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December 1998
Tuesday December 29, 1998 6:45a-10:30a "Secret Spot" - West Side avg wave face-----------4-6 feet sets wave face----------5-8 feet cloudy then clearing, very light off shores (UNWRITTEN) -------------------------------------------- Sunday December 27, 1998 6:45a-10:30a "Ehukai Sandbar" - North Shore avg wave face-----------2-4 feet sets wave face----------4-5 feet clear skies, light off shores (UNWRITTEN) ------------------------------------------------ Wednesday December 23, 1998 3:00p-5:3p "Backyards" - North Shore avg wave face-----------4-5 feet sets wave face----------5-6 feet clear skies, light side-off shores (UNWRITTEN) ------------------------------------------- Sunday December 20, 1998 7:00p-10:30am "Laniakea"' - North Shore avg wave face-----------4-5 feet sets wave face-----------6-7 feet clear skies very light off shore winds running later than planned but not too concerned knowing that no matter when we got there, on a small clean day the weekend crowd would be intense. even though it was pretty small, the waves and conditions turned out to be very good. not the ideal full north swell, but the small waves were top quality. me & rich had a great session on our shortboards, especially after surfing the previous day on 7'0"s. ran into a friend/hot surfer from way back, Yolanda E. (mutual Makaha background).. . . and Ben Aipa was out tearing up the sets too. 'loha, bud -------------------------------------- Saturday December 19, 1998 2:00p-5:00p "Laniakea"' - North Shore avg wave face-----------4-6 feet sets wave face-----------8-11 feet, some bigger partly cloudy light side-off shore winds me & brother rich hit an afternoon session hoping to make good use of our 7'0"s, the pipecam and surf reports were still calling for some juice. unfortunately the NW swell was dropping fast, but we made the most of less than perfect conditions. "Holtons" still had some almost five foot (Hawaiian) peaks, and the middle/inside section at Lanis was offering excellent overhead pocket-rockets. me & rich felt a bit over-gunned but had lots of fun in the light crowd. surfbud makani showed up mid session (i left him a message about our likely destination) with his new 8'0" that he just received from his shaper (Wellman) on Kauai. he had snapped a new shortboard this past Thursday in a nasty North Beach close-out barrel. notable friends in the lineup included Harry Ching (half of the "Ching" brothers, regulars at Lanis) and contest rival from way back, Glenn Matsumoto. good surfing to you, bud ------------------------------------ Thursday December 17, 1998 2:00p-6:40p "North Beach & Pyramid Rock"' - East Shore avg wave face-----------4-6 feet sets wave face-----------7-9 feet partly cloudy calm; light off shore winds unusual light southerly winds convinced us to shoot for the east shore to catch the tail end of the swell that was swinging north of the islands. we (me & my brother rich) told surfbud makani that we'd be at north beach by 2pm (neal could not get out of work). you could almost hear our jaws hit the floor as we pulled up to the cliff. . . well overhead lines were wrapping around the point. the offshore wind was barely noticeable and the water was like glass. 3 guys out. the military strictly controls parking and access to this beach but we didn't give it a second thought as we raced down the trail to the beach. stashed some gear on the cliff, waxed up, leashes strapped. . . and then with the waves blasting all around, we perfectly timed the shortcut paddle through a narrow slot in the reef. yessss! in the lineup it was waist deep, crystal green water over white sand bottom. the sets were mostly closing out, but pitching top to bottom barrels with plenty of standing room. took some nads to get into them. two strokes and your committed to the take off. . . stand and pull into a killer green room or hesitate and get lip launched into the pit. me & rich were sampling waves up and down the stretch of beach and after an hour or so makani appeared in the lineup, all smiles. i had a disposable camera with me & we tried to get a few shots but it was sketchy. a few waves later, makani took off late on a overhead closeout, skittered down the face, quick turn off the bottom & pulled into a nice barrel as i was ducking through in front of him. i turned as he popped out the back to see that only half of his brand new 6'5" came back with the leash! by this time, the next crusher was on top of us and as he swam under it, his new new leash snapped, sending the other half of the board to the rocky part of the beach. soon after, me & rich caught a wave in and the three of us mourned the loss on the beach. within minutes, this tow headed vulture swoops on makani saying "can-i-have-the-broken-board-you-gonna-keep-the-leash?"...we swatted the heartless preteen grommet away and we trudged up the short trail, watching empty lefts & right peeling. since there was about an hour of light left in the day, me & rich decided to check Pyramid Rock, about 8 minutes away. we saw excellent waves so we scrambled out of the truck and flew down to the beach. the waves here turned out to be better than North Beach. the small bay formed by the Pyramid & the end of the runway had long, workable lefts peeling into a hollow sandbar on the inside. there was a small group of surfers but no one was taking off from the peak. me & rich immediately filled that gap and started taking apart the fast, well overhead walls. a few of the other surfers turned out to be some kooky shoulder hoppers that caused me that angry frustration of "i could have made that section if i didn't have to alter my speed line for you to drop in & kick out." bastards. rich was killing the lefts (his frontside). multiple blasts off the top and pulling into dry tubes on the inside. all in all, a memorable day in the surf. 'loha, bud ------------------------------------------ Sunday December 13, 1998 7:30a-11:00a "Secret"' west side spot avg wave face-----------5-6 feet sets wave face-----------8-12 feet sunny light & variable winds me & rich jumped in makani's surfmobile but we were running late. Neal headed out to the country solo & called us with the report: the big swell forecasted was here sooner & bigger than expected. he had talked to Bernie Baker who said Pipe was closing out & waves had washed away some of the judging stands and the clock tower. the "upcountry" coast was washed out so he saved us a wasted trip to the country. we went for the west side wrap but Makaha was only about 4-5' (Hawaiian) so we continued up the coast. we stopped at a notoriously fickle left & saw some decent surf. when we got in the water it started out fun, overhead & no crowd. then the waves all but died for the next hour or so. Neal had to leave early. . . abit later the waves started to pick up real fast. it was almost double-o for about an hour then it died off completely. ended up being an great session for us. maybe 6 other guys at the most crowded point during the morning. good surfing to you, bud ----------------------------------------- Saturday December 12, 1998 6:30a-11:00a "Laniakea"' - North Shore avg wave face-----------5-7 feet sets wave face-----------8-12 feet overcast, occasional light rain, strong side-off shore winds me & Rich met Makani for a dawn session. remnants of a north swell mixed with remnants of a west swell made for a funky wave. high tide added another twist to the lumpy, sectiony surf. we were the first out but the place was packed within the first half hour of light. i remember one good overhead and a half wave were i blasted a solid off the lip in front of some friends, but none of us seemed to find a groove & we all agreed it was a forgettable session. 'loha, bud ------------------------------- Thursday December 10, 1998 3:00p-5:15p "Semi-Secret Spot" - West Shore avg wave face-----------5-6 feet sets wave face-----------8-12 feet clear & sunny light off shore winds me & Neal hooked up for a midweek afternoon session. big swell had many north shore spots maxing out so we were hoping for some juicy west side action or at least some big Makaha. i picked up Neal & his longboard at his house about 2pm & we blazed westward. Tracks/Maili/Green Lanterns all showed good indications of possible heavy waves upcoast. when we pulled up to Makaha we were thoroughly disappointed. the waves were about 4-5 feet (Hawaiian) but completely mushed out & breaking in the channel first. we decided to head back to Waianae & surf a spot that was breaking well overhead & hollow, but mostly closing out. the spot is very tricky & local knowledge is a must. when we pulled up, some guys were strapping a reef smashed board to the roof of their car. unless you want to paddle from the nearest beach about a 1/4 mile away, you have to enter/exit the water from a over-hanging lava-rock cliff, which rises