Saturday October 31, 1998

6:00a-9:00a
"Makaha" West Shore
avg wave face------------3-6 feet
sets wave face-----------7-9 feet
sunny, clear
glassy, light offshores

new swell hit previous night. i'm still without a gun, so me
& rich hit the west side again.

driving up the west coast it was easy to see that the swell 
was not as big as predicted. pulled up to the lot at Makaha,
it was still dark but already a dozen guys out; about a dozen
more getting ready. 

water was glassy & waves looked pretty good. we walked out over 
the reef in front of the condo on the point. the crowd was piling
in fast. by 7:30a, it was a slalom course.

growing up in Hawaii, this was our "home break" and we know it well.
i started off the session with some good waves, before the major crowd
arrived. rich had an excellent session, snagging a lot of double-ups 
from the middle section and tearing them apart. 

Makaha is a very mellow wave and if it is breaking, it attracts 
all skill levels. clearly however, the preponderance is groms & 
older surfers on longboards (there are several young guys on tanks
that really tear it up). . . everybody knows each other & it's not 
uncommon to have 3-4 surfers on a wave.

i'm glad that there is such a place as Makaha, but i can't wait to 
surf somewhere else.

good surfing to you,

bud

-------------------------------------

Thursday October 29, 1998

3:15p-6:00p
"Makaha" West Shore
avg wave face----------- 5-8 feet
sets wave face----------- 8-11 feet
sunny, clear
light onshores, switching offshore at dusk

disorganized swell that hit yesterday cleaned up today.
pipe cam was showing 6-10' (Hawaiian) waves and the
NWS surf report was calling Waimea 10-15'.

me & my brother Rich were able to get away from work
early so we planned an evening shortboard assault on the
west side. tried to hook up the rest of our regular crew
(Neal & Makani) but they weren't so lucky to get out of
work.

Maili Point was looking pretty good, catching the west
direction at a good angle to the reef. but we headed on to 
Makaha hoping to score some rippable overhead walls.

we grew up surfing Makaha & the west side of Oahu, so when
we saw the surf we knew exactly what we were in for. certain
sections are reeaal nice and the break can be pretty awesome at
times; but compared to most north shore spots, Makaha is a big
mushburger. place was packed as usual.

had a fun session & ran into a bunch of old friends i
haven't seen in a long time, including Johnny Gomes & Rusty 
Keaulana. Johnny Boy was ripping on a funky looking fish & Rusty 
was on a trademark longboard.  i asked Rusty how (his brother) 
Brian was doing & he said that Brian had just got back to Oahu 
(the "Wind on Water" TV series he was involved was canceled).

waves off the point were way overhead on the sets but by far
the best part (as usual) was after the whitewater would die off
& the wave reformed through the middle section. Rich caught his best
wave right after the sun went down with me watching from the soup.
three square bottom turns, each followed by a straight up lip blast,
right above half a dozen surfers caught inside & hoping he wouldn't
eat it.

good surfing to you,

bud

---------------------------------------------------

Sunday Oct. 25, 1998 

6:15a-9:30a
"Laniakea" North Shore
avg wave face----------- 6-10 feet (4-5' Haw'n)
sets wave face----------- 10-14 feet (5-7'' Haw'n)
sunny, clear
light offshores

by phone calls & emails the night before, our crew (me/rich/neal/makani) planned
the attack to start at dawn. me & rich pulled up to Laniakea just after 6am;
makani was just getting out of his truck. that psycho neal had already paddled
out solo, pre-dawn!

the waves were forecasted to come down from yesterday's hefty session, but me &
rich still brought "guns." good thing 'cause the waves were still very meaty and
the sets were fairly consistent. a few 13-15 foot face bombers came through
pretty often, too. neal was a stand-up guy on his long board, and makani was on
a 7'0". i brought out the disposable camera to try for some shots in the juice.

rich with his 7'9" mega-gun, sat the whole session usually the furthest out &
deepest of anyone. he caught some of the biggest waves of our session and carved
them all the way across the bay. neal was fully rushing some behind the peak
sets from the outside too. me & makani watched him paddle into & fly across a
beautiful double-o bowl. i struggled to get the camera out of my pocket but took
the shot way late. it's real tricky trying to shoot pictures & surf when the
waves are big. i did not want to have that thing out of my pocket with a macker
looming over my head....

