Morning Conditions

After a dismal summer, a solid south was finally on the way. It was to max on Wednesday, so I decided to arrange a mid-week sesh. After two-and-a-half weeks of not even getting wet, I felt I deserved to swap out work for little water time.

Of course, life has a way of throwing a curve into even the best laid plans. Car broke down. Work got hectic. Family was in town. Everything peaked all at once. Somehow my dear wife and I managed to wade through it all, and I squeezed in a couple of sessions during the day.

But that’s not all that was peaking. Along with the surf and our busy life, the wind decided to see how hard it could blow. Suddenly, we were caught in a weather system that sent 15-30+ mph breezes our way.

Session 1: 7-8 AM, Q-Tips. Conditions were peaky, lumpy, breezy, but at least empty. A large "fish" decided to splash next to us, but we tried not to let it phase us.

Caught one decent overhead wave on my tanker--a west peak sucked out over the deep water sandbar, and I was in perfect position to take off on it. It drew much more water than I expected, but I managed to angle the takeoff enough to prevent pearling. Had a fun down-the-line ride, and kicked out in the channel.

Of course, every yin has to have a yang. My wipeout during the sesh was especially spectacular. I paddled late into a wave, and ended up just cannonballing eight feet into the pit. When I reached shore, some guy who was watching commented on how my board just fluttered in the wind as I bailed. Kewl!

Went to work feeling comfortably numb. :-)

Maili

Session 2: After leaving work early in heavy anticipation of bigger and better things, I did the spot check round. Lina’s wasn’t happening, Maili was firing, but looked real challenging. After conferring with the boys, we decided to go for our good old Jimmylands for its seclusion.

The wind was absolutely kicking when we got there--easily over 30 mph. But we were dead set on surfing, so out we went.

Makani shredded the first peak, having it pretty much to himself. Buddy ripped at the second peak, nabbing a couple of sweet overhead tube rides. Me, well, I kooked big-time. I just couldn’t get into a rhythm in the choppiness and gale-force winds. It was so frustrating.

What started as huge anticipation of good waves turned into a frustrating bout of dog-paddling in the blustery wind. Guess multiple peaks aren’t always good.

Aloha from Paradise,