"Another Shitty Day in Paradise"
By Bud
Sunday April 23, 2000 9:30a - 12:30p, North Shore Avg wave face 3-4 feet, Sets wave face 4-5, occ 6 feet Sunny; Light offshore winds.
I hit the road after sleeping in a bit. Nice open roads on this holiday and I was groovin' to an old "Jesus and the Mary Chain" cd. Half an hour later I was welcomed by another picture perfect morning in the country. Driving down Kam Highway overlooking Haleiwa, I could see enough whitewater on the reef to insure headhigh surf. Done it a gazillion times. . .but that feeling you get cresting that hill, then that first glimpse of faraway surf, is something special. At about 60 mph, you have maybe 6-7 minutes with the whole North Shore spread out before you. . . big blue ocean, visible lines and whitewater everywhere.
I first started coming over in the 70's; but to this day I still get butterflies, even when I know it's gonna be small. Pulled up to ---- and liked what I saw. The small NW bump wasn't much, but pretty well what I expected. Anything but a straight N usually splits this place into several peaks which really spreads/thins out the crowd. There was only 6-7 out anyway, plus a light offshore wind, bright sunshine and crystal clear waters - I didn't have to think twice about jumping in. Decided to leave the leash in the truck since the crowd was light and waves were pretty small. Occasionally there were overhead sets, but mostly it was chest to head high. Sweet little bowls were wedging off the northmost peak, giving a fast right or a short left to choose from. My very first wave, I had to swim almost all the way in...I tagged a nice little right about chest high...couple roundhouses as the wave began to stand up, then I set up for a lip smack.
Some guy was paddling out, but with the wide open wall, my line should have been obvious. Came hard off the bottom and hit it nicely in the sweet spot of the lip. Common courtesy would have said to take a stroke or two toward my wake, but this guy kept going for the shoulder and was right under me as I came off a 180° turn. In a fraction of a second, it was either plow right onto him or kick my board away. I quickly flicked it down the line and did a butt first bail as he ducked the wave below me. When I popped out the back I saw that my board *almost* cleared the section, but then the nose followed the tail as the lip slowly pulled it over the falls. . . .faaaaak. Of course the board stayed with the wave until the last inkling of whitewater had it as far away from me as possible.
Besides that initial swim, the rest of my morning turned out to be another great session for me. Never had to chase my stick again and was stoked with the way my board is feeling. Changing fins & adjusting the position a week ago made a big difference. I was describing problems with the new stick to a friend from the factory and he gave me a slightly smaller fin template to try. I found it hard to believe fins a ¼ inch smaller would make any difference but it has changed my whole take on the board. After my session, I went into Waikiki to visit my mom. From her 31st floor apartment I watched beautiful head high surf all along the south shore, and realized the wind was offshore down here too. Go figure. Another Shitty Day in Paradise :-)
Bud