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July 31, 2006
dawn patrol @ dh
another nice sunrise this bright and early am.
great big mushy waves today. morning winds and chop were all around. i bet later today it'll be bumping on the south shore. i've seen some serious 10ft's coming in over @ sand island today already as i peer out my office perch. its going to be hard to get on the plane tonight. soul sista and i are already talking about stuffing our crap into our bags and running down for a sunset session and just getting on the plane from there. hahahaha its a sickness i tell a true sickness!
anyhow...this morning was fun. soul sista caught some nice 6-8 ft's. even got a little cover up action.
earned some respect from the dirty dozen to boot. as for me, i had the drop in of my life this morning. steep as hell, big, nasty warbles, hollow, several feet over head and closing out for yards ahead of me. got munched with the biggest grin on my face as i stuck the last second chance to go.
i hear its going to be cranking all week long. AHHHHHHH and we'll be on the mainland! guh, huff hufff huff. ;-)
more to come l8's
sf ~
Posted by Single Fin at 02:49 PM | Comments (0)
blissful exhaustion
the subject says it all. doubled up swells in town this past week. late last week we got hit with a mid-size swell topping out the goood spots at 6-8ft. nice waves with some mild chop. plenty of stoke to go round for the summer love sessions.
yesterday was a fun session at 3's. good waves with lots of left handers opening up at solid chest high and clean. surfed for 3 hours until i felt spongy. :-)
this morning was epic. i tuly felt blessed and lucky. paddled out to 3's again. got some sweet rights and a 1/2 dozen lefts. headed over to "paradise" and "pops" a coupla breaks over. nice clean waves with mild waits. lots of action in the water to watch and fill the time between sets. clean teal blue water, sail boats, spear fishers, small flying fish, couple turtles and a pod of dolphins. the best part was there was some kind of beach party happening. playing pink floyd and many other classic rock tunes. soul sista and i had grins from ear to ear. something to be said about dropping in to some chest high glass love with "another brick in thew wall" jamming in the backdrop. truly epic.
then later in the day the new swell kicked in. booooooom the waves have jumped to 6-8ft first tide swing of the afternoon. i headed out to mansions with the 8ft'r 2+1 setup flex fin. twas a beautiful session. nice bombers coming in over head. solid 6ft -8ft with the larger sets reaching about 10ft with long cranking walls. after my first 3 waves i fell into the water with sheer joy. the hair was standing on the back of my neck from the open faces & brute force. i've never claimed myself to be a north shore animal. but what i do love is when everything you've spent your hours working on comes together at one moment in time and you feel amp'd for the success or trying to just try.
finally dragged myself up on the beach with a blissful exhasustion. in fact my eyes hurt the most from being under water so much and the reflection of the sun. lol
all i could think about was sleeping and eating. tomorrow is going to be bigger and better. i'm stoked and the alarm is/ has been set to go off all weekend at 445am. tomottow marks the 1st day of the vacation. looks like mama nature wants me to enjoy her presents.
more to come tomorrow.
alohas all and i'll get some for all of you...i promise.
sf ~
Posted by Single Fin at 01:29 AM | Comments (1)
July 28, 2006
update from the boonies
check it. grabbed this from my buddies blog. his latest update from his surf trip in el salvador. hmmmmm, sounds like a great trip and he should be back just in time to catch the dead center of the hurricane souther hemi that is hitting us.
in the moments of free thought i have today, i daydream of glassy waves. the last 2 days we've double sessioned both. exhausted about 4 hours a day surfing my brains out. work has me running like a freak lately and with the help of some new music my days feel like a new york city street. muted and layered on fast frwd with the band "silversun pickups" cranking in the background. could be the excessive coffee talking...could be the fact i'm losing my mind. needless to say that after work i need to surf. i need to wash it away....i need to get lost. to carve with lust and seep in mother natures ions of h2o energy.
sf~
..........................................
El Salvador outpost update:
..........................................
When we arrived it was nice to be the first off the plane. I got hassled a bit by customs b/c they kept saying why wasn't I staying longer than a week. My answer was I got to work man.. got to work. We had to push the random button and it was impossible, but we both got the red light and had to be searched. Pretty lame search.. just a quick rummage through our backpacks.. not even a look in the boardbags.
