I'm in there, somewhere (thanks for the shot, Buddy!)

Because of the remnants of Hurricanes Eugene and Dora, a small south was expected, with a possible touch of east. For a change, we decided to check out Kewalos on the dawn patrol.

Buddy and I got to the waterfront at 5:30 AM and found Makani already there, along with a ton of regulars. Not used to having so many other dawn patrollers around.

Surf was a little funky and smaller than expected, with short periods of weak walls. Winds were fairly light and mostly offshore. We decided to give it a shot, despite a half dozen guys already paddling out.

Most of the crew was older-types riding hybrid boards. There were a couple of longboarders, including myself. I think Buddy and Makani were the only ones in the lineup with "real" shortboards.

Makani and Buddy favored the inside peak more towards Big Rights. They worked the weak walls with their usual aplomb, but were obviously disappointed with the (for the most part) gutless waves.

I, on the other hand, got into a good rhythm right off the bat, sneaking into the sets with the well-tuned regulars. On one wave, I got real lucky, snagging the channel peak going right. I actually took off just behind the peak, in a good position for the hook. Unbelievably, the wave pitched and slotted me into this small, but clean coverup. I traveled for a little while before the lip splashed on my back, then exited cleanly. Believe it or not, that was my first ever tube ride that I came out of on my longboard--so stoked!

However, the waves seemed to diminish a bit and the crowd was on the rise, so we decided to pack up and head east in search of better, less crowded conditions. We drove all the way out to Kaneohe, only to find small, onshore mush. Bummed.

As a last resort, we decided to zoom back into Town and check out Diamond Head. I didn't want to waste my precious water time.

Paddling out, the winds were just starting to strengthen, with shifty, head-high peaks to share. I decided to wait for the sets and started off poorly, missing many in the rough lineup.

I dialed into a seemingly nondescript wave, just kind of standing, waiting for something to happen. As the wave traveled over the inside reef, a peak suddenly reared out in front of me. I stepped forward on the board to get myself into a better trim, and the wave just threw. I then got one of those insane, almond-shaped, inside-looking-out views as the wave totally engulfed me. With my trim speed, I easily came out dry, just shocked in disbelief.

Two standup tube rides in one session! Went home grinning from ear to ear.

Aloha from Paradise,