Lani's was firing (click for bigger)

Missed the alarm clock and woke up just before six. I hate that!

Raced out to the NS expecting manageable surf (buoys were 8 feet, 14 seconds). When I got to Pipe, I was surprised to find only a dozen people out. Watching the waves, I understood why. The swell was coming in from a NNW angle, with a sandbar on the inside. Thus, the lefts were short and clamshelled, shutting down on the inside. Backdoor was on the bigger side, making for really sketchy paddle outs. Well beyond my meager skills.

Hooked up via pay-phone with the crew, and after a bit of cat and mouse, we decided on Laniakea for our go-out. Didn't look so hot from the beach, sectioning out badly, but we decided to give it a go anyway.

Paddling out, we were surprised with how nice the conditions were. The light and variable winds persisted once again, promoting super glassy conditions. The waves actually were lining up a *little* better than expected, so we were stoked.

Still, it was far from perfect. You had to decide between catching some at the outside, or waiting for the iffy middle peak. There really was no in-between. Most waves were just shutting down given the new NW swell coming in. I managed to snag some pretty good ones on the outside with my bodyboard.

The one memorable one was a set wave that I just went full-trim on till I hit the middle peak. It raced off ahead of me, so I did all I could to skip over the top of the wave and avoid getting pulled over the falls. Still, the ride was exhilarating, to say the least.

Buddy, Rich and Syril were having a go at it, with Rich scoring some good ones from the middle. Buddy was a bit frustrated at first, but snagged a couple of solid waves from the outside. Syril was all over the peaks with his longish 6'8" board.

Buddy, carving on a big one

One thing I noticed was that I felt quite a bit more comfortable in the biggish surf than in the past. Some closeout bombs came through, but I didn’t get all hairballed out like I usually did. I was still nervous, but a neat calm enveloped me. It was pretty neat.

I went in after only a couple of hours, somewhat satiated. We made the most of it and didn't get shut out.

Aloha from Paradise,