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The first impression I got when entering the water at Keiki on that small October day was how friendly the locals were (well maybe the really first impression was the warm water temp). For my first session ever in Oahu I was stunned to get invitations into some waves, as well as hoots and cheering upon good riding, and they were given by dark eyed tattooed hawaiians. As a matter of facts, I encountered no problem at all during the month I spent in Hawaii bodyboarding, bodysurfing and longboarding. A few drop ins (maybe less than ten in total, most of them in one session at Hanalei point where two riders per wave is pretty much standard) and that was it. As a bodyboarder I was expecting much worse. Moreover the atmosphere at overcrowded breaks like Off The Wall, Rocky Point or Pipeline was competitive but respectful, and at many occasions simply mellow and friendly elsewhere. Of course it was early in the season and I was out mainly at dawn for the first hours of light, thus avoiding bigger crowds, but this made me think twice about Hawaii heavy localism reputation. As locals righfully say, most of the bad vibes are not originally coming from hawaiians, but are imported by disrespectful visitors, leading locals to organize themselves to protect their waves. I definitely checked that myself. If it does not come to you naturally, force yourself and give the locals the respect they legitimately deserve.
And generally respect does come naturally since local talent is truly insane. This is an evidence for everyone I guess, but that came to me as a shock. Everyone is ripping, from the 6yo grom on his toothpick to the 70yo cruising in 6' surf on his 9'0 gun. I was waching the show with delight, those guys know what they are doing. Sure, they have been doing it for their whole lives! What at treat to be sitting in the channel at Pipe watching Mark Healey pulling in and then Tamayo Perry milking the next wave while Jeff Hubbard flies his way down through backdoor. But as I said talent is not limited to the pros and alikes. Anonymous spongers pulling reverse airs at Off The Wall, kamikaze bodysurfers at Sandys showing so much confidence riding what is maybe the most powerful wave I have ever ridden, graceful longboarding girls hanging 5 or 10 at Hanalei, ... Hawaii is the definitely the best place I know to be surfed out in. You just can't get bored watching Pipeline or Rockys. Just sit your tired ass in the sand and watch the show, it is so much better than TV.
Aloha. This is not only a gimmick or a marketing remain of what used to be a long time ago, as I thought it was. It truly exists and can be felt in various places and circumstances. Aloha is any waverider getting to ask you in the line up where you're from and what you're up to, then trading waves with you. Aloha is that older guy on his longer board on some unnamed spot at Kauai ignoring you at first, then talking stories endlessly once he feels you share with him the same infinite passionate love for the ocean. Aloha is a man and his wife engaging conversation and having you visiting their beach house in front of rocky point at 9 in the morning. Aloha is that old man near Hanalei you met passing by his house who gives you a bunch of avocados and talks story for hours (too bad I could only get half of what he said). Aloha is Neal, Bud, and Rich.
The ocean is a social place in Hawaii more than everywhere I have been, you can tell surfing is a part of hawaiian lives for decades. People meet at the line up, for instance after work hours, a bit like in the pubs except for the salty taste of the drinks. There are shifts between the dawn patrollers leaving for work or school, the pros waiting for good lighting to be shot by photographers, the red eyed late morning guys, the sunset glassy addicts... Those shifts keep the water population high throughout the day, since there is no tide and trade winds are pretty much off shore all day, you can just hit the beach any time and surf if there is enough swell.
Sometimes there can be too much swell though. Pacific raw power can be felt on about every spot on a daily basis when a swell is on, but on occasions it can turn into true nature fury. What struck me is the difference of size between the waves and the odd sets. On a 6 foot day, which is solid by my standards, you can expect to get 10 foot mackers coming in. That happened to me at a place in Kauai. A new swell was on the rise, and I got caught inside for 10 or 15 waves, each of them breaking further away from me and another surfer sharing my fate. We were sitting on our boards, nervously laughing at the show in front of us and waiting for the whitewater to come and drag us underwater. So there we were, searching for the place to be the most comfortable in chaos while, 5mn before, the swell was lining up perfectly on the reef, creating beautiful barrels reeling for over one hundred yards. This kind of situation is very rare where I usually surf, and due to Hawaiian islands frontal exposure to long period swells, quite common there. No continental shelf, no filter of any kind, you just get the pure ocean swells, as close to nature power as you can get.
As a consequence fear was inherent to the bigger surf conditions. I came to Hawaii with apprehension, I was sometimes out with varying degrees of fear, and for a few minutes I almost panic when I first saw one big set hitting Laniakea on that day. The feeling lasted until I took off on one wave, which instantly made it go away. Fear is good at keeping you focused and alert to what is happening, pretty much telling you where your limits are. One day my wife spotted a swimmer in difficulty at Off The Wall. By the time the lifeguard assessed the situation and finally put his fins on to go grab him, the guy was drown. I don't know what that guy thought before going out there in wild 8' surf without a board or fins, but a little bit more of fear might have been useful to stop him. Pushing yourself is a tricky thing, especially in wild surf where a situation can deteriorate in a matter of seconds. Make sure you understand the break before going out.
I had many good sessions during my stay, and I can't get to tell you about them all. Here is a selection of the ones I will definitely remember.
There is my first session in 'sizeable' surf at Rocky point. I woke up early morning, did my usual yoga routine, swallowed a couple of bananas and went to check the Pipe/Off The Wall area. I had been there for a couple of days during which the surf had been small, but that morning there was a little bigger ocean pulse going on. The surf there, although 'sizeable' -in the 4' range-, was not that good, with lots of close-outs. I went to check out Rocky point where I had scored a decent session in head high waves and a large crowd the afternoon before. That was a better call, plus rocky rights and gas chambers were empty with one bodyboarder streching on the sand. The bodyboarder and I made it out about when the sun rose, and the two of us shared the peaks for some time before others joined us. He was absolutely killing it, lauching like crazy in the inside. Waