fun walls

The forecast wasn't very promising, with no swell from either direction. The southern buoys had nothing, but the northwest buoy showed what looked like a small swell (3 ft swell, 14 sec.). Far from firm.

On a hunch, I notified the crew that I'd be checking Laniakea for swell action early in the morn. When I got there at 5:20 AM, I found it to be flat flat flat. Damn!

Throwing a 180, I raced back to Town and got to Lighthouse by 6 AM. Surf there was maybe shoulder high on the sets, but looked fair with firm sideshores. Out there!

It was blustery at times

On this session, I decided to use my damaged longboard and hoped for the best. I also had a Turbo Tunnel rear skeg which Makani let me borrow. Really funky looking design with a tube in the middle of the skeg to facilitate noseriding.

I found the skeg to be a bit frustrating to use. It seemed to have some serious drag and made the board somewhat unstable. Maybe it was the conditions (which got slightly stormy at times), but I had a hard time with it. The skeg actually did help with noseriding, as I got some long ones. However, there was a tradeoff in slight instability and lots of drag. Guess it has its place.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Cyril paddle out. He was also there to hook up with Buddy and Rich. We had good fun taking off on the peaks and talking story.

Some regulars were also out, but there was some sort of bike race that must have blocked off traffic for some time.

Cyril's nephew was out too. However, I don't think he ever made it to the lineup. Somehow, he got caught over the reef, and if you don't understand what's happening, it can feel like getting caught in a running river.

Cyril eventually went in to look after his nephew. Simultaneously, Rich and Buddy paddled out, just missing him. Soon afterwards, Justin also joined us, sporting a brand-spankin' new bodyboard. They all got some good stuff, but were somewhat frustrated by the poor surf.

We made the most of it, but it wasn't the best of sessions.

Aloha from Paradise,