about 6-8 feet above sea level. it's razor sharp and the waves were smashing constantly. there's a natural step-down to a cove and a trick that makes it relatively simple if you time it right & know where to go. even so the impact zone is maybe 40 yards from the shoreline & there is little room for error. Neal was clearly anxious to surf and when i pointed out the entry spot, he jumped in ahead of me without a moments hesitation. i thought i had timed it right but the funky swell had thrown a back to back set as we paddled into the impact zone. wave after wave kept us right off the rocks for several minutes before we finally made it through. after that we settled into groove of rushing the fun lefts & rights. beautiful milky green water & hollow waves were all around. 90% closing out but we had the place to ourselves & we were having fun. at one point i said to Neal "here we are in Hawaii, five foot surf, off shore & hollow, no one else out...can you believe it?" a few minutes later i saw Neal swimming toward the shore right before his board hit the rocks. his leash had snapped and there was no way i could save his board. nothing i could do but yell at him to ask if he was ok & wave at some fisherman on the shore to grab his board. he climbed up onto the rocks at a critical area but seemed alright. i was gonna go in but he waved me back out. guess we both realized there no changing what happened so i stayed out for another hour. when i came in i could see that he was fully bummed about the damage to his prized Aipa longboard. . . it will never be the same but at least the none of the fins were busted. good surfing to you, bud ------------------------------------- Sunday December 6, 1998 6:30a-11:00a "Ehukai Beach Park"' - North Shore avg wave face-----------3-4 feet sets wave face-----------5-6 feet overcast, occasional light rain, clearing late morning light to moderate side-off shore winds the gloomy, 40mph+ wind conditions of the past 2 weeks was finally subsiding. me, my brother Rich and Makani hit the sandbar at Ehukai as it was light enough to see. head high waves were wrapping from the east side's monstrous wind swell. the waves & conditions fluctuated rapidly. starting from cold & windy onshores to light side-offshores then back again. as the sun peaked through late morning, it actually got pretty nice. . rich was surfing well but it turned out to be a mediocre session for me & makani. early on, Makani's leash somehow broke in the small surf (he had another in his truck). toward the end of the morning i pointed out a large Portugese-Man-o-War in the line up and ended up getting stung by it. i didn't anticipate the tentacles being so long; i even accidentally dragged it onto another surfer as i was tying to get it off of me. good surfing to you, bud ------------------------------------- Saturday December 5, '98 been many, many days of gale force north easterly winds & lots of rain. huge surf on the east shore peaked yesterday, continuing today with the NWS calling it 10-12 feet (Hawaiian). because we weren't sure what/where we'd be surfing, Makani & i packed up 4 sticks (6'3" & 7'0" each) in his truck & hit the road late afternoon, hoping to find something rideable on the east side. coming over the mountains on the H-3 we saw the coast covered in whitewater. as we were waved thru by the sentry at KMACS, we saw the signs saying all the beaches were closed and off-limits. of course we checked it anyway. North Beach was semi-protected from the wind and had empty, almost smooth, head high rights peeling off the point. but we knew from experience that the Marines would make a big scene & be all over anyone who went into the water. next stop Bellows AFB on a long shot for some sand bar beach break possibilities.....but nothing surfable (tiny). next stop Kailua/Lanikai beach park, where we saw every windsurfer that was ever born; musta been 10,000 of 'em- it was windsurfer heaven. the past week of 40mph+ winds must be a history maker for them boy & girls. nothing for us to surf, though. next stop irma's/pipe littles/sandys. big "victory at sea" washing machine conditions. by this time it was after 4pm and we had pretty much given up on getting wet. last stop at Makapuu (beach officially closed), we saw a couple of surfers trying to catch some bombs at "Suicides" with little luck. after 2 hours driving, realized we shoulda gone to the north shore. went home dry & bummed. oh well. 'loha, bud