Wish I could've been in the water to shoot

Date: December 6, 2009
Time: Dawn
Spot(s): BD/PL and Sunset Beach
Conditions: nice
Swell: NW
Surf: 6-8' Haw'n

Words: Still giving my body more time to heal. Got to Pipe before sunrise to shoot a few from the shore. There was some size, but conditions were a bit funky. Some pretty awesome waves were ridden, but at the same time, I saw no less than four broken boards in 1.5 hours.

Moved on to Sunset to catch the last heats of the World Cup contest. Beautiful weather must've stoked out the tourists. I roamed the beach shooting from different angles, but my puny 70-200 mm lens was way too small for shooting Sunset from land. Still, the relatively small pixel requirements for the Web make it look like I have a 600 mm.

Talked story with Wade Tokoro, a standout Pipe surfer and shaper, who was video-ing the contest. "Some guys who ride my board are still in the contest," is what he humbly said. As it turned out, three out of four finalists were riding his boards.

Definite buzz on both beaches about the impending swell tomorrow, with lots of uncertainty on size and conditions. It'll be interesting and there will probably be "incidents." I hope not.

Aloha from Paradise,

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