makani, (backhand) was ripping. his smooth style is well suited to the fast open
walls. he later said that he had never surfed Lanis with any size & he was
loving it today. unfortunately, no pictures of him came out.

about 2.5 hours into the session, my arms & body was feeling the strain of all
the surfing i have been doing lately, especially the thrashing from pretty big
waves of late. i was getting weaker & making my take-offs later & later to save
strength. i had been getting away with some pretty tricky air born take
offs....finally, i got pitched bad. in mid air i went into a hands over the head
tuck & hoped i wouldn't land on my board. i hit the bottom with the lip and got
worked good, but nothing too bad. when my leash finished it's stretch, it
brought back only half of my brand new 6'9".

i wasn't looking forward to the 500 yard or so swim, especially dragging the
rear of my board (i had a faint hope of saving it). in the soup, i climbed onto
the piece without looking, thinking i could belly in on it. i was greeted with
that lovely feeling of ripped fiberglass across my chest- the deck glass had
torn along the stringer & peeled back all the way to the plug. so i started
swimming in with the white water, avoiding the outgoing rips on either side of
the break. when i made it in past the impact zone, the jumble of currents just
off shore reduced the pace of my inward swim to a near standstill. finally, i
touched bottom & scrambled across the slippery reef.

closer examination of the broken board showed me it was a goner. i sat on the
rocks & saw the front half of my board had ended up in the same jumble of
currents that had held up my swim. i definitely wasn't alone; there were at
least 2 broken boards floating just off shore and another guy on the beach
holding 2 halves of his stick.. a guy walked past looking at my board & says,
"hey my plug rope broke...it looks like you won't be needing yours....?"  so i
gave it to him. as neal paddled in, i pointed & yelled for him to grab my
"board."

the pack grew as the waves dropped. the rest of the crew came in & shook their
heads at my broken board. a few friends in the parking lot joined us to morn my
loss as i snapped a picture of it.

all in all, a great day with friends in Hawaiian Surf.

hope you folks are getting wet too,

bud

--------------------------------------------------
see the pics Saturday & Sundayhere 

--------------------------------------------------

Saturday Oct. 24, 1998

3:15p-6:00p
"Laniakea" North Shore
avg wave face----------- 7-10 feet (4-5' Haw'n)
sets wave face----------- 13-17 feet (6-8' Haw'n)
mostly clear
strong offshores

Oahu NWS clip:

..SURF ALONG THE NORTH SHORES WILL BE 8 TO 10 FT TODAY
INCREASING TO 10 TO 12 THIS EVENING BUT LOWERING GRADUALLY
OVERNIGHT TO HEIGHTS OF 4 TO 7 FT SUNDAY.

my brother Rich picked me mid afternoon & we flew up to the
country. stereo blastin & heart thumpin as we topped the
hill coming over to the North Shore.

white water all up & down the coast.....yesssss!

the mainly northerly swell direction should be really good
for certain spots like Laniakea/Pupukea/Backdoor, etc.. i
had my new 6'9" "gun" & rich brought a 7'9" mega-gun. pulled
up to the lot at Laniakea and saw wave after wave reeling
across the horizon. the biggest peaks were nearly triple-o
and were lining up from "Holtons". the middle section was a
solid double-o and firing all the way across the bay. some
rides/waves connected both sections for a leg numbing
adrenaline rush.

the wind was big factor. hard enough getting into the wave;
once up and going, you had to fight your way down the face,
spray blasting your eyes while hoping you'd made it down
before the lip..... i got lip-launched twice.

brother Rich was taking off way deep & flying through
sections. i pulled off a couple of super late drops & was
rewarded with barn-sized walls & hoots from the those
scratching to make it over....

my last wave was a beaut from the outside peak, almost made
it past the last inside section but misjudged a snap and it
got ahead of me. was getting dark so i proned it in.

got up to the truck & discovered that rich had taken the
wrong key off his key-ring. we were locked out! over an hour
dicking with a screwdriver, the dudes parked next to us said
they'd go down the street to a friends house & see if they
had a coathanger or something. they came back with Alec Cook
& a slim-jim. while me & Rich ruined the lock with the slim
jim on the passenger side, Alec managed to snag the lock
through the door jam with a coathanger! our thanks to "Ace
Cool" and to the other guys who helped....

