Justin, on a crystal wavelet

Had a nightmarish time prepping for a slideshow I was doing for a retiree on Saturday night. When showtime arrived, it only got worse, with blown audio and poor video quality (and yes, I was one of those A/V guys in high school). Couldn't wait for my Sunday sesh.

Got nudged awake by my wife to find that I had overslept. Blazed out to the North Shore to find Justin cruising on the beach, waiting for over a half-hour. I apologized profusely, but he just shrugged it off.

Makani and Buddy had deferred the session deciding to sleep in-didn't blame them. Early morning conditions were beautiful, with no wind and clear skies. However, the surf was tiny-one-to-two (Haw'n), with an occasional shoulder-high peak. We decided to jump in anyway.

The water was cool and invigorating. But would you believe there was already a crowd? Groups of people were sprinkled across the beach, partaking in what little surf was available. We, of course, decided to join them.

Justin soon showed that he's not all VB6 and ATM. He made light work of the small, but fun waves, throwing a s#!tload of rollos all over the place. Even managed to break out a mini-invert on one right.

I had some fun ones too, especially on the zippy lefts. Snagged an especially good shoulder-high peak: slightly faded on the takeoff, swooped into full trim, stalled for a coverup, then punched through the falling section.

My friend, Gary Morihara, owner of Yikes Bodyboards, later came out to join us. He was on one of his funky asymmetrical designed boards. Gary got a few good ones too, but he was spoiled from the previous day's better waves, and left early.

Justin and I traded waves, traded bodyboards and traded stories until it got windblown and more crowded. We were out of the water by 9:30, and back home soon after.

It was by far the smallest day I've had this winter on the North Shore. But still, the session was pretty fun. Just goes to show that it doesn't have to be epic to be satisfying.

Aloha from Paradise,