surfing and wave sailing

Hay Fat Paul, It sounds as though your season is off to a great start!
I have been mostly wave sailing lately and it has been great.We have had some classic big wave days here on Maui that were only good for wavesailing due to the strong trade winds. ALTHOUGH, two days ago I scored an afternoon/evening sesh that will go down as perhaps my best surf session of the fall seasion. The forecast was for 2'Hawaiian and light trades. It turned out to be almost zero wind and close to double over head and that is conservative. There were four surfers and five S.U.P. guys out.We surfed till dark to the tune of a dynamic Maui sunset! Everyone got some great waves and showed a lot of aloha!

We are looking at some epic conditions starting later today thanks to Pacific typhoon Choi-wan. The surf along north facing shores of the Hawaiian Islands will be 6 to 10 feet with occasional larger sets today, then build to 12 to 15 feet tonight and Friday.
There is a lot of west in this swell and we are definantly going have some island blockage but I don't mind if it dosent get completely out of control. I know one thing for sure, I WILL, be looking over my shoulder a lot. With a rising swell and the intervals at around 17 seconds we are bound to get at least a few rouge channel closers coming through and they will break my gear and try to drown my ass! The trade winds are already blowing so we will see!

My surfing buddy Mark called this morning with a report on the south side and the buoys indicate a rise in swell on the south side of the island as well. Now, Mark, isn't a windsurfer so that is good news for him and everyone that prefers to paddle for their waves with out the pesky (blasting)wind messing every thing up. Believe me I like paddling just as well as I like wavesailing. It's just that I have spent two decades developing my windsurf skills and we have the best wavesailing on the planet here on Maui. I do like it when every one gets to play!

THE PERFECT WAVE

Dave McGunn was a surfin' bum, half-crazed by the blazin' sun.
From Waikiki to the Bering Sea, he rode 'em one by one.
Now he hung offshore 'bout a mile or more, out where the dolphins played,
And his wild eyes gleamed as he schemed and dreamed
To ride the perfect wave.
Oh, ride the perfect wave, Dave, ride the perfect wave.
If you wait it out and you don't sell out, you may ride
The perfect wave.
He crouched in the spray and he waited all day till the sun gave way to the moon,
And his legs grew cold and he grew old and wrinkled like a prune.
And the years rolled by and the surf broke high and the 40-foot breakers sprayed.
But he sneered at 'em all, sayin', "Too damn small; I'm waitin'
For the perfect wave."

He was sleepin' on his board when he woke to a roar as thunder shook the sea.
'Twas the dreaded California quake of 1973.
And he stared at the reef in disbelief, then paddled with tremblin' hands
As a monstrous crashin' tidal wave came roarin' 'cross the land.

It was 12 miles high and it filled the sky, the color of boilin' blood.
And cities fell beneath its swell and mountains turned to mud.
Its deadly surf engulfed the earth and left not a thing alive.
And high on the tip with a smile on his lip was Davey hangin' five.
He hit the top of the Golden Gate at a thousand miles an hour,
Over the top of the Empire State and the tip of the Eiffel Tower.
And as he wiped out, you could hear him shout as he plunged to a watery grave,
"Hey hi dee hi, I'm glad to die -- I've rode
The perfect wave."
Shel Silverstein

I have been recovering from a hernia surgery for the past month and have only surfed once and that was probably not a good idea even though the doc said that he didn't think it would hurt.
I fully intend to be posting of some dynamic sessions down the road. Winter is on it's way here on the north shore.
I would love to see some session reports(new and old)/and other ocean/water related stuff from you guys. Lets keep this thread alive, Trundlebum?

Olaf:
Sorry to hear about the surgery.
But better to suffer through the fix then to be constantly anxious of a bigger problem.

I am going off climbing today...
I'll post when I get home this evening ;)

Hey Olaf, heal up and get better! Temporary set backs only stoke the fire to charge harder when you return to the lineup or take the sharp end. Worked a session in on Sunday morning 10/25 after a low passed through overnight. Beach erosion has produced a bumper crop of shallow sandbars that were firing but had some cross chop sickness due to the strong NW wind. Took my share of beatings while trying to pull into these hollow speed walls. Barreled via the back door on several of the six waves I rode. The water is chilling and now wearing my 4/3 suit. On the plus side, crowds have thinned, fish are on the move and the sunrise was beautiful.

just got back from a great couple of days in the south bay (poopertubes). perfect for a now every 52nd weekend warrior! head high southie, kinda mushy but fast and perfect glassy a frames from sunrise till about 9:00 a.m.. in true kook style i stayed out way too long (way after any swell went to hell) and paddled for everything that rolled in! i would give up every future day of climbing for half as many surfing (and i LOVE climbing)!

hey hi dee hi...

