oahu day 36

Yet another fun day at Da Spot.

Not quite as fun as yesterday because... the wind was stronger! The stronger I got it so far: fully powered on the outside with a 4.7. Good, you would think. Bad, I say. More chop on the face of the waves disturbed me quite a bit. Geez, it's going to be hard to get used to the Maui strong wind again...

Anyway, as promised here are the other photos from day 35.
Fabrice Beaux was all over the place. Take that.


Or that.


Or that (forward off the lip).


Here's another frenchman called Bruno who is recovering from a bad ankle accident happened while doing some radical mountain bike stuff. He's just now going back in the water and he's trying to be conservative.
He spent the convalescence filming the action at Da Spot from the water and he will come up with a video. He promised to send me a copy, so hopefully you'll see bits of it on this blog.
How's that wave?


Following Ray's tip, I climbed on a tree to take some of these photos. When I came down (it wasn't particularly comfortable), I noticed that the trunk was pretty much empty! Weird.


Sure honey, that's how you were supposed to wrap the leash.


Fiona brings back the beast.


This is the 5.3 Superfreak Ultralight that I'm selling. One time in the water, like spanking new. $150 off the price list: $360. I got it because everybody was saying to bring big sails in Oahu since the wind is light. Well, they were right about the wind, but I decided that I don't want to sail anything bigger than 4.7. Anyone remembers Dave Osborne? He only had a 4.5 and he made it work in any conditions. The secret: an extremely light rig and a lot of skill. I got the first one, working on the second.
Email me if interested.


And a few photos from day 36, NOT from the tree.
Fabian.


This guy on a good old Hot SO sails launches from his house just upwind, so I never got to meet him and don't know his name. He's pretty damn good.


Him again.


day waves: 29
windsurfing: 452
surfing: 320
total: 772
average per day (32 days in the water): 24.1

PS. Deep storms are stirring the waters down south (must be quite a bad winter in New Zealand). Stay ready for a big day around the 26th.

PPS. OMG. Just watched this video on beachtelegraph.com. Had to embed it here too...


"Wow!" is all I can say.
No actually I can add that Pozo should belong to a different PWA discipline called 'Jumping and freestyle on the waves'. Other than that, that young kid is amazing.
How's this small jump?

oahu day 35 - it's an all about me post

Peculiar: the worst surf session and the best sailing session in the same day!

Let's get rid of the first. I went to Suicides again and the conditions were pretty similar to the day before. So, what made the difference? The crowd, of course.
Not so much the number of people, but the attitude. Everyone was paddling for every wave. No one with a remote idea of what waiting for your turn means. Guys that just paddled back out after a ride sat deep and went for the next wave... that sucks.
I caught 3 waves and then I left disgusted.

Windsurfing: OMG, did I have fun or what?
Classic Da Spot conditions with waves from waist high to head high with occasional overhead bombs. Check these beauties (that'll be the wave and me).


Maui friend Fiona was in Oahu on jury duty and we hooked up in the afternoon. She did pretty good at sailing Da Spot and taking photos with my camera both for the first time.
Here I am again.


And again. And I could go on and post all the 27 (!) waves I caught but I won't... also because I don't have a photo for each of them.


And there she is, testing the ground on my borrowed gear.


She liked both board and sail. "The board turns like if it is smaller and the sail is quite comfortable"...
Comfortable? It's a bloody Cadillac!
Here's what my friend Steve had to say in a recent email he sent me, after I suggested him to test a Freak at the shop (he ended up buying two of them).
I just wanted to say hi and tell you I am really enjoying sailing my new Superfreaks. What range! Amazing. I can rig the 4.7 in really crazy wind and still manage to have a decent session...and the 5.3 is sweet! I am so stoked, Dude, thanks for the tip!!!

Back to Fiona, this is a self portrait of the reef tattoos she got on her leg and foot.
Blimey sistah, that's a serious gap between big toe and rest of da toes... been wearing slippahs long time, uh?


I took a bunch of photos of the other sailors while she was out, but I got no time today, so come back tomorrow for the Fabrice Beaux show.

day waves: 30
windsurfing: 423
surfing: 320
total: 743
average per day (31 days in the water): 23.9

PS. Ray and friends found some waves.

PPS. Double elimination completed at Pozo. 15 years old Philip Koster won the wave event! Fernandez second, Campello third, Kauli only 11th.

Oahu days 33-34

The waves are back and I'm back in the water.

On day 33 I only sailed in the afternoon at Da Spot and it was great fun. Waist to shoulder high, as light/offshore/gusty as you can imagine. As clean as you can imagine too.
Yesterday (day 34, or voyage 34 (*) should I say) instead, I surfed Suicides in the morning. The photo below illustrates the fun conditions.


The late afternoon sailing session was a bit of a disappointer though, since, seen the beautiful shoulder to over head high waves, the place saw something like 16 surfers in the lineup. Should have gone earlier. Caught two wave and decided to go for a sunset beer with a friend at Lulu's.
Here's the great view from the terrace.


And here's a few pics that show the power of the zoom of my camera.
A set hits Publics.


A six men canoe catches a roller on the outside.


