|
 Jamie's shot of me straightening out Date: March 21, 2003
Words: After three weeks of no surf due to a vacation and the inevitable after-vacation cold, I finally got a chance to get wet. Went to Pipeline only to find a contest going on. Jumped in the water anyway to catch a few before the first heat. Waves were really weird, with some solid north peak swells. I snagged a couple of really nice pits, including one that just pitched twice as far as it was high. Enjoyed the view for a few milliseconds before getting bounced from the shockwave. Eventually got chased in by water patrol, but I was satisfied. Buddy and Rich were still enroute, so I decided to shoot the contest from the water to kill time. Super easy paddle out. Made some small talk with Vince Cavataio, who said that he liked the Nikonos series cameras and actually owns three of them. Mike Latronic also came out and we talked story about the biz. The photos weren’t epic, but I may have gotten a decent empty tube shot or two. Bodyboarder Robin Cardoza made my laugh with the words she scrawled on her board—“drop booty, not bombs.” Came in and Buddy guys still weren’t around. Did another scouting trip and settled on Jocko’s. Surf was looking good at times, but I didn’t notice the sets. When I got out, I was surprised to find the north peaks rumbling through the lineup. Auwe. Surf was pretty mean, with a good takeoff into sometimes a really steep wall that barreled on occasion. The closeout sets kept everyone honest. I saw three boards that were blown in from the closeouts. Soon enough, Buddy and Rich joined in along with Jack. Buddy was on a backup-backup early 90’s board that didn’t perform too well--he ended up having some fun on his own at Chun’s. Jack had his longboard that was tough to dip and he was fighting a knee injury--still got some good rides though. Rich was pushing it, especially since it was on his frontside--he went over to Chun’s too after a while to keep his brother company. I got some really fun rides, including a long barrel on a smallish wave. I was bummed on one memorable wave where the inside surprisingly just unloaded and dredged. Caught unaware, I decided to straighten out instead of pull in. Just got outside the lip, getting clipped a little bit. Missed opportunity. Coming in, I noticed someone shooting from a house. Was that Jamie Ballenger of Chunsreef.net? Did he get any shots of me? I had to check. Later that day, I got online and went to the website. Sure enough, Jamie did manage to get a few of my rides. Decided to buy some of the digital images and hope they will be of decent quality. After the three-week layoff, this session was rejuvenating to say the least. Got some of it on film to boot.
Aloha from Paradise,  |
SURF OBSERVATIONS
