Rich launching into a Maili wall

Drove past the retiree waiting in the dark for his ride to the golf course. Drove by the early morning joggers taking advantage of the cool conditions. Drove alongside the late night partiers who were finally heading home.

I drove to the end of the road, all the way to Kaena Point looking for the best surf. It just wasn't looking so hot.

Decided to wait for Buddy and Rich at Stinky's (which was actually stink on this day). It was throwing on occasion, but it was obvious that the big swell hitting the North Shore was absolutely swinging wide of the spot.

Caught a few tiny ones before Buddy and Rich lulled me to move over with them to Maili. I was so glad I did.

I'm inside the tube...

...with camera in hand

Drove onto the semi-soft sand only to find big, wind-blown walls pushing around the reef point. Only a couple guys were out and it was a solid five feet Haw'n on the sets.

We made it out there in no time flat and immediately paddled to the outside peak. My first wave was this massive wall that I just motored on. The swell angle actually made the medium-sized waves back off and wrap nicely around the point. The big ones shut down in the channel. It was choppy, but still really fun.

Buddy and Rich were their normal selves, launching into some sick walls. Rich was on his forehand for a change and caught some nice lefts through the inside reef. Buddy did the same, only regularfoot, but one-upped all of us by catching some heroic rights that could've spelled disaster if ridden too far in.

Me, I just was driving hard on the walls, carving on occasion, but mostly just setting a line and racing to the channel.

Had one funny one where I took off behind Rich. He didn't see me and ended up riding over my swimfins once he realized I was on it. Rich tumbled down and I cut out just to make sure he was all right.

Fun sesh in some decent size. Definitely worth the drive.

Aloha from Paradise,