it's still crankin...we're all over it again tomorrow at
dawn (i'm driving!)

good surfing to you,

bud

---------------------------------

Thursday Oct. 22, 1998

6:15a-9:45a
"Laniakea" North Shore
avg wave face----------- 5-7 feet
sets wave face----------- 8-13 feet
mostly clear
light side-offshores

Neal and i hooked up with visiting alt.surfing contributor
Mike G. from Jersey for a session on his last day in the
islands. the forecasted swell arrived later than expected
but finally came through. unfortunately when we were there
it was really out of whack; lumpy, backing off & lining up
weird.

as usual, Neal was already suited up & ready to go when i
got to the lot at Laniakea. that guy loves to surf. Mike
pulled up a bit later, bearing gifts (World Champ baseball
caps)!

the waves were kind of a disappointment in my opinion. there
was some size, (in fact i got thoroughly dusted by a set
before i even made it out to the lineup) but it just wasn't
up to par at all. i saw Neal flying carving some sets, and
pulling off some late drops. Mike scored too, but the waves
were just not lining up. Ben Aipa was out for a while &
agreed that it was totally "funky".

i will say to all the posters/lurkers in alt.surfing that
Mike G. is good people...and a pretty damn good surfer too.
a "regular" guy with a lot a good things happening in his
life. i hope that he enjoyed the surf session with Neal & i.

'loha,

bud

Sunday Oct. 18, 1998

6:15a-8:45a
"Lighthouse" South Shore
avg wave face----------- 3-4 feet
sets wave face----------- 5 feet
mostly clear
light sideshores

Neal couldn't make this session so it was me/Rich/Makani. we all agreed that we
needed to surf something "smooth", even if it was tiny. the east side windslop
was getting tedious.

the view from the cliff was good sight. the east wind swell had been wrapping!
we realized that we probably should have been here yesterday (confirmed by one
of "regulars"). the direction gave the wave a weird angle, but they were waist
to head high, clean, and no one was out yet!

we scrambled to get down the trail to the water; i jumped in while Makani & Rich
buried their slippers in the sand. for a supposedly "flat" day, the nice little
waves were a great surprise. all 3 of us had a good session, ripping up the very
surfable walls & nice bowls. we had the place mostly to ourselves until the last
half hour.

the crowd swelled so we paddled in sooner than usual, but content. once on the
beach Rich discovered that the slipper bandit struck again. hoping that maybe
he'd mismarked the burial site, Makani & Rich made a valiant effort to find the
missing slippers (15 minutes dragging their feet through the sand). finally gave
up & had to barefoot-it up the trail.

good surfing to you,

bud (looking forward to winter juice in the Country)

-----------------------------------
a few water shots from the session here




-----------------------------------

Saturday Oct. 17, 1998

6:00a-9:30a
"Pyramid Rock" East Shore
avg wave face----------- 3-4 feet
sets wave face----------- 5 feet
mostly clear
moderate onshores

the night before, between emails & telephone calls our regular "crew" -
bud/Neal/brother Rich/Makani - decided the ol' fail-safe was the way to go:
windswell on the east side. not much choice, really.

as usual, the Sponge was already suited up & ready to hit the surf when Rich & i
pulled up to the beach. Makani arrived soon after we did.

the waves were looking much cleaner that the day before, but much smaller. the
form was much worse than usual also. the usual peak off the "pyramid" just
wasn't happening at all. we spent most of the session at the edge of the rip,
where a closeout sandbar situation had formed. every once in a while, one of us
would be in position for a good one in the quickly changing washing machine
conditions near the strong rip. the usual blazing onshore winds had actually
slacked off to about 10-15mph...would have been real nice if the wave cooperated

for about an hour, the conditions & waves seemed to improve. the head high waves
threw some nice barrels our way, Neal capitalized on it right away, Makani too.
rides were over real quick. for whatever reason, i was having a bad session-
struggling on all aspects- getting into the wave especially. no biggie, we were
surfing & having a blast being loud & obnoxious (no one else out). at the top of
his lungs, my brother kept bursting into Rap Replinger skits.... we'd all join
in, then crack up laughing.

after a while, Makani stuck his board in the sand, then came back out & grabbed
Neal's camera & one of his fins. . he stood/swam in the impact zone and we all
tried to get a tube shot.

good friends, good fun - can't go wrong with that.

