The kids are alright, Diamond Head goes B-I-G
Friday - May 30, 2008
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Aloha, surfers and beachgoers! I’m writing this with deep gratitude on Memorial Day.All the TV and radio shows have been sharing why we live in such a great country ... because of the great sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. I looked outside and saw a perfect day in paradise, inside and out.
The Local Motion Surf Into Summer officially kicked off the summer of 2008 all the way through Memorial Day weekend. Most of it was held in 2-3-foot reeling lefts; all of it was held under sunny tradewind skies - and plenty local-style aloha.
Congratz to menehune champ Joshua Moniz, boys champ Ha’a Aikau and girls champ Kelia Moniz. Looks like these legendary names are passing on their talents to the next generation. For complete results log on at SURFNEWSNETWORK.COM.
In addition to surfing, the contest kick-off party at Gordon Biersch raised more than $5,000.00 for Access Surf! Tons of thanks to Heavy Water magazine, Monster Energy, Mobi PCS, Ocean Vodka, go! airlines and, of course, Local Motion. Access Surf has four main objectives: 1) Provide adaptive surfing and shoreline flotation/swimming for any person with a mental or physical challenge who has a desire to enter the water, 2) Provide paths on Hawaiian beaches making them more accessible for everyone to enter the ocean, 3) Advocate for the disabled in the pursuit of outdoor recreation and leisure opportunities in the beach environment, and 4) Develop equipment and education for the advancement of adaptive surfing.” Check out the website: ACCESSSURFHAWAII.ORG.
To Mark, Rich, Tommy, Kate and the Access Ohana: Mahalo for a truly awesome job. You’re a great bunch of people with huge hearts for giving back to others. Keep surfing!
The Foster’s World Tour should be finishing soon for the Globe Pro in Fiji. This fourth contest (out of 11) is the last event held in the tropical realm of left-hand barrels.Then the pros are off to the cold-but-perfect right-handers of South Africa’s Jeffries Bay. They get a decent break as it starts July 10 through August 10. So far, Slater, Irons, Parkinson, Fanning, Durbidge, Burrow… are all looking to support a top five placement.
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Back at home, the forecast is looking good for town! There are back-to-back storms down by New Zealand. Look forward to the entire upcoming week to provide tons of head high surf. Due to the SSW angle, waves will be had from out west all the way to Sandy’s. Stoked!
Our rare 4-8-feet SE swell last week was much bigger than we originally thought. It came from a gnarly storm 4,500 miles away in the 140-degree band. This angle is right where the Big Island sits relative to Maui, Oahu and Kauai, thereby blocking them.
Or so we projected. However, there was enough width and power of the open ocean swells to wrap in especially by late last Wednesday into Thursday. Now, granted there were more 5-foot waves than 6-foot waves, and more 6-foot waves than 7s and 8s. But, the point is, it was BIG! I got reminded of and “rehumbled” by BIG Diamond Head. I seem to forget what becomes of this typically mushy beginner’s wave when it hits 6 feet!
Guys like Darrell Payapaya, the Prince of Diamond Head, actually went back home and busted out his 7-foot board. The place just gets so thick, it’s as if you’re no longer at DH, but somewhere on the North Shore. I kept my 6-foot-3 board, thinking I’d be… not great,but OK.Well,I should’ve borrowed Darrell’s board. It was busy, with lotsa long boards (no surprise). The “Cliff’’ break was dredging and dumping hard. There were lots of fat closed-out sections. I got cut from grazing the bottom. Getting to the surface from those mean hold downs was no easy task. Paddling under some of those beasts was a bit frightening. Scared of Diamond Head? Yep.But, I prefer to call it respect.
We won’t likely see a SE that size for years.
But we will see you back here next week ... right here in MidWeek!
GQ, dropping in 4 U! Mahalo to Kaz Sano(dotcom) for the great shot of Ha’a Aikau flying high into first place.
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