A bit of traffic in the body boarders line up.


And here's a bonus clip. Yeah, it was a bit noisy.


day waves: 16+14
windsurfing: 396
surfing: 317
total: 713
average per day (30 days in the water): 23.7

Joel Parkinson won the ASP contest at Jeffrey's bay.
Meanwhile at Pozo the double elimination ladder of the PWA wave contest started.

(*) Voyage 34 is the most psychedelic album released by the Porcupine Tree. The ending guitar solo of Phase one is my favorite guitar solo ever. Couldn't find a good version on youtube, but I found a cover version of the very similar solo of Phase two: this guy did an excellent job.
I listened to this album relentlessly during the saddest period of my life (which had nothing to do with LSD or drugs, in case you wonder), quite a few years ago. It somehow helped me face the reality.
Listening to it now, brings back those memories and makes me appreciate even more the amazing life I have now.
The power of music...

Oahu days 31-32

As anticipated, I took a couple of days off the waves.

Actually not exactly, since Sunday my Oahu friends took me to Makapuu, a lovely east facing beach were the shore break is perfect for body surfing or body boarding.

Sam displayed some serious skills and a great smile on each wave he caught.


Here's how one end of the beach looks like.


Definitely well populated.


Oh my.


Very pretty.


Most dreadful tattoo ever. What the hell was the guy thinking?!?


I like this one a lot better.


Or this one.


Anyone in there?


Reflections.


The ASP surf contest at Jeffrey's bay is on. Tom Curren won the first heat of the "Clash of icons" against Mark Occhilupo. And I just watched it live thanks to a lovely thing called webcast.

oahu days 29-30

Got a bit behind with the posts, so here's two days in one.

Friday (day 29) I surfed Concessions and sailed Da Spot again. Both sessions quite fun, despite the small size of the waves and the long waits.
There was a surf contest at Kewalo's. Here's some pics.

Let's start with the beauty of Diamond Head. In foreground is the Kewalo basin (perfect for swimming or paddling of any kind). Then the Magic Island (which is not an island, but a headland). You can't see them, but beyond the Magic Island there's the Ala Moana breaks and the other numerous breaks of Waikiki, all the way to Diamond Head.


Pro surfer Dustin Cuizon was competing for Town&Country in this surf shops contest.
The waves at the buoy on Friday were barely a foot and a half. Check that out!


Waiting for the heat. The contest heat, that'll be.


Spectators.


Cuizon again.


That's when the announcer went:"Can you guys move that boat out there? It's blocking the waves!"


Lovely drippage.


Another competitor.


What a modest house on the ocean I thought...


Zooming in more, I was surprised to find out that instead it was... a bloddy church!


I like this picture.


And this one too.


Saturday the waves were smaller and I was a bit tired, so I only sailed one hour in the morning. Looks like it's going to be almost flat for another couple of days before it gets good again. I might take advantage for some rest.

day waves: 31+14
windsurfing: 378
surfing: 305
total: 683
average per day (28 days in the water): 24.4

PS. Looks like they completed the single elimination in Pozo.
15 years old german born and Gran Canaria resident Philip Koster ruled everyone and won it!
I've never seen him sailing, but according to KP's post, he's definitely more than a promise...

oahu day 28

Yesterday I surfed a break called Concessions and I had a lot of fun.

My first time there wasn't as good, since the waves were bigger and kinda closing out. But yesterday, if you had the patience to wait enough, you could get onto some superclean chest high little gems. The Lanai buoy was reading 1.5 feet at 12 seconds from 180. That means flat to knee high in Maui. Waist to chest high in Oahu. These are the days in which the difference between the two islands is biggest.

After the surf session, I took a few pics of the beach scene. And you thought that the silicon valley was in California...


The funny thing is that while I was taking these photos (as you can imagine I took a bunch of them), a friend from Maui called me to tell me that she just had an intensive boob exam and that everything was ok.
"To make sure that nothing was there, the radiologist took many pictures of my boobs", she said...
"Hey, that's exactly what I'm doing too right here in Oahu... taking many pictures of boobs! Does that make me a radiologist?".

Anyway, to make sure that something was there, I took some pictures of what was below the valley and... yes, there was a bikini there!


A patriotic beach-goer for the ladies. Easy girls... what they say about black guys may well be true, but that's just a bend in the wind blown shorts...


Hey look how quickly he picked up a girl! Must be the shorts... maybe I should wear some italian flag ones...


This guy passed by me after he quenched his thirst. He was loudly talking about god... or to god, I'm not really sure.


At sunset I sailed Da Spot and it was fun. The place also gets a bit of windswell wrap too and that is reading 6 feet at 8 seconds, so even better.
Light, very very light.
Clean, very very clean.
4.7 Superfreak Ultralight and 81l Quatro twinzer remain the perfect combo for me in these conditions. I'm really stoked about both.
Message for the Oahu (and Maui) sailors: I have a brand new SF Ultralight 5.3 that I only used once at Diamond Head and I will sell before going back to Maui. Email me if you want to score an outrageous deal.

waves today: 37
windsurfing: 354
surfing: 284
total: 638
average per day (26 days in the water): 24.5

PS. The PWA Pozo wave contest started. Here's the single elimination ladder.
Clearly no live webcast yet.

oahu day 27

Not the best day, but still better than working...