Eluid was waiting for us when we got out of customs and off we were whisked to K59. It turns out the airport is no where near the capital city of San Salvador. After a quick hour or so of driving we ended up at Edgard's house at K59. We quickly unloaded the boards, waxed and polish and jumped in to catch the tail end of a nice south swell peeling off the point. Perfect rights and the fish was eating it up. So much room to carve the wave face. Nice to be with the local group and they are pretty protective of the break from outsiders. Many fun waves to be had and the water was practically hot as a bath. Super fast zippy point breaks... ahhhh! River rocks line the entire beach and it is like walking out at Rincon. Got to time getting in a out. After a late morning surf we settled down for our siesta before hitting it again for a late afternoon glass off which occurs after the rains come through. Perfect way to start the first day.
July 16th.
Swell dropped a bit today, so we headed to a beach break call El Mizata just north of here. Fun beach break, a bit to hollow and fast for the fish, but good times. We headed into La Libertad to walk about the market.. Monday is the busy days as merchants from out of town make their weekly stop in town. Walked through the fish market down on the pier and had a cold cerveza in hand by noon sitting at the bus depot. Free managed a little shopping.. dress, soccer shorts and the endless quest for a used Machete. We drank a bunch of beers roadside waiting to get water and then headed to Punta Roca restaurant owned by Bob. Managed to get plastered in Pilsners and had a great lunch of fish and tortillas. Drunkards rolled back to K59 for a deep siesta slumber all afternoon. Managed to wake up in time for another amazing glass off session out front. Head high, fast, and totally carveable wave faces. Took the 6'8" out and had a blast with Luis (the other surf guide). Did manage to get my first barrel.. yah!!! Finally after trying for the past six months. It was pretty cool feeling.
Watched a scary movie (final destination) and we both slept like shit. For two guys who fly most of the time, it was not a good movie to watch.
July 17th
After a toss and turn night, we headed out to Sunzal with the longboards to do some logging. Awesome point break set up much like 38th in inside pleasure point. The shortboarders were having a hard time getting into the flatter take off area, but Free and I had no problem. The long rights walled up great on the inside and plenty of noseriding was had by all. Interesting sections to try to make it through. Free fucked up his back paddling, and I got washed up on the rocks. Managed to keep Kaya's new team ryder from getting dinged, but I paid the price. Free is now sleep on the floor hoping to sleep off the pain. We'll see what happens tonight.
Posted by Single Fin at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)
buzz in the air...
the buzz is in the air...there's a swell coming. people are talking, the surf is getting crowded, people are preparing to miss work. talk via coconut wireless is that it will be 6 foot hawaiian. i think that means around 12 feet regular. who knows?! we've been surfing lots, trying to jump in the water at the end of the day, to cleanse it all away, to cool off from the heat of the day, and to just escape from our stresses of the day. single fin and i have been pulling a few double sessions lately. the sunset sessions have been a nice change from dawn patrol. we surf till almost dark, out of the water by almost 8pm.
i've been truly blessed and have been catching some amazing long waves. my latest is going off to surf in my own little world, away from the crowd, just sitting on my board, looking off into the horizon, looking for that little bump in the sea, that starts building and building...and then the wave just scoops me up, with a bit of effort on my part, and there i go down the line, focused on me & my wave. what a great place to be?! escaping into the ocean, just being in the moment...no worries.
we're leaving for seattle soon, so trying to get as much surf in, as possible. then off to the pacific northwest, to go explore the mountains. i miss mountain biking. i honestly haven't been on a mt. bike since we've moved out here. it'll be good to see the old mt. biking crew. play hard in the day & party hard at night.
i just realized that i've been on 5 births in one month! damn. no wonder i've been under the weather this past week. my last baby was 2 days ago. baby boy born in the birthing tub. i was there for the first baby, almost 2 and a half years ago. what a sigh of relief for that baby to come out into this world! and now i'm officially off-call, at least for a month! whew hew!! it's time to put on my party shoes...
Posted by soul sista' at 01:31 AM | Comments (1)
July 25, 2006
standing in the middle of nowhere
(sunrise over molokai)
call me crazy but there is something special about having a b-day that entails a new place, having no idea where you are going & having no plans. suppose thats the true irony about life. its all what you make of it.
off the grid @ one of the last outposts on the NW side of the island
end of the road, literally a dirt road leads into this place. nice small lines to be surfed. i bet this place rocks during a good SSE or SSW summer swell
sweet water fall view in the opposite direction leading into the valley
imported from 3 islands away :-)
warm & breezy
b-day cake: "molten choc lava cake w/ guava sorbert & raz puree
tiki's, shade, sunsets & mai tai's
Posted by Single Fin at 02:50 PM | Comments (0)
July 24, 2006
happy birthday, single fin!