Thanks guys, This surgical event has been coming for a while!
After the long recovery/rehab and the out of pocket expense of a major orthopedic surgery last year I chose to surf all the summer south swells and wave sail the early north swells. In the meantime I acquired health insurance again so it was very little out of pocket expense.
Besides that the ocean hasn't been all that epic this month and I don't feel that I've really missed allot.
It's been a month now and I'm feeling close to being ready to play again.
We have a substantial swell forecasted for this weekend.
I just may ride the bench for a while more and make sure that I'm totally healed.
Thanks for posting gang!

Olaf Mitchell wrote:s. In the meantime I acquired health insurance again so it was very little out of pocket expense.

My favorite news yet! Get well man.

Surfing the sport of kings

Why do we use this expression?
Well because the earliest recorded history of surfing tells about how Captain Cook discovered Hawaiians playing, quite literally frolicking in the very force that early, western, mariners highly feared - breaking waves!

In ancient times Hawaiians of all rank, cast, age and gender would take joy in riding breakers.

The myths and generalizations about the Hawaiian Ali'i (royalty) abound. Some true, most (as generalizations) were not.

In the Hawaiian language there is a powerful word -'Kapu'. It's meaning is all to often translated in English as 'Forbidden'. This is not true at all, this is a western (Judeo/Christian) twist of the word's true meaning. The true meaning is more aptly translated as 'Sacred'.
For example a Hawaiian Ali'i might declare an over fished reef (under his/her rule/management) to be 'Kapu', meaning that it needs to be left alone and given time to heal and rejuvenate itself, not simply 'Forbidden'. You see the true meaning of the word is not as negative as the idea of something simply made forbidden to the masses. Kapu is a very positive and spiritual word in the Hawaiian language.
Some Kapu were created by/for an Ali'i personal preference, perhaps guided by a family tradition or other unknown influences. An example of this is some Ali'i would declare themselves 'Kapu Alo' or 'Kapu Kua'. The first being a declaration that the leaders front side is sacred and hence all people would walk behind the royalty. The latter, 'Kapu Kua' meant that they had declared that their backside was sacred and they would walk at the end of a procession with all others out ahead of him/her.

So what does the Ali'i and the concept of Kapu have to do with surf?
Well yes, sometimes a chief/ess would declare a certain break to be Kapu and only they or their friends/family or what have you, could surf that break. Sometimes there was an obvious reason that was logical, other times it was out of sheer selfishness.
(Screw dem crowds, this is MY BREAK! )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As with most haole that arrive in the islands looking for da kine, keelah, world class surf, I was oblivious to Hawaiian culture for many years. However studying and learning the basics of the Hawaiian language was a goal of mine before I ever left the mainland.
After a decade or so in the islands I had become saturated in surf, windsurf and the beach bum life style and began to settle down to my studies of Hawaiiana.

I was blessed with the teachers I met and came to study from. It was a very Zen way that I met these teachers. I did not go to them with a request to be taught. I never paid in currency for any of my lessons as I met my teachers when I was ready for them. I met them through mutual friends or by (if you will) 'Blind Fate'!

Hawaiiana is a term coined by one of my teachers Aunty Nona Beamer
Essential it means 'Things unique to the Hawaiian culture'.

So what does the general study of Hawaiiana have to do with a surfing thread on a climbing forum? Well if you read this far then there should be no question really. It's like the discussion going on over at the 'Taco' regarding New and Old school climbers. One of the pervasive concepts in delineation seems to be that the New School(more sport oriented)Climbers do not seem to have very much regard for climbing history.

Again, what does the study of Hawaiiana have to do with modern surfing?
Well, if surfing was first a Hawaiian sport, and if you consider this, Language is the foundation of any culture and...
Hawaiian's call the Hula the life blood of the culture...
Then don't we who call ourselves 'Surfers' and if we consider ourselves 'Old School' in our approach to the waves and ocean, owe a little tribute too the Hawaiians, their history and culture? If you answer yes then would it not be appropriate to recognize the practitioners of what the culture calls it's 'Life Blood', the Hula?

Maybe as modern surfers we don't care about the Hula,
and then maybe we might be much better surfers if we studied Hula.

