The Ventures, Dick Dale And The Dell-Tones, Jan And Dean, Beach Balls

      I'm twelve years old in Berdoo.  San Bernardino, California..  New Port Beach, San Clemente, Dana Point, Doheney , San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Beach, Trestles all at my finger tips!  If I had a car and could drive.  So there I am with a string tied to my wrist, running out my bedroom window, waiting for my older friends to yank it at 4 o'clock in the morning, waking me up for dawn patrol!  Boards stuffed into the back of my friends "54" Ford stationwagon.  I think one of the reasons God created racks was to save us young children from the noxious vapers our boards sticking out the rear of the stationwagon would draw back in upon us.  Mu lepo!
     In the early sixties there were only three waves in California  that I knew of that could handle anything over twelve feet.  I only got to surf two of them. Lunada Bay, Dana Point  and Steamer Lane are the three.  You may know of others but remember I am 12- 17 years young at the time.  I ended up in Sacramento and got to surf Santa Cruz before I moved to Hawaii. 
      Dana Point ( Killer Dana)  could handle massive swells.  On a large day there was a table rock that set the wave up for an outside take-off.  Position.  The ride, when Dana was huge, would take you through the pier if you allowed it to.  The lifeguards used to warn you off with bull horns because they knew you were going for it!  They never warned me off at Huntington.  Go figure.  When they were building the boat harbour that is there now Dana broke big three days before the new breakwall jetty was finished and Dana Point had a grand farewell.  I was fortunate to be there and say, " Good-Bye"
       At the time I wasn't a sailor but I had read, " Two Years Before The Mast", by Richard Henry Dana.  So I knew that just below the lookout Gazebo near Hobie Alters Surfboard Shop was a break called" A Thousand Steps"!  They used to load animal skins there to take back around " The Horn".  On the other side of that breakwall was a left called" Nepee's".  Then you moved on to Doheney.  That's where the beautiful boat harbour is today and the breaks I mentioned are gone.......
       I don't miss Killer Dana as I thought I would at the time.  I'm older now and have taken a liking to sailing.  I really think they did a good job with the Doheney Marina.  I've actually sailed there from Hawaii but I think it has another name.  Dana Point Marina! But it's really knot!  It's Doheney
       Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz is a better wave than the Point but the water is really cold!  What I especially like about " The Lane" is that being a goofy foot, I can go left there.  It can be a little hairy but nothing near Hanalua, Maui. Or Kaliiwhi, Kauai.  When Steamers gets really large it's fun to see if you can turn the corner into "Killer Cowells"  Heh!  Cowells is a great wave to teach your keikes how to surf.  It's cold but it is user friendly.
       Never did surf Lunada Bay up by Palos Verdes.  Heard good reports.  Why should I go up there when I could sneak in to Cottons and Trestles B.A. a train and out paddle marines whose only purpose of the day was to bust this little blond haired gremmie, take my board away and fine me for tresspassing.  It NEVER happened.  Life has it's small pleasures and an occasional disappointment
      I can still see the cliffs of Dana Point in my minds eye as if it was yesterday. I wouldn't mind talking to some of the people who rode that wave in the day.  Corky Carroll and Phil Edwards are still around somewhere.  Remember Joyce Hoffman?  Greg Noll worked with Hobie up the hill!  I'm wondering if Hobie ever made it right with Phil for the cat design?  I've sailed different sized Hobie Cats and they rip! 
     Oh yea to finish this surf story.  I move to Oahu in "67' and destroyed my 9'9" Hobie nose-rider at Haleiwa.  My next board lasted a day.  It was a 8'Bing Nuihiwa light-weight that Pipeline said", Robbie, you aren't going to make this take-off"!  Pipeline was right!  Three pieces!  $80 down the tube.  After that I went to Dick's.  He is still shaping and he is the greatest shaper I have ever had the pleasure to ride for/with.  I have never ridden a Brewer mistake.  But each board challenged me as I feel I challenged it.  I loved being able to use different fins in a slot.  Mike Diffendurfer is the only other shaper that is close to Richard.  Gerry learned how to shape from Brewer and is loved by Dick so he is #3.  I like surfing with Gerry but it has been quite a few years.  I like surfing with Margo to and thats been awhile.
       You know, at this stage of my life, just to be able, physically, to paddle out to Impossibles, and sit in the line-up as if I was going to take off would bring me a measure of peace and culminate the years I have spent pursueing and finding an uncrowded perfect wave shared with a few of my die hard surfing friends.  You know who you are.  Cowabunga!!!
       

