Buddy, doing the extreme pig-dog

No new groundswells to speak of, so we dawned it again to P-Rock. Found empty, head-high, onshore slop. Shooots!

The full crew of Buddy, his brother Rich, Makani and myself were on hand to partake in the merriment. Buddy was on his 6' 3", Rich and Makani both had 6' 5"s, and I had my 3' 6" (sponge).

Fortunately, there were no blue bubbles of death either seen or felt (see "Bit" for details). Regardless, I was still wary of "dem buggahs", making sure my jersey wasn’t exposing more skin than necessary.

Our crew quickly spread out all along the beach at various peaks. We eventually all settled upon the inside sandbar, which actually had a few moments of intensity. Once in a while, the frequent sets would come together and double up, throwing some small, but nasty tubes at us. We jumped all over it, all the while trying not to get pitched or get a fin to the head.

With us having the sandbar to ourselves in the marginal conditions, seriousness was thrown to the wind as everyone started tossing funny one-liners out.

Of all the banter that was passed around, Rich was the king of gab. Cracked us up, hassling us in good humor. His best line was regarding Makan’s irritation: "Here ye, here ye; Makani’s balls are on fire!" Though he admittedly didn’t have the best of surf sessions, goofy-footed Rich still ripped, catching some good lefts in the shorebreak.

As usual, Buddy and Rich jibed off of one another as only a brother can, at times tossing out very cryptic inside jokes. When I got my watercam, Buddy started shouting to everyone to come nearby and become "photo sluts". Bud also caught some pretty good lefts on his backside. Hope the film comes out.

Makani was in "silly" mode all day. His favorite line was "...omigod!" whenever a good peak reared up. It was his delivery that made me chuckle--he always said it like he was caught inside at eight foot Pipeline. Makans caught some mean ones too, but nothing like the one from his previous session there (see "Awash").

Halfway through the session, Makani asked if he could use the camera to shoot us while he bodysurfed over the sandbar. He wanted to try and do it sans fins, but I loaned him one of mine for good measure. Makans was having a good time watching some of the waves heave inside, and clicked off ten or so shots of the crew.

Me, well I was all over the waves. Being on a bodyboard allowed for some late takeoffs and pull-ins without fear of getting skegged. For that short time of running without one fin, I was slipping out all over the place--didn’t realize how much I relied on it for turning.

Otherwise, I had a pretty good session despite, or maybe because of, the conditions. Snagged more than a few double-up closeouts, as the waves just drew the water off the sandbar. Caught a nice one going right with a sweet lip that said, "Hit me, hit me!" So I did, trying one of those backflippy thingys to no avail.

Towards the end, I took off really late on this sick right. Somehow I immediately engaged trim and just got shacked for like three intense seconds (OK, it was probably more like two) before coming out.

So what did I contribute to all the banter going on? Not much. Guess I’m just not as witty as the others. Anyway, I was too busy catching waves/exercising/being a photo-slut. Well, somebody had to. :-)

Would you have paddled out?

Aloha from Paradise,