Backlit Buddy Bottomturning

For several weeks I was burning the midnight oil finalizing a major project. Pulling 100+ hour workweeks was not my idea of fun, but fortunately, everything turned out fine in the end. To say that I was looking forward to my weekend surf would've been the understatement of the year.

Good luck was with us, with a boost expected from the south on the weekend. Nothing major, but at least it would provide us with something to play on.

Worked the phones on Saturday night coordinating the session with Buddy and Makani. For some reason, Makani got the urge to ride his longboard and suggested Jimmylands as our destination. I honestly thought it was the wrong call--the swell already was on the decline and the winds were supposed to pick up during the day. Bad combo for Jimmylands. But against my better judgment, I just went with the flow.

To make matters worse, my longboard was still out of commission due to a cracked fin. Jimmylands is great for longboarding, but not all that conducive to bodyboarding. Didn't have much of a choice, so I broke out my good sponge in hopes of some clean walls.

When we met up at the beach, my fears were confirmed. From our distant vantage point, it looked like it was barely breaking. Rather than waste time driving to another spot, we decided to just "chance 'um", and made the trek to the lineup. At least the winds were calm for the time being.

Once in the water, we immediately paddled across the channel to the outside peak and scored some inconsistent shoulder-high peelers. Pretty fun, but nothing to write home about. Just three friends enjoying a mellow session in the calm, purple dawn.

Magically, the surf started improving and gaining consistency. The lefts were going off, shouldering sometimes for a hundred yards. Eventually, the rights started working too, wedging up nicely in the channel. I couldn't believe how good it was getting.

Makani was styling big time, showing his versatility on a longboard. The man was smooth, doing nice fades into the hook, and pulling a few classic switch stance turns. For this sesh, he donned a camouflaged floppy hat--don't know how he went through the session without losing it.

Buddy was shralping with his 6' 3". Did lots of backside cutbacks on the endless lefts, once again doing the Thighmaster-thing (riding till his thighs ached). That "punk" (envy, envy) even got a couple of rare tubes. From my vantage point on the outside, I watched him deftly set up for one of them--got some serious wave savvy.

As for myself, I did alright on my bodyboard. There were no real lips to launch off of, so I was relegated to doing cutbacks and spinners in the peeling waves. I really wished I could've used my longboard, but I reckoned I made the most of it on my sponge.

Later in the sesh, Buddy and Makani swapped boards. Buddy hadn't rode a tank since "young kid time", but still maneuvered it very well, shuffling and doing some nice, round turns. Makani easily made the opposite transition, absolutely tearing it up on (and falling in love with) Buddy's shortboard. Both these guys got some major skills, but neither of them wanted to play with my bodyboard--must be too hard for them (nah!).

During the course of our session, there were only three others who ventured into the lineup, and they stayed for just a little over an hour. Other than that, we had the spot to ourselves for nearly four hours, just trading waves and hooting in encouragement and stoke. Unreal!

Fortunately for us, Buddy brought his disposable water camera. Otherwise, I don't think people would believe that it got that good on such a mediocre swell. We all traded off being the designated photographer, and caught some decent stuff on film.

The winds amazingly held off and the swell stayed overhead until just before we called it quits. By that time, we were all pretty much burnt out anyway. I signed off my last wave with a good barrel roll on a set. After open-faced maneuvers all day, it was a nice coup de grace to end the session.

I still can't get over how good we scored it--great call, Makani! It was a bummer that I missed last weekend's epic D-Head surf. However, completing my work project allowed me to savor this session even more. Man, it was sweet!

A few more shots:

P.P.S. It doesn't matter what you ride--just ride!

Aloha from Paradise,