I sailed Da Spot in the morning. It was good for 20 minutes, then it got so light that it became a bit frustrating to see perfect clean waves go by without being able to catch them.
"I should come back surfing", I thought.

So I did around 5pm. The wind had just temporarily dropped, but, of course, as soon as I paddled out it picked out again. It was still allright, but wavesailing would have been better. Oh well.

Here's a pic from Diamond Head were I stopped by to eat my lunch.


I don't know the details, but it seems that the Paia restaurant Jacques is having a tough time with respecting a tax dateline on July 15th and there's a community call for support. If you like the place and would like it to stay in business, just go there, spend some money and have some fun.

Hot Sails Maui team rider Leon Jamaer is in Gran Canaria training for the Pozo contest and started a blog. Sure this kid rips hard.

And Ray and friends are getting some wind too.

waves today: 25
windsurfing: 340
surfing: 261
total: 601
average per day (25 days in the water): 24

jeffrey's bay

Can't be bothered with the Oahu post tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

The ASP contest at Jeffrey's Bay is about to start and I looked on youtube for some clips just to get into the webcast mood.

Here's a good one.



Mesmerizing waves.

oahu day 26 - diamond head

Nah, me and Diamond Head don't get along...

Sure, it was slightly bigger than yesterday at Da Spot (before the high tide killed everything). But size is not everything (I bet you heard that one already).

Sure it was nice to be planing fully powered on the outside (once in a while, not even always). But that's not why I came here for (plenty wind in Maui for that).
I came here to ride waves.

Unfortunately, the waves at Diamond Head are infested by two deadly creatures:
1) chop
2) surfers

So, in my book, Da Spot wins all the times, even if it's smaller and it's purely slog and surf. It wins because it's clean and empty. You know, personal preferences...

Let's see what you prefer. Your favorite blogger took a few emblematic clips to let you judge by yourself.

Let's start from a wave ride. Notice the cross chop and the lack of power of the mushy wave.


This instead is the nice part: planing on an incredibly blue ocean.
Whatever... planing is so overrated!


Don't get too excited you guys. You still got to do your slogging on the inside!


And don't forget that on each wave you'll have to deal (asses their position and make sure you don't run them over or drop in on them or they don't drop in on you) with a bunch of surfers in search of the thrill of epic rides like this one.


At sunset, I surfed Bowls again. Once again, small but clean and uncrowded. I caught 19 waves, but blew the best one (a chest high perfectly shaped one).
Marcio was in the water and he let me try his board: a 10.5 Sean Ordonez heavy and narrow gun for really big waves. He surfed Jaws on it. Do I need to link the video again? Ok, I'll link the video again...
It's the board he was on when he caught that huge left at the end.

I sat on the board and I felt like I was on a piece of glory. It paddled like a paddleboard (once upon a time the paddleboards were these, today everyboady calls the standup boards like that...) and once you catch a wave it'll never stop. It just keeps going! That thing has the best glide I've ever experienced. It cuts through the water effortlessly. I guess that's the only kind of board you can use to catch a wave big and fast like Jaws. Well, you need to have Marcio's arms and balls too, of course.
Anyway, that was the highlight of the session also because I blew my best wave. Did I say that already?

waves today: 39
windsurfing: 332
surfing: 244
total: 576
average per day (24 days in the water): 24

oahu day 25 - back to work!

After a (great) week in Maui, I'm now back in Oahu.

This guy made Diamond Head look good. Must be the board...


I sailed Da Spot instead. It was a lot smaller (like waist to shoulder high), but still fun. I caught 23 waves in complete solitude. Maybe tomorrow I'll try DH again.


At sunset the waves at Ala Moana were pretty small and I finally surfed Bowls with just a few other guys out. I caught 21 waves and enjoyed a remarkable sunset.


Here's what uncle Pat says about June:
"During the month of June, the jet stream pattern of a ridge over the Tasman sea and a trough for longitudes east of New Zealand to south of French Polynesia led to abundant days of local surf above the summer average. Such counts of elevated days had not been seen in the month of June since the 1970s."

Here's what I add: it was bloody fantastic! It was so good that I didn't really need to be in Oahu (other than for the wave sailing maybe) to enjoy it: the waves were good in Maui too.
Now instead, the jet stream is not going to cooperate much anymore and we'll have a week with very small surf. But today's wave count is a clear demonstration of what I have already said a few times: when it's small, Oahu is way better than Maui.
Next week though, it will already go back to decent size waves. I can see some sweet fetches lining up...

There must be quite a big colony of mongooses (or is that mongeese?) at Diamond Head. Cute!


Here's the new totals.
waves today: 45
windsurfing: 312
surfing: 225
total: 537
average per day (23 days in the water): 23.3

Ah, I just watched September Sessions.
I don't care how long it will take me, I don't care how many waves I will need to catch... one day I will be able to surf like those guys.
And even if I won't, it won't matter. Because it's the journey that matters, not the destination...
I'm loving my journey. You guys don't forget to enjoy yours...