turn, smash the lip, bottom turn, layback snap, bottom turn, kick stomp and stall for the barrel, and then punch out of the closing wave. Immediately, I knew it was Taylor Knox. His style, his flow, unmistakeable.
As we make our way to the line up, we see Pat O'Connell take off on a set wave. The surfer girl we see all the time is out once again, along with the normal Uncles that are always here.
"I like to paddle longer strokes here," says Pat to Taylor.
"Hey Taylor," I casually say.
"Hey, wsup dude?" he answers back with a smile.
It's a quiet in between swell day. Nothing crazy, but still some size, with plenty of waves to go around. There are good vibes in the water with everyone trading waves. I get a few waves to myself, working on my round house cutback. Francis asks, "Did you grab rail on that cutty?"
"Naw, hands free!"
"Oh that was sick," he compliments me.
Francis is going for both lefts and rights, and pulling into the barrel. He says he caught about three or four barrels this day, getting pinched on a few of them.
A set of twins and another grom paddle out, with a very familiar face accompanying them. It's Makuakai Rothman!! He is on Uncle duty today. He is on the inside, pushing these kids into waves. A lot of the Uncles recognize this, and kick out or pull out of the waves when Makua pushes the kids into waves. This makes me smile since I realize that this is a real surf community. The Uncles recognize the kids, the future generation, catching waves, and let them enjoy the waves. A real sense of community, family, and ohana.
"I just got barreled!" yelled one of the kids.
"Yeeaaa you did!!" shouts Makua.
"Hey Uncle, why don't you push me into waves?" says an older surfer. We all chuckle at this.
Makue paddles out to the line up leaving the kids in the hands of another Uncle. Just then, an eight foot face rears its pretty head from the distance, and the surfer girl we always see paddles for it. She misses the wave, and pulls back.
"Ho, too small huh Auntie?" Makua jokes. She looks a bit embarrassed for missing the wave.
"Hey Makua, how's it?" I ask. "You working on a new album?"
"Hey brah, yea I am! January 28th, it should drop," he answers.
"Sick brah. Keep up the good work!! Love what you do."
"Oh mahalos bruh! You coming tomorrow right?"
"Oh for the foundation concert yea?" I know about the Mauli Ola Foundation concert since I follow the Foundation on instagram, and a lot of my surf heroes have been posting about it too. "I'm trying to make it, yea. The Green's playing too!"
"Yea, I'm going on right before them. Come check it out brah!"
"Sure thing man, I'll be there. When's sound check?" I ask.
"It's at 2. I gotta go soon," he answers. "_____-san, nanji desuka?" he asks the surfer girl what time is it, in Japanese.
"It's 11," she answers.
He is riding this weird pointed tail, flat rocker, round nose surfboard. He starts to dig and paddle into what seems like a nothing wave. "HEY HEY HEY HEY!" he starts to yell. An Uncle on the shoulder stops paddling and Makua takes off. He gets barreled, then takes the wave all the way to the inside. He paddles back out to the line up and chats with other people.
A five foot wave (ten foot face) pops up, and Makua starts yelling, "Go Auntie, GO!!" The surfer girl digs, kicks, and scratches, and takes off on one of the most beautiful waves of the morning. She takes it all the way in.
The waves start getting juicier, and it gets really fun from here. I don't know how many waves we catch, but it was a shit ton. The skies got grey as the waves got heavier, and towards the end, I got stuck on the inside.
There is this guy who paddles out who looks super familiar... he's goofy footed, has some Hurley stickers on his board, and surfs really well. Francis and I know he's a Pipe specialist from Kauai, but we don't know what his name is. When I am stuck on the inside, he casually takes off on a five foot wave (ten foot face) right in front of me. He casually takes off from the peak, and makes the drop. He takes the waves all the way to the inside, and slowly paddles back, as if his elongated hair and arms are an extension of the Ocean and he flows like a jellyfish in the water. I watch his surfing, mesmerized.
We surfed four hours this session, and we were drained. We head back home for the time being to refuel. We google image surfers that we think the mystery surfer is, and finally discover it was Aamion Goodwin.
Alex comes for the afternoon session. He is rocking out his soft top as always, and we walk down to Vland.
"Oh shit, its Kala Alexander," he says.
Kala is barefoot, shirtless, and on the side of Kam Highway.
"Where is it?? WHERE IS IT??"
He has his left foot on this guy's neck, his left arm grabbing hold of the man's right wrist, and he is jack-hammering this guy in the rib cage. 'WHERE IS IT??"
"Kala, I swear, I don't fucking know! I swear, if I knew, I'd tell you!! I sw-"
His voice is cut off from his own screams.
"WHERE IS IT!! TELL ME WHERE IT IS!!" Kala exclaims.
He is now elbowing the guy in the rib cage.
There are two huge dudes that look like bouncers, around the two. They have that look of, "If you want to get involved, you go through us first."
