Jimmy at Jimmylands at dawn

Every week I have to schedule my weekend surfs in advance so that my wife can plan around it. This calls for some intense scrutiny on my part when it comes to chasing optimum surfing conditions.

I was stoked to find out a system was slated to send waves from the south, but the big question was when. Mid-week, I decided that Saturday would be the best time to surf, hopefully catching it right on the rise.

However, Friday came along, and there wasn't a hint of swell on the southern buoys. I toiled on changing my surf day to maximize the surf quality. Finally, I decided to swap days and surf on Sunday instead. Surprisingly, wifey gave the nod without a second thought, so Jimmy and I set up an early dawn patrol.

On Saturday morning, I was compelled to call the surf report in the morning to find out what I was missing--it was 2-4' (Haw'n) and rising. Oh no! Did I screw up and choose the wrong day? Would the swell increase, or at least hang on till Sunday? Now that everyone knew about the swell, would it be crowded? It was a very angst-filled day.

Sunday finally came and Jimmy and me made the trek to Jimmylands, our semi-secret spot. The surf didn't look great on the extreme low tide, but it was more than adequate. It was about 3-4' (Haw'n) with some bigger ones, with brisk, but not overwhelming winds. Low tide seemed to have taken out some of the energy, but there was still plenty of juice to go around.

We were really going for it at the outside spot across the channel. It looked like Jimmy had gotten over his phobia of bigger waves. He was chancing some big drops, making some and taking donuts on others. Didn't complain once about it being too big. Atta boy!

As for myself, I did pretty good, longboarding the slopey waves, catching some big drops, long rides or comical wipeouts.

I had one hilarious ride in particular. A poor takeoff had me proning down the face. Once on the bottom, I tried to stand, but somehow ended up on my knees on the back of the board. With nine feet of board in front of me and all my weight right over the tail going full speed, I was in a precarious position, to say the least. The board started bouncing around from left to right, just spanking the water, with me all the while trying to settle down this bucking bronco. I eventually got up on both feet, only to kook it and do a headplant a millisecond later. Of course, Jimmy saw the whole thing and laughed his ass off in the channel.

Eventually, a couple of other guys joined us in the lineup. I immediately got pouty, and felt like they were hogging the waves, which they kinda were. They always seemed to take off in front of me--pissed me off. That's what happens when you get spoiled by empty lineups.

After four arduous hours of surfing, we finally made our way in. Jimmy was so strained he actually caught cramps in both arms. As for myself, I was absolutely, completely drained of energy.

Usually when I second-guess something, I end up making the wrong call. This time, I was pretty happy with the way things turned out. We managed to get good, uncrowded waves on the right day, and I didn't get my wife mad at me.

Aloha from Paradise,