'loha,

bud

read Neal's excellent write up here. 

-----------------------------------

Friday Oct. 16, 1998

3:00p-6:00p
"Pyramid Rock" East Shore
avg wave face----------- 4-5 feet
sets wave face----------- 7-8 feet
overcast
strong onshores

my brother rich called & twisted my arm for an afternoon session. strong
easterly winds for the past few days had kicked up the tradewind swell. of
course that meant onshore winds, but it's usually workable at pyramids.

since the after work traffic on the leeward side goes mostly east to west, we
got to the beach real quick. pulled up to the edge of the beach & were greeted
with some bigger than expected surf. there was actually some walls lining up
from the "pyramid" out to the middle section; some were a few feet overhead.
unfortunately they were very fickle & backed off fast... until it reached the
inside where it would just suck out & slam onto the sandbar.

rich surfed well in the stormy surf, probably could have went leashless &
wouldn't have had to swim. i had a few decent rides, a solid snap or two & even
a couple of tasty "death-or-glory" closeout barrels in the shorebreak.

waves were dying as fast as the sunlight. . . just before 6pm i had a longer
than usual ride & decided to make it my last. rich stayed out another 20
minutes....your last wave always *has* to be a good one, right?

'loha,

bud

-----------------------------------

Sunday Oct. 11, 1998

7:25a-11:00a
"Pyramid Rock" East Shore
avg wave face----------- 3-4 feet
sets wave face----------- 4-5 feet
overcast, clearing
strong onshores, easing

yesterday afternoon, the NWS, out of the blue, was calling 3-5 feet in the
country for today (Sunday). my brother Rich and Makani met at my place at 5:15
am. we loaded the budmobile & headed for the north shore, pedal to the metal.

coming over the hill from townside, it was still a bit too dark see very well,
but there should have been white water visible. .  not a good sign. when we
pulled up to Lanis, we realized we'd been skunked.

we moped about 10 minutes & hightailed it to the east side for guaranteed surf.

my brother & Makani are active duty military so their ID's got us on the Marine
Base. as we were being issued a temporary pass, the sentry pointed out that i
was cutting it close; my insurance card expired tomorrow!

after nearly an hour and a half driving, we were stoked to see head high surf
with just 2 guys out. jumped in & went nuts. a bit smaller than yeterday but all
of us seemed to be having a good session. the waves were typical for the spot,
no surprises there. every once in a while, an choice bowl would double up & give
someone an excellent wave.

surfed all morning & had a blast.

'loha,

bud

-----------------------------------

Saturday Oct. 10, 1998

6:10a-9:00a
"Pyramid Rock" East Shore
avg wave face----------- 3-4 feet
sets wave face----------- 5-6 feet
overcast, clearing
strong onshores, easing

hooked up with Neal Miyake for an early morning surf. the north swell of last
Thursday was all but gone so we decided to hit the east side for some windslop.
Neal was 10 days w/o waves so he was definitely surf-starved & ready to go. he
picked me up @ 5:30a & we were at the KMCAS gate in less than 20 minutes. we
were held up by the sentry & for a second it appeared that we might be turned
away. . . but it turned out to be a minor problem & he let us through.

the blazing onshore winds & completely cloudy sky wasn't too inviting. waves
were blown out & sloppy; typical stuff for the break- just as we expected. but
there was definitely some head high surf to be had. just the conditions try the
short sleeve springsuit i inherited from my brother.

nice & toasty in the suit but the restricted movement was immediately apparent
(spoiled warm water surfer that's me). i think Neal did a double take on the
colors: royal blue body & bright yellow side panels. felt like i was back in the
early 80's.

we jumped right in & enjoyed the surf. 2 other guys came out at about 7:30.
there was several long periods without any sets, but many of the in-between
waves had much better form. these would peak in the semi-protected cove & give a
decent right or left until the closeout on the shorebreak. Neal was on his body
board and wasted no time getting into the waves. i saw him tear up several waves
before he took off on a set and somehow bent his bodyboard nearly in half. a bit
later he was stung by a portugese-man-o-war pretty bad.

the suit seemed a bit short for my torso; kept pulling my nads up. . everytime
i'd kick out and flop onto my board. . . ouch.  finally the sun came out about
830am & i went in to get out of the wetsuit & into some shorts.  was like being
freed from shackles.

the 3 hours surfing disappeared like *that*. time flies when you're having fun.

good surfing to you,

bud
read Neal's excellent write up "Bit" here. 


