Makani, comfortable on his new ride

The North Shore was again dormant on the weekend, but a local high pressure system meant tradewind swell action. Target: Eastside semi-secret spot.

Makani and Buddy were rarin' to go. Due to too much radical surfing, they had both recently snapped their shortboards (their short-shortboards). Coincidentally, they both had received their new boards on the weekend and were itching to try them out.

I went in first to test the water on my trusty bodyboard. Though the surf was pretty much totally blown, it was fairly sizeable, maybe 2-4' (Haw'n), with some well-overhead sets. The waves were choppy and unruly, but there were some sections where it would smooth out really nicely.

Buddy soon joined me, and he quickly started charging. He looked a little squirrelly in the beginning (after riding his brother's "fuller" board the last few sessions), but he soon got familiar with the looseness and started tagging it hard.

On one right, I saw him bank around the section and just top-turn right on the pitching lip, leaving him five feet above the trough with nothing in between. Of course, the psycho tried to land it, but got bucked. Sheesh! You'd think he would baby the new board!

While we were making the most of it, Makani spent what seemed like an hour on the beach. Buddy said he was putting Trac-Top on his board; I said he must be covering his whole deck with the stuff! Found out later that he was scavenging for a piece of string to attach his leash.

Of course, when he finally came out, Makani also threw caution to the wind, doing many aerial kickouts and even attempting a carving 360. Typical Makans.

While they were joshing it up, I was playing all serious, trying to make the most of my water time. Had a few big takeoffs, but nothing really memorable. Highlight of the day for me probably was this aerial wipeout I jokingly took off on-freefell into the trough after bailing my board on the takeoff. Wheee!

Had to run away early to do the shopping "thang". Just as I was about to leave, I saw the two clowns catch consecutive waves all the way to the beach, as if they were little kids surfing a contest. Guess a new board will do that to you.

See Bud's report here.

Aloha from Paradise,