About Me

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Sacramento, California, United States
so salty pieces of coral from surfing Hawaii in the 60's and 70's getting reef pounded living in my body fall through my skin from time to time!

sailing to Oahu

Jimi Hendrix was playing on Oahu. I had never sailed. Surfed Mexico, California, Hawaii! Aw, how hard could it be to sail 90-110 miles from Kauai to Oahu? Piece of cake, right? Remember it was the 60's! This is so bad. We thought we were looking at Kaiena Point,Ohau, knowing we weren't going to make the concert! But at least we were in site of Oahu-wrong! Coy, who had never sailed before, me,who had never sailed before, jeff and Abbott etc. We were looking at the sleeping giant on Kauai! We had done three-sixty's in the night! We sailed on the only tri-marran I've ever sailed on ( except later ) in my life, missed the concert! It was at the Waikiki Shell Ampitheater ( Moon eclipsed . We finally made Nawilwili Harbor! The Skipper tried to give us his boat saying, " It's trying to kill me"! We watched him go stark raving mad not even realising that had we got caught in the channel current we were on our way to Japan! Remember it was the 60's and we were going to see Hendrix. I left out some of the good stuff but I will make up for it later!

Friday, September 11, 2009

A rock to return to

I am caught inside but so is Jim Pollock and Ambrose Curry! Does that make it better? No! It makes it more problematic! Hanalei Bay is a wave with nuances depending on the swell direction, tide and what the originater of the swells is capable of generating. If it is a giant northern swell from a storm in the Aluetians maybe we move over to " The Left's In The Center Of The Bay "! No fun getting caught inside there either! When you are surfing Hanalei 6' to 8' feet with an occasional 10-12' it is a harry adventure! So ambrose, jim and I catch 6 waves apiece while Ralph Young and Rick Mc Duff and more are sitting and waiting and waiting and sometimes waiting even longer! We aren't! But here is the price you pay! When an outside set announces itself you can feel it before you see it. You begin to paddle frantically as you watch a mountain shape itself before your very eyes. You decide that you can make it over the first one, knowing there is another and another behind the visual. So what are your choices? It is way to late to buy a bigger board! Do I want to go over the falls with a board cord tied to my leg? Is it time to sing a CSN and Y song, " rejoice, rejoice, you have no choice, but to carry on!!!! Good-bye Jim! He didn't make the first big wave! Damn close! " Good from far, but far from good! Shit, I didn't make the 2nd biggie and almost died being held under water with my board crushing me, holding me by the pressure of the force of water on the bottom of the ocean's floor until I almost was forced to inhale salt water. Almost-again! Ambrose made it outside of that particular series of mixed size waves. But I saw him take off on a wave I didn't think he could make. He made the take-off and bottom turn and was driving towards me when it closed. I think my view was better than his. I watched the wave pass him so that he was going faster than the board he was riding was designed for. He didn't make it but he was tubular for an extremely long time, so long that I, watching my friend, forgot where I was an got sucked over the falls at intersections. It's really shallow there. Sometimes it is more fun watching a friend get the ultimate ride and you getting sucked over the falls is a price worth paying. We all have gone on to surf another day. I think I need to return to a rock, " The Jewell of the Pacific", The Garden Isle, Kauai No ka Oi!!! Aloha pumehana

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