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| Kook of the Day - Brazo wearing a full suit |
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| Puuuuppy dawgs |
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| Junky Vland Surf Check |
Water: Cool
Winds: Howling Trade Winds
Atmosphere: Cloudy
My last full day in Hawaii, and I am searching for surf once again. I woke up in the morning, and biked down to Vland. It’s junky as hell.
I bike down to Sunset, and it’s not even breaking. No one is out. I bike down to Pipe, and there are a few people out, but it’s junk. I can’t believe it… but then again, the winds are just not cooperating along with the swell direction, coupled with the terrible weather of winter in Hawaii.
I go back to my rental, and drive to Foodland. I shop for some fruit, and return home in hopes that by noon, the waves will be rideable, much like yesterday.
Noon hits, and the winds already seem stronger. I don’t know if I’m going to surf today… and it gets me a bit depressed. The onshore winds are stronger now, and it feels like I’ve missed my window. I bike down to Vland anyway, and confirm that it is worse now than it was in the morning.
I return home, and start typing in blog. I finish a blog entry, but for some reason it won’t save. I refresh the page, and I’ve lost everything that I’ve just typed. I throw my hands up, almost falling out of my chair, and get frustrated even more. No surf, no blog, no nothing achieved today. I bike down again to Vland to check the surf, for a third time.
The winds are still the same - onshore and howling. There are some gross out, and a goofy-footed grom takes a wave without a turn all the way to the inside. He rides in, and paddles in to call it a session. There are moms and ke’iki’s chilling on the beach, side boob hanging out. Despite the winds, they are just lounging comfortably on the beach.
Just then, a mom and her daughter walk up to check the surf. The grom that got out walks towards us. I recognize the mom, and ask her, “You’re Wakita-san, aren’t you?” “Yes. Oh! You’re the surfer from California!”
“Yea! We met last year in the winter. Happy New Year!” All of this is in Japanese. Wakita-san is the wife of a famous Pipeline specialist, Takayuki Wakita. They moved from their hometown in Kanagawa, Japan, to the North Shore in order to live the dream of surfing and raising their kids in Hawaii.
Last year, when I stayed on the North Shore, Wakita-san was out here every day charging the waves of Vland, and so she and I talked a lot since it is rare for a Japanese person to be able to speak Japanese in Hawaii, despite the big Japanese-American population here. I must say I am thankful for my mom to force me to Japanese school for so long during my adolescence.
“Oh, Happy New Year to you too! When did you get in? How long are you here?” “I got in about a week ago, but I’m leaving tomorrow,” I tell her.
“Oh, did you get to surf at all? It’s been really bad this past week, probably the worst I’ve seen it in years.” “Yea, I’ve heard this is the worst winter in about ten years. I’ve only surfed a few times during my stay.”
She and her daughter stare off to the surf. Her daughter is on a skateboard, pivoting back and forth. The grom comes up to us, and introduces himself as her son.
We talk about the surf for a while, on how even paddling out in these conditions is practice, and that it’s good to go out even when it’s like this.
“Did you get some waves?” she asks her son.
“Yea, at Freddie’s. It’s ok,” he says.
“Well, it’s up to you,” she says, looking at her daughter. “If you want to paddle out, we should paddle out. Get your feet wet. Look, so and so is out there too.”
“Ehhh, but I’ve been sick,” her daughter says. “Me too!” I add, smiling. “If you don’t paddle out, I’m going to make fun of you on your instagram,” I tell her. “Hope to see you out in the water!” I turn my bike around and head back to the house. I get changed, throw on my rash guard, and walk down back to the beach. I do my light stretching, and start paddling out at Freddies. A local grom
There are three beginners out in the water. How do I know they are beginners? Well, one is on a foamy with a GoPro, one is on an NSP, and another is on a seven footer. They are all muscular beyond surfers, and when they paddle it seems like they are uncomfortable in the water. They look like barney’s to me… And I don’t like to judge because I am a barney too, but man, I can’t believe they are in the water.
Wakita-san and her daughter make it out into the water. We share Freddies between the three of us, including two little groms about age 9 or 10, maybe younger. The groms don’t take the bigger waves, but they still catch good waves compared to the three other barney’s in the water.
I catch a wave that is about shoulder high, but wedges up perfectly in front of me. I get a wrap around cutback, and the wave mushes out. I see Wakita-san catch a left, but it doesn’t offer her up any turns. She tells her daughter to go on the next wave, pushing her to catch uncomfortable waves.
A woman paddles out in her spring suit on a fat, wide board, and she starts catching some good rides too. The three barney’s look in envy, along with me, of her long rides. She definitely knows the line up well.
The three barney’s are always out of position. They are just wide of the peak, and are scratching out on the waves. I mean, it’s not firing or anything, so it’s not that hard… but they are struggling. I smile at them every time I paddle by them, and they scowl. Sheesh, so serious. It’s just surfing, guys.
I compliment then woman on her fat, wide surfboard. She has a wedding ring on, so she is off limits. But she is super approachable, and introduces herself as Naomi. I compliment her on her smile, since there are too many “serious” faces in the water. She laughs. “Yea, c’mon, it’s Freddies! Have some fun!” she says.
I scratch into a left, and pop up. I initiate my bottom turn, and see Naomi racing towards me on the right. I jump off, and tug at my leash as hard as possible. We both resurface, and apologize to each other.
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you until the last moment!!” I tell her.
“I’m so sorry too! I didn’t even see you. Are you ok?” she asks me.
“Yea, I’m fine, sorry about that again,” I laugh, shaking my head.
It gets COLD. The winds seem to blow harder now, and although the water isn’t that cold, the winds make it pretty fucking cold. I keep looking across the channel to Vland to see if it’s better, but it seems like the same shitty, junky conditions over there too. I can’t believe last year I scored that place when it was firing all day, every day.
“Can we get out soon?” asks Sayuri, Wakita-san’s daughter.
“Five more minutes then,” she replies, with a stern face.
“Two minutes?”
“Three, if you catch a good wave.” “How about ten?” Sayuri asks.
“What?” “Why are you increasing the minutes?” I ask her.
She laughs, as if trying to pull a fast one on her mom.
“One more good wave, and we can go,” says her mom. That’s pretty cool to have a mom that pushes her kid to surf well, even in these junky conditions.
I turn around and paddle for a wave. It’s a dumper, and I go just to make the drop and bottom turn. I take the wave in on my feet as far as I can, then get on my belly. The wave loses power, and I start paddling in to shore. The higher tide is making the shore pound gnarlier, and so I have to time my exit perfectly in order not to get hurt.
I finally get out of the shore pound, and head to the trees where my slippers are. I look back, and Wakita-san takes a wave, and her daughter takes another wave. They start paddling in. It’s a complete session.
That night, Fransauce, Nicole, and Alex come over to spend time with me. They bring over two bottles of wine, two pizzas from Papa Johns, and lots of laughs. We spend the night drinking and eating, watching Family Guy, and passing out at 10.
We plan to surf in the morning, before I leave Hawaii. The forecast is 8-12 feet on the face… Do-able, and the winds seem to be backing off a little bit. Hopefully we can dawn patrol it tomorrow….
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| Primo Beers! |
Mahalos Mother Ocean!!
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