I do/did not dance Kahiko Hula.
Instead I put my attention too the chants, their words/meaning, the metaphors they contained in their poetry and the delivery of the chants, ie: Hawaiian Chanting. I figured that since there was no Hula with out a supportive chant, that I would start my studies from that beginning and first learn at least the basics of the language and the art of Hawaiian Chanting. As you may have gathered by now, I am an avid student of Hawaiiana.

That said:
A few posts back (4days ago) I said "I am going off climbing today... I'll post when I get home this evening ;)" I was thinking that I would tell a shore pound story that took place on Makena (big beach) on the south side of Maui. I thought about it because of Gigitte's Shore break/wave story/solicitation.
But I could not! I had much more than waves on my mind!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got a phone call two nights ago from a friend named 'Friday'. Friday is a friend and musical mentor who lives on O'ahu. His father was buddies and team mate on many a surf rescue team with Duke Kahanamoku. Friday called to give me the sad news that one of our most important teacher/practitioners of Hawaiian chant, hula and language had passed away.

Uncle George Lanakila Keiki Ali'i Na'ope, 1928-2009

Friday and I spoke for at least an hour. We 'talked story' about the times, our involvement, the direction of things and where we came from culturally regarding our teachers and studies. On a lighter note, Friday and I at one point in talking about people of the past got onto his dad, then Duke Kahanamoku which lead to an amazing comment by Friday. He said that 'In all his (61) years of living in Hawaii that he had never surfed a foam/fiberglass, surf board. He had only ever surfed his good 'ole 'Piper Board'. For those of you who do not know what a 'Piper Board' is, I tried a google search for an image or discription but found neither so I will save that for another story altogether.

The next morning I called my father and gave him the news. We discussed (again) how we felt when hearing the news of
Genoa Keawe passing away. We felt (at that time) that many of the 'Old School' Hawaiians would soon follow behind her. Sure enough shortly after, Aunty Genoa, Aunty Nona passed and now Uncle George. My dad and I discussed what I call the 'erosional' process and how it relates to the Hawaiian culture. Who will police the younger generation? Do they need to be guided? Did the Kupuna/kumu (elder teachers) leave enough of a legacy that their students now teachering will do them justice in maintaining authenticity within the traditional cultural practices? Or will the culture just continuously degenerate as it is homogenized into modern western culture? Is Hawaiian culture destined to become nothing more than 'Jawaiian rap beats', Japenese girls in cellophane skirts and imported Phillipino shell lei dancing Hula?
These are questions that only time can tell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This ramble of mine is my own way of paying tribute the (now) late Uncle George Na'ope.
I legally should not do this, but I am going upload and link to a few samples of Uncle George's chanting. I hope you listen to them and find that even if there is a language barrier for you, that you can still feel the power of this master chanter.

The first one is titled:
'Ho'opuka 'E Ka La Ma Ka Hikina'
It is often used as a 'ka'i' or entry chant as dancers make their way to the performance area and take position in preparation for their main Hula/s of their presentation.
It is a very spiritual chant that has many deeper metaphors woven into the poetry. My personal interpretation (in a nut shell) is that it is telling that with light, knowledge and wisdom all things are ultimately possible. As well, it speaks (in metaphor) about how we are all temporarily in the physical while occupying a space on the eternal conveyor belt of the life/death cycle.
- Ho'opuka 'E Ka La

The second one is titled:
'Ku Lanakila'
Somewhat of a Big Isle(Hawai'i) nature chant. It talks about the lofty majesty of the two mountains, Mauna kea and Mauna loa. It goes on to pay reference to the uplands above Hilo and the cold winds of 'Lilinoe'. She, Lilinoe physically manifests herself as cold winds and/or chilly, damp, swirling, light rain. Lilinoe is the sister of Poliahu the 'Snow Goddess. It goes on to talk about the cold and drenching rains of 'Kulani' area above Hilo and how this is where the mighty Koa and ancient gnarled Ohi'a trees can be found. In the third verse it speaks reverently about Pele the fire goddess and all of her ohana/family. The final stanza essentially outlines the procession from the union of Mother Earth and Father Sky through the emergence of the various nature gods/ess and finally the propagation of mankind ending with the declaration of respect for the wisdom of the elders. The final line, 'E Ola Makou a Mau Loa' says quite literally "May we all live(propagate/flourish) forever".
- Ku Lanakila

