Lani's was sweet!

I love going out with our surfing crew, but the reality is that sometimes I need that bodyboarding fix in jacking waves. That's why it's been a good combo for me hitting it out at Pipeline early in the morning, then meeting up with the crew later on. Which is exactly what I did on Sunday.

As I ran down from Ehukai Beach Park at dawn, another figure started racing towards me. What the? Another bodyboarder came to the shoreline and seemed to race me to get out to the lineup first. It was pretty weird.

I later talked story with the guy, who was visiting from Peru. I didn't ask him about why he was in such a rush--guess he just wanted to be the first in the water.

The weather conditions were really nice, with no wind and clear skies. The swell was mostly from the north, with a few sideswells mixed in. However, the level of sand on the beach and in the lineup was incredible (probably due to the lack of strong and regular west swells), chopping the wave heights down a notch and making for less-than ideal conditions.

The north push favored Backdoor, with a few short rides at Pipe. I didn't have a very good session at all, but managed a few hollow ones. Surf was in the 3 to occasionally 5 foot (Haw'n) range.

Once the crowd got heavy, I bailed and found out where the boys were. Buddy was solo and found perfect Lani's, so I raced over and paddled out.

Indeed, Laniakea was going off with some beautiful righthanders winding down the entire length of the reef. However, the crowd was quite maddening, with longboarders and guys on guns on the outside and Japanese tourists on the inside, and a mish-mash of riders in between.

I sort of resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't be catching much out there, so I took a very casual approach (unusual for me). Of course, when I got out, I got all hyped up and tried hard to snag a few.

Buddy played it smart by staying just outside the middle peak, scoring some sweet walls. On one of his smaller ones, he nabbed a deep barrel through the inside. Business as usual for him.

As usual, I paddled to the outermost peak, but found that I couldn't compete with the tankers and guns. However I found that the inferior lefts were actually going off pretty nicely, with some nice open faces.

The lefts were very nice.

Caught a few fun ones on the right from the middle. Although smaller than the outside, it would sometimes bowl and warp so sweetly on the inside.

Anyway, I left the water around 10ish and headed home, fully stoked on the session. Love those combos!

Glassy takeoff