Sabattical, Oahu to Kauai, Hawaii

         What a nice sail it should have been.  In the telling of this, I feel that you will agree.  It was a wonderful sail as they all are, when looked upon a certain way.  It was a short journey when viewed  telescopically bassactwards into forward.  I may ask if you know Micro Bobby Pilau?  You might answer, " I have heard of him" !  There is a Columbia "40", vessel  called " Alice C ".berthed at Kehei Lagoon and I would ask you if you had heard of his owner/ skipper, Ron? And, once again, you would acknowledge!    I, on a rare occassion might ask you if you had ever heard of  me and you would simply say yes !  Quietly !  ........ In all seriousness, egos are special on boats!  Micronesian Bobby made a small mistake on a fishing boat that he was skippering.  He allowed one of his crew to leave his electric shaver next to the compass on the fishing boat he was skipper of.  He missed his navigational point of reference by a couple of miles. Magnetic interference!  It doesn't mean he doesn't understand the ocean and sky! He bit the bullet and did get fired!  Doesn't mean he isn't a sailor!  The owner of Sabbatical picked Jeff to be navigator for this particular journey. It was hard to believe this sailboat left Oahu bound for Hanalei, Kauai with three skippers aboard that had nothing to do with the owner, wife or navigator.  My sister and her boyfriend, Ron, worked for NorthWest Orient , an airline, out of Hawaii at the time.  Micro Bobby and me were free.  Navigator Jeff is paid by Owner,Tony and wife, Nancy, who sailed with us on our way to Japan! The only reason I bring Nippon into the equation is because Ron, Rob and Bob, knew we missed the Kiluea Lighthouse and were on our way to Japan. Jeff, our navigator didn't have a clew!!                                                                                                                                      I , to this day, have many questions  that require answers?  How can one miss an island that is 98 miles away would be one?  Well. that will be part of this story.  What is deviation or variation?  What is a compass rose?  What does the east is the least and the west is the best mean? 

Damn it, we got three guys aboard the boat who can not only drive a proper heading but can read a  chart!  But no!!!   -What would you do?   It was really fun to hang out with people I don't normally sail with.  Ron threw/ after sealing - an empty bottle of Crown Royal, wax sealed, " messager in a bottle", giving our location, latitude and longitude, seriously/humorous, like we were long lost at sea.  My sister woke me up in my berth after me drinking that bottle of alcohol with Ron and announcing our purpose was  to the sail the  universe!  She loved, as I do that sail.  I think everyone aboard had the most fun.  How many people that any sailors know can actually say, " Shit, We missed an island"!!   Not many!  I honestly can say I have missed a few!  But not by much!  Ha!  RB  " Good from far, but far from good!

Kauai, Hawaii....New Century

      I guess I could be disappointed if I landed at Lihue today?  Maybe in a short period of time a lot has changed!!  To the people who lived through the two hurricanes, tourism overtaking agriculture as the #1 industry,  the developement of a new Hanalei and the ramifications of what all this means- it was gradual.  I'm laughing inside as I am writing this because.....  I am afraid !  I believe it was Stienbeck who wrote, " When one tries to recapture the fires of the past, one often returns to find ashes"!  It could have been Hemingway!  I moved to Kalaheo, Kauai from Waimea, Oahu in 1968.  Kaneshiro Camp.  Red clay, cold mossy showers, $ 15 a/month rent, Tommy and Johnnie, two local brothers beating each other up each night and making up the next morning only, to repeat the same scenario again and again!  Across from them lived Tom ( guitar ) and Sheily with Stan ( the harmonica man ) playing deep southern blues  The camp is gone.  Ralph Young lived there.  So did Larry Byfield.  Larry died this year. Damn it! Ralph lives on and has managed to combine the southernmost island of polynesia with the northernmost! (another story)..  Imagine this picture.  I land at Lihue X.  I don't recognize anything!  I have a nice 6'8' tri-fin Brewer in a shoulder- over/ board bag!  My back pack in tow, my thumb is out!  I called no-one and of course he answered!!.  What am I going to see when I get a ride?  So!  Is it memory row or is it time to make some new ones?  Time will tell!  One thing about Kauai-- I know I won't be disappointed!!  Valdez is coming!!!!

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

Rock Island Fever

What the hell is " rock Island fever"? Is it like " cabin fever"? Oh! It might be like " Saturday Night Fever"! UH-H-H-H! Yea, that's it! All of a sudden ( years) time just slides away from dreamers, who have not fulfilled anything on their wish list! So they just pass on to their children their frustrations or a few geological, political/teritorial-historical, racial realities that they, the parents, thought might help that child along it's way, empowering said child to grow to a better emotional and physical understanding than they ( the parents) had the opurtunity to achieve! Rock fever is when your parents take you to an airport on your island. They celebrate with their neighbors as 14 children, harvested, to fight for their country get on an airplane to fight a battle against " the enemy"! Was Viet Nam our enemy? So if your boy survives I guess he is free of rock fever! Then they go to college on the G.I. Bill. He marries a haole on the mainland and they live happily ever after with the law degree and their 2.2 children somewhere over the rainbow! So you are free now of rock island fever. You can go visit your grandchildren in Nebraska or Kansas or Iowa! Their religion and values have changed but there are very few rocks because they have been moved. I've never had rock island fever, though on the island of Kauai, there is only eighty miles of road. Within the sphere of weather, humidity, time, climate, temperature, swells, views, people, beaches, elevations,it changes driving back! Whew! It is a very large small island! How does one get bored living in Paradise? Where is paradise? Aloha