The third is titled:
'Ka Iolani ' and it talks about a revered Hawaiian Ali'i. In the chant/poem she is compared to some of the beautiful, rare and endemic botanical wonders of Hawai'i.
- Ka Iolani

The fourth is titled:
'Ulei Pahu '. This chant is very old and was composed before and foretelling of the arrival of foreigners from distant lands that eventually would overwhelm and homogenize the Hawaiian culture. This chant is being performed by Haumana Uniki/graduate students of Uncle George's at the time of recording.
- Ulei Pahu

The last chant is titled:
'Na Nalu 'o Hawai'i'
If you surf you should know the word 'Nalu', pronounced 'Nuhloo'. It is the Hawaiian word for 'wave'. You will here the word 'Kaiko'o' often. Kaiko'o is a tsunami or tidal wave. Again this chant is being performed by students of Uncle George.
- Na Nalu 'o Hawai'i

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thak you for indulging me.
I could not help myself...
I needed to pay some sort of immediate tribute to 'Uncle George' and in my misguided way found myself doing so on a climbing forum and in a surfing thread no less.

'E 'Onipa'a Kakou
'E He'e Nalu, No na Kau a Kau
'E Ola Makou amau loa

~~~~~~~~~

I'll keave you with a couple old(Garage) recordings of my friend Friday singing:

- I want to go back to my little grass shack

And

- Lahaina Luna

Aloha Kakou
KaleoAloha ;)

Once again trundlebum you've,enlightened and entertained me with your very passionate well researched and entertaining journey through the halls of Hawaiian culture,history and customs.
Your post is very appropriate for this thread in that in my opinion, The soul of surfing is Hawaiian!
Aloha

Olaf,
Just spoke via e-mail about the morrison girdle. It was crazy; that night while watching the science channel, they had a powered surf board featured as something coming out right around the corner. I guess it would be the "sport climbing of surfing" type of thing in that there will be no more waiting for swells. Kind of like a combination of being pulled into the huge waves by a jet ski and then having the power to outrun the whitewater at the end of the ride. Sounds unethical to a real surfer but I can see the sport change in the high end of difficult wave riding with this invention. Have you heard of anything like it. All it had was a type of rope off the front of it for a cheater sling for balance, and some type of propulsion underneath?!
Jim

Jim they were demoing those powered surfboards here a few years ago and I intended to go and see what they were all about but didn't make it to any of the demo sessions. I haven't seen anything like the powered surfboard here on the north shore but maybe there are some of them on the south side.
I really feel that if some one pulled up in any line up where the vessel could actually ride a wave it would be met with aggro energy(stink eye)! If it showed up again it would be less well received!
I promise that the thing would not show up again!
There are plenty of places a fun craft of that nature would be right at home like some rivers that I know of. It would be a hoot to just cruise on the thing.
There might be a niche for it in surfing obscure and hard to get to spots where there is long and difficult access and no paddle in surfers around.
I'm surprised that there isn't a promotional video On UTUBE of the guys ripping it up on some sick surf on their "Surf mo sticks"!
It would be like tow in surfing which is very effective, but it requires a team of two seasoned and well trained/practiced partners to make that work.
It also takes a very powerful jet ski to out run and be effective on the waves around here and I would be suspect if they told me that the surf mo stick had that much mussel.
On the other if it did have the power and was light and shaped by Jimmy Louis I might look into one for myself.

Last time I was in Puerto in '07 it was so crowded I surfed down the beach a lot..

One afternoon that was only about 4-6', this jet ski duo comes out.
The guy was dropping in way way way behind the peak and he'd already be in the barrel for a couple of seconds at the same spot you'd just be dropping in. He got shacked like 6 times in 20 minutes, it was ridiculous!!!

Forgot the guy's name, owns a surf shop on the East Coast somewhere..

I was so jealous. Then like 15 minutes later I took off on a screamer and got easily the longest backside tube ride of my life..One of those ones where you're like "where the hell am I, why am I still in this thing?"

So it was all good :-)

Ok my shore pound story for Gigitte:

I will preface with, this story is both old yet ongoing. It is not a unique story by any means. If you have never lived near a shore line that gets large, ocean swell waves that break along it's shore then you may find it entertaining/sobering.

When I first moved to Maui I would take a glance at the activity flyers. You know the ones, advertising for paragliding, down hill bike tours from the summit of Haleakala, Copter tours over the crater and a multitude of half authentic Polynesian cultural events such as lu'au.
Somewhere, usually on the back cover of these, there was always printed a ten item checklist of water front/ocean side safety tips. The number one tip was:
"1. Never turn your back on the ocean!".