just got back from molokai, a 20 minute plane ride right across the way. molokai is the closest island to oahu. it's known as the most hawaiian island of all the islands out here. there's so many things to see & do there. highest sea cliffs viewable only by boat, waterfalls, 21 mile long beach, leper colony, epic mountain biking, kayaking, snorkeling....we celebrated single fin's 32nd birthday. a perfect 2 evening getaway.
we stayed at the molokai ranch, in these "tentalows". it was a eco-friendly resort on the beach, solar powered & composting toilets. we had a nice view of oahu, bright sparkly stars that lit the sky up at night...not a city light in sight. we decided to take it easy this trip and just cruise/lounge. we cruised the island, lounged by the pool, sipping pina coladas & mai tais, listened to local hawaiian music, watched 70+ year old aunties dancing hula & playing the ukulele, took long naps, reconnected/talked story, reminisced about all the past birthdays we've celebrated and our past adventures together.
our lives here in oahu are so jam packed with excitement...between delivering babies, making crazy deadlines for video game releases, teaching classes, herding cats, surfing, hiking, running, dancing, the list goes on and on. it's no wonder that we don't have a television. it was nice to celebrate single fin's birthday peacefully. happy birthday, my dearest!! (pictures soon to come)
Posted by soul sista' at 12:27 PM | Comments (0)
July 22, 2006
molokai bound w/ smiles wide
another year older i am. so with that said we are going to disappear for the weekend & explore a new inter-island. stoked!
which i'm amp'd about. this past week was rather stressful @ work ending w/ a large presenatation that occured on friday as the final cherry on top. thankfully!!!! the goal was attained. which was to get people excited, asking lots of good questions & making noises or using there hands to describe an action scene in the game.
another great birthday present is the most recent TDF race. the last several days of floyd landis (phonak cycling team leader who is also american) fighting & clawing his way to the yellow jersey for the impending win tomorrow @ the 2006 tour de france. he's a true under dog that fights for his name & team support. good for you landis. give the europeans a nice kick in the ass with a smile from all us back here supporting you. :-)
thanks for showing them that lance was not the only american who carries the golden jersey!!!!
cyall next week.
until then....
alohas
Posted by Single Fin at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)
small & glassy
waves have been kind dinky this past week. still lots off fun. plenty off small little waist high glassy waves to be surfed. actually they've been the perfect shape to play around & practice on. fun teal blue rollers with enough room to walk the nose and bust out little floaters.
suppose its been calm out in the southern OZ & new zealand areas. seems like if there's not bug waves here then hey must ve having a mild sunny winter there.
is it evil to pray for nasty weather down there to give th land of aloha nice waves?
hmmmm
sf
Posted by Single Fin at 12:08 PM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2006
day trippin (part 1)
finally getting around to my seattle trip.
check it..
classic shot of the water front area
this has to be the best comment of the games conference. lol
Posted by Single Fin at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)
July 16, 2006
happy birthday, gilbert
winding down from our week-end of fun in the sun. but before i go into, i must apologize for not being so good about posting. i confess, i've got sucked into the cyber world of myspace. it's mildly entertaining & distracting all in the same. i love it because it's so user friendly, i can post pictures, music, put up fun glittery graphics, etc. etc. so there you have it, that's my excuse :)
okay, let's talk about what really matters...philosophy of life & surf :) single fin & i got a late start this morning. instead of our usual 5:45am or so dawn patrol time, we slept in till 9am. week-ends are great, where we just go with the flow, listen to our bodies and thankfully our flow is the same :) we hopped in the water from 9:30am and surfed 3 hours!! the waves were beautiful. single fin caught some nice waves, a few floaters...good job! and myself, i caught the most waves that i have ever caught in a session. for some reason i was just on. over a few dozen, my triceps were sore, my eyes were bloodshot, and once again, another shade darker. these past couple of sessions have been pretty long, where we've been so in the moment...nothing else seemed to matter.
unfortunately, we missed our little birthday potluck at the garden because we were out so long. one of the guys was celebrating his 81st birthday, he looks like he's in his 60s. he's out on top of the cliff, tending to the garden, watches the waves every morning at sunrise. he goes out on his top of the line boogie board only if the waves are good. everyone knows gilbert. i had a packet of lavendar seeds to give him for the garden. i figured all the people that walk by could all use a little relaxing scent as they pass by the garden. one day, my housemate & i were doing yoga on the cliff looking down at the surfers. he noticed that we had "da kine" to do our yoga on. and then he started talking about how he should put a patch of grass there for us to do our yoga on, so we didn't have to carry around our "da kine" all the time :) now that's aloha.
happy birthday, gilbert. (single fin, can you find a DH garden picture to post?)