---------------------------------------------

Thursday Oct. 8, 1998

1:25p-4:00p
"Laniakea" North Shore
avg wave face----------- 5-7 feet
sets wave face---------- 9-12 feet 
mostly sunny
strong offshores

this is the "surf report" i posted in the alt.surfing newsgroup:

don't mean to sound arrogant, but i'm pretty high right now. was having a crappy
morning so i bugged out for an afternoon session. now i'm back at my office,
posting to you surfers out there.

local forecaster extraordinaire Pat Caldwell
(http://ilikai.soest.hawaii.edu/HILO/surfforc.html) had predicted high
probability of 5 footers (Hawaiian) from the north/northwest, arriving last
night, maxing today and dropping fast to nothing by tomorrow eve.

i went home at noon, walked the dog, threw a peanut butter & honey sandwich
together & grabbed my stick.

coming from townside, i got the usual palpitations as you crest the hill & see
the shoreline on the north shore and see more whitewater than you expected. . .
. YESSSS!

i had stripped my board of old wax the other night (finally) so i stopped at the
Excel surf shop in Haleiwa for some wax.  i pulled up to Laniakea at 1:20pm &
almost killed myself crossing the street & scrambling to get in the water. must
be turtle egg laying season; they're everywhere on the beach in the water in the
lineup in the soup. big fat heads poking up just in time to scare the shit outta
you.

waves were unreal. just about double-o on the sets & lining up very nicely. did
i mention consistent, too? my very first wave & maneuver was a square bottom
turn into a solid blast off the top, followed by a screeching race with about
four sections. . . hooting off would be shoulder hoppers all the way. howling
offshores made the takeoffs interesting. lots of people getting pounded. i had
many excellent waves and so did a group of ASP types out getting a few.

anyway, gotta run....hope you folks are getting some too, wherever you are.

'loha,

bud

----------------------------------------

Sunday Oct. 4, 1998

8:30a-11:30a
"Ala Moana Bowl" South Shore
avg wave face----------- 3-4 feet
sets wave face---------- 5-6 feet /occ plus
mostly clear
light offshores

i got my new 6'9" gun a few days ago & was itching to give it a go.
the rest of the crew couldn't make it so it was me & Makani for the weak south swell. 
wasn't looking to pan out as we hoped. we checked a fave secret spot but it barely
showing, so we hit it to the most crowded spot on Oahu.

turned out to be an excellent call! looked like we caught the "in between the 
dawn patrollers & late morning crowd" period. super mellow lineup & several
familiar faces. 

every once in a while a wave big enough to break at "the Bowl" came through. but,
overall it was pretty inconsistent. lucky the smaller waves were lots of fun. when
Bowls is only head high, you can get some fast rights toward "rockpiles": on one 
i scored a beautiful tube ride,,,,i knew it was gonna close but i managed to clear
3 sections in the tube before it did. slightly crouching, i must been buried deep 
for 4 seconds! great feeling is having your inside hand up & against the the inside 
of the lip as it is peeling over you. your hand dragging along that moving curve of 
water really adds to the sense of how far/long you've traveled.

Makani was on his 6'5" & killing it on his frontside. on one wave, i watched him 
slap an off the lip, push the board up & out of the wave, grab the board in
the air on the way up, spin midair & the land on his stomach with the board. 
looked incredible. . . he said it was "kind" of an accident!

crowd swelled to normal proportions late morning. ASP ranked surfer &
old friend John Shimooka (just in from Brazil) came out & proceeded to get vertical
& tear some nasty chunks out of the waves.

all in all, a good day of (late) summer surf.

bud