I'm sorry but as a kid who grew up a thousand yards or so from the water's edge I found this hysterical. I remember thinking "what is there some massive, multi headed, green eyed sea monster that in a matter of seconds can rear it's ugly head from the ocean and snatch unwitting tourists off the rocks and be gone faster than it came?".
I was taking for granted a number of factors. The first being that I grew up on the ocean. As a kid and ever since I have taken joy at going down to the ocean during storms or just plain large surf and watching. I would conscientiously question and note wave numbers in a set. Which was the biggest of the set? How long between sets? Are the sets increasing in size and/or frequency... etc.
The second factor I didn't take into account was that I had heard of, but never witnessed some of the 'sneaker set' war stories from the islands.
Yes it is a good idea to print warnings to land lubber tourist that state: "Never turn you back on the ocean". Just make it that plain, who needs an explanation?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was summer and had been virtually flat for at least two and a half weeks. I was sailing almost every day but still the surf jones was setting in. One morning I was sitting, sipping coffee with 'Big Bruce' on the front planter boxes of 'PikNiks' watching the tourists shuffle through town on their parade to Hana. Down the street from Mana Foods strolls my buddy 'Dode'. He stops and asks Bruce and I if we are gunna head over the south side? Why? Well turns out there is a growing, south, mysto swell happening!
Bruce was busy but Dode and I caught it pretty epic that day and we surfed until we were noodle armed. In three sessions and in this order we hit Dumps then and a smaller Kihei break called 'Sidewalks'.
By about 4pm we were so worked it was the end of our surf day so we decided to head back south from Kihei and go chill and burn on the beach at Makena.
We were on 'Big Beach' for about twenty minutes when this tourist couple walks to the water's edge about eighty yards down the beach from us and started wading around . The beach was pretty empty (for the size of it) and the guy begins looking around almost seeming a little paranoid. Soon it was apparent that the guy wanted to jump in the water but had no surf jamms. As he tentatively stripped to boxer shorts he kept looking at us waiting for a disdainful look. We motioned to let him know we could not give a hoot and he could go ahead and skinny dip if he liked. I think we were hoping for just that and for his girl friend to join him in the pursuit.
So into the water the guy goes. He is standing around in thigh/waist deep water, now and again taking a small plunge and standing back up. All this while he is essential oblivious to the ocean more than twenty yards off shore.
Dode and I watch as this small set appears on it's advance towards the beach. The man was unaware of the set until it had actually become shore pound. As the first wave mounted he turned offshore and ran towards it. He was engaging a rather small set with wave faces of about three feet. Each wave of the four wave set he would jump up into the face and manage to make it back to having his feet on the sand as the wave expired behind him. It was apparent this guy didn't have a clue about going under a wave.
About 8 minutes later... Lo and Behold, a nice meaty, four to six foot (Hawaiian numbers) set starts to show as it wraps the point on the south end of the beach. Dode and I were a little apprehensive about how this guy in the water was going to handle the situation but initially did nothing. Once the set was starting to jack on the beach we had stood up, hooted at the guy and motioned for him to be aware of the fate awaiting him(given his skill set) if he did not exit the water in the next couple dozen seconds.
The guy hears our hoots and took it as an encouragement. With a quick look at the inbound set and a brief smile shot our way... he turned and started running into the water towards the first wave of the set. The first one had about a five foot face on it and the guy lucked out when he jumped up into it. He managed to not get pitched.
The second one though, well he was not so fortunate. He was a little further out this time and the wave was significantly bigger than the first. Pitched, oh did he get pitched. Over the falls into about a foot of water then slammed by the secondary impact. He came out the back, sputtering and just in time for a big, deep breath and... "Ooooh NOooo, you kook!". He got just enough footing to kick a little jump as he was being sucked up into the third wave. We thought the first 'over the falls' was ugly but the second was of almost biblical proportion. This guy got so dredged.
Dode and I were now on our feet and had started to run down towards the Horrified girl friend. By the time we closed the distance and got to water's edge he had taken two pretty serious rides over the falls and was sputtering, choke'n and generally groveling trying not to sucked up into the face of the last wave of the set.
His efforts payed off and he did not get sucked up for another ride. Instead the wave broke just outside him and the initial impact sort of lifted him up enough that the white water ushered him into us, in thigh deep water. Dode and I each grabbed an arm as we helped the guy up the beach. I can't say 'Helped him to his feet' because he basically crawled with our assistance to a higher, drier ground.
By the time the guy had regained composure, calmed his breathing and was relaxing, the ocean was absolutely flat and glassy again. Noticing this and the fact that he had just about seen his last dry inhalation... the man looks up from his sitting position at Dode and I standing there and said "WTF? I just wanted to wade and maybe take a plunge or two".
We asked where they were from...
"Ohio and our first ocean visit"
was the answer.

Now where's that Photoshop so we can paste Gigi's face on it?

BTW Olaf:

This morning I got into a phone conversation with a Vegas area friend I have not spoken with in a while.
"Scarry, Larry-D".
Larry gave me kudos for:
1. My writing in general and particularly the Hawaiian culture/surfing post I made above.
2. For gaining your (Olaf Mitchell) respect as a water man and writing about it.

Larry then went on to ask me if I knew who you are?
That got me to reviewing the thread:

J. Thompson wrote: Big grin. Hey Olaf....I understand reasons why you may not want to use your real name online....but every once in awhile you might mention it...just so experienced guys like trundlebum realise who you are? With regards to both of you...... josh

Well Mr. J.Thompson "...experienced guys like trundlebum realise..."
That they know a lot of other old geezers and...
the digital world has put the 'ole Coconut wireless/grape vine on steroids.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I have had the pleasure of digitally meeting a lot of my childhood/teen age climbing heroes through the modern internet.

(If I am not mistaken...)
It's been a pleasure getting to know you Jim.

A wave that has enough power to really bury the rail on a 6'10" is a beautiful thing...w my dorky Gath helmet haha

Uluwatu 1991.. God I loved that place...Get barreled all morning, go up to the warung at the very top of the cliff where you could put your chair out and watch the surf with a Bintang in hand, cheese-egg jaffle, banana lasi..

Get a massage and shoot the shit w the massage lady ("You get barrel last night at the Sari Club?" "No, I get barrel at the Double Six!" hahaha)...

Low tide afternoon sess, cruise back to Kuta in the dark on the bike with the tunes blasting and these massive trucks trying to see how close they could come to you without actually hitting you..

The first time you're buzzing hard and start talking to one of those Aussie girls with the gorgeous accent...

That place was surreal..

Ulu

I'm pleased to see such eclectic posts showing up here! Thanks guys !
The North Shore has been de liver in!
We've had back to back swells and I haven't so much as touched the water.
The doc said 6 weeks and I am at 5 weeks 1 day!
Business at our kite and sail repair loft has been good so I get down to the beach every day to pick up and deliver and check on the gang at the Kuau Yacht Club.
There's lots of epic stories of this early season wave event. Yesterday the wind just shut down with six of my buddies out.
It's a very long swim with gear from outside the break to the back of the bay.
I've personally done it many times and am glad that I wasn't there with them last night.
Points toward the Kuau Cup were scored by all six swimmers.
Perhaps I should explain: We have an award for the sailor that doesn't make it back to the launch site the most times each year(4/20-4/20).
The score is kept by the official score keeper and the not so coveted award trophy is presented at the annual 4/20 party held at the pile of rocks we call a beach and launch from.
Basically it is presented to the sailor that has had the worst luck of the year, ether equipment failure or loss or the wind shutting off like last night.
Once again much Mahalos to Jim, Gidget,Fat Paul on the right coast, Christian for your images both visual and verbal and of coarse trundlebum just to name a few recent posters. It's great to get to know and share the stoke with you dudes and dudesses!

Christian:
Keep it up man, great pics and stories.
Dang you guys are gunna put the ultimate jones in me.

I've got a season pass to ride snow board all winter. I miss surf but man I have wanted to get descent(pun son) at snow boarding for many a moon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Olaf:
Are you avoiding comment or did you think I was addressing Mr. Thompson when I wrote:

I have had the pleasure of digitally meeting a lot of my childhood/teen age climbing heroes through the modern internet.

(If I am not mistaken...)
It's been a pleasure getting to know you Jim.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Olaf:
I would love it if you would take and publish here some pictures of the Kuau cove launch. That is ne tight little in and out. Do they still have a couple of small boat moorings in the cove?

2 recent multimedia/video pieces recently posted on surfline.com that are definitely worth watching:

surfline.com/surf-news/on-l…

- dane reynolds super slo-mo punt in this piece is unreal

this one is amazing too:
surfline.com/surflinetv/six…

Bethany Hamilton pulling in to a sweet left at Padang- with only one arm. so cool.