It's a quiet neighborhood, the North Shore. Kids playing in the drive way, roosters crowing every morning - it's paradise. But not all that glitters is gold, and this is the dark side of the paradise. I'm guessing it was either drugs, money, or drug money. Either way, we were not getting involved in this North Shore pounding.
We walk past the brawl, well, more like a beat down. A brawl would be two people fighting, but this fight was just one sided. We later question if this was the right thing to do...
The sunset surf session was CROWDED. All the groms were out, including the billabong girls team. It's so crowded, it feels like over-capacity. I am uncomfortable surfing in this crowd.
One of the Uncles paddles out. He has white hair, and a mustache. He paddles for a set wave, and I am in the way, along with another billabong girl. "GET OUTTA THE WAY!!" he yells. He takes the wave with a scowl on his face, and has to straighten out because of me.
"GET OUTTA THE WAY DAMN IT! GO HOME OR GET OUTTA THE WAY!" he screams. "DAMN!! ALL THE KIDS ARE IN THE WAY. GET OUTTA THE WAY OR GO HOME!" he yells again.
I. Feel. Terrible.
I paddle up to him, and apologize. He smiles, and says, its ok. Well, that was easy? I'm not sure. Shit happens, I guess, and he might of had a bad day at work or something.
I catch NO waves this session. Alex, aka the SOFT TOP BANDITO, catches anything and everything that moves. He's on fire, once again. Francis keeps to himself, dropping into a wave here and there. The sun was setting quickly, and I was growing uncomfortable with the sun light dimming and my vision obstructing me.
"Gosh, would you look at that?" says a thick Aussie accent. "So beautiful."
"Yea, it's amazing isn't it? I never get tired of it," I tell the man next to me.
"If I'm reincarnated... I wanna be seeing that again," he says.
"Maybe as a marine animal?" Francis chimes in, with his Brown Jesus smile.
"HAHA! Yea! A marine animal! That would be awesome!" says the Aussie. "I'm so aggro right now, I can't catch a wave."
"Me neither man, me neither."
"It doesn't help that I'm white either. Even when I live here, I can't surf here since I have to work all the time. And when I can surf, no one gives me a wave. It's a double whammy. I just can't win," he tells me.
"Well, at least you live here, that's lucky man," I remind him.
"What, you don't live here? You look like one of the locals here brah," he says.
"Thanks, it's the hair," I say, tugging on my hair that I haven't washed in days. It's growing long as fuck, and my skin must be dark as hell too.
This guy is named Brent. He lives just blocks away, and his Brazilian wife body boards too. He is a contractor, and works about 60 hours a week. He moved here from Austrailia to get away from his hometown in order to grow.
"You know, it was real comfortable back home... but it just wasn't cutting it. And then when I visited back home, all the people who I hung out with, they're in the same place, doing the same thing, just being comfortable. Just STUCK in that comfortable place. I mean, it's fine for them, it's just not for me," he says.
"Well, I've always found that people grow the most when they get themselves out of their comfort zone," I tell him.
"You know, you're fucking right," Brent tells me. "Man, you're pretty driven, aren't you Klaude? You sound like a very driven person."
I laugh. "I guess I am, yea. It's the only way I know how to live."
We talk extensively as the dusk stole the light away from the horizon about comfort zones and drive. I grew more and more uncomfortable, and at the same time, felt like I should take some of my own advice and stay uncomfortable. I would have been out of the water thirty minutes ago, but I'm still here. I'm putting myself in the uncomfortable situation. I can't see Francis or Alex. I'm at a point break with waves still coming, and I can't see shit. I should get out - says my head. Ok, stop listening to that. Why not just catch a wave? You're here, you're in Hawaii. Be uncomfortable. Grow!
I sit on the main peak. I can't see shit. But, I can see some of the peaks forming, and feel the water rushing up. I start paddling for a wave, but it fizzles. I paddle for another, and I feel the wave pick me up. I air drop into the flats, bottom turn, and do a round house cut back. I'm in the white water, taking the wave as far as I can. The wave fizzles, and I jump off. I'm in the shallows. I paddle towards the channel, and then finally back to the beach. I put myself in an uncomfortable situation, and felt content. Finally, I caught a wave in this situation.
I walk back alone, in the dark, to my house. Alex is already there.
"Brah, I thought you and Francis walked out already, so I ran up to this pair walking, and they were CHICKS! I just kept walking..." We laugh at this.
"Damn, where's Francis? Should we go look for him?"
"Naw, he should be fine, let's just kick it and have a beer," Alex replies.
Sure enough, Francis returns, and we all talk about the brawl of Kala Alexander.
"Did we do the right thing?"
"Should we have stepped in?"
"Naw, we would of gotten our asses beat."
"It was probably over something shady, too."
"If it was a girl being raped or beaten, then we should step in."
"Yea, I guess we did the right thing by not getting involved... but still."
I prepare some dinner for da boys this night, which included some left over pasta, rosemary pork, and garlic bread that Francis brought. Cass came over too, and we all ate well, along with Chocolate Haupia Cream Pie from Ted's Bakery, courtesy of Alex.
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| Chocolate Haupia Creme Pie!! |
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