Posted by soul sista' at 09:46 PM | Comments (0)
El Salvador
that lucky bastard buddy of mine scored a fat trip. he's in betwenn product cycles & buggered off. now he's down in el salvador to drink beer, get sun burned & surf his goddamn brains out in this kinda stuff:
Posted by Single Fin at 02:20 AM | Comments (0)
runt of the litter
finally got rid of the old car. traded it as a parts fixer up'r mobile to our board shaper. going to some lucky high school kid for her first ride. glad to see that great little car go to someone who will give'r some love & keep it truck'n.
so what was the trade? well...a shaped blank of my choice was the deal. so now i'm cashing it in and heading down at the end of the month to get a new addition to the family.
its either going to be a retro throw back 6'6" "twin fin" or a 6'4" "fish". i'm thinking a twin fin at this point in time. something along the lines of the work mark richards was doing back in his prime.
why do i want something like this? hmmm good question.
i need a small travel board, something i can take to cali, mexcio, british columbia etc. something i can surf in small surf stuff yet feel insane fast. (head high & less in size)
plus a better answer is "why not". i'm not a slash & rip kinda short boarder. i love the swoopy turns & stalled cubacks.
Posted by Single Fin at 02:04 AM | Comments (0)
sunset session
soul sista I i headed out today for a sweet afternoon 3hour session. lineup wasn't to packed as the tide was rolling from low to high. multiple nice shoulder high clean waves. a litttle 2 much of the monkey see monkey do out there tonight w/ the crowd though. most people who surf the sunset sessions don't really have the spot as wired as some of the rest of us that are use to surfing it in all times & conditions. twas able to pick my spots well tonight & it proved to be worthwhile. ended up catching about 5-6 sweet waves out of this one spot. nice long rides thru the lineup while kicking up some nice cutback sprays. suppose in retrospect i should have been a bit milder on the showman ship,...might have been able to eek out another 2-3 waves from that spot before the 5 shorty's decended down ontop of my secret.
ah well. gotta get'm while you can.
dawn patrol on the morning. must go sleepy time now.
Posted by Single Fin at 01:37 AM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2006
dance
What can u say about this? Reminds me of my top things to do in life.
One of them being to get lost out in the world, un screw my mind throw all the pieces into the air & into the wind. Then search for them all over the world.
(Thanks Val for the link on this, very cool.)
Posted by Single Fin at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)
winds of change
sups all. sorry for the delay. work & life have got me running around like a fool.
needless to say lets get to what matters...
surf has been good! all the things soulsista & i love about diamond head have been happening. windy, choppy, trade swells have been dominating with the best times of the day to surf being high tides @ sunset. nice head high drops w/ fat mushy walls to cruz on. had a great double session yesterday. welcoming the full moon as she goes to bed in the morning & then greeting her as she blooms up off the horizon awaking for the evening.
had some great sessions this week & nailed some super fun moves i've been working on for the past spring. even got a lil'cover up action that was slightly repeatable.
surfing in a trade swell makes us better surfers. the current is strong & your always paddling. feels like running into a headwind at times or even running in place. allows for focus & to be in the moment.
the zen reality is that it's all we have.
tiz why i love surfing.
Posted by Single Fin at 12:28 PM | Comments (0)
July 07, 2006
summer time
just a coupla fun shots from a pink party couple weeks back with some friends.
Posted by Single Fin at 02:24 PM | Comments (0)
July 06, 2006
back in the saddle
finally..back into hawaii & getting dialed in.
trip twas good. shot many a photo. i'll load them up today & start slappin them up.
until then...check out the epic jaja shots.
how many times did he attempt this log?
what a ham shot! :-)
Posted by Single Fin at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)
July 01, 2006
wisdom of babies
just gettin' back from a birth...30 hours!! i'm exhausted. but of course, it was well worth it to witness & be a part of this beautiful little hapa baby boy coming out into this world. so many life's lessons are learned at births, for which i am so very grateful for. surrender, trust, be in the moment, no attachments or expectations, be open....i could go on and on.
i've got the whole day off to myself. these days are so very much appreciated. no obligations or responsibilities, just time to be me. i'm gonna nap as long as i can. maybe hop in the surf for some cleansing time, and a possible "shake your booty" session out on the town. we'll see how this saturday unfolds.
'full of gratitude for babies in this world who just always know how to keep it real. they're very simple little creatures. they communicate by crying when they are unhappy, when they need to be fed, be warm, or be changed. they just need to be held, coddled and loved and that's how they thrive & grow. they make us smile & make us laugh. it's so very simple.
why do we have to complicate life as adults?
namaste, my friends. peace & love to you all.
Posted by soul sista' at 02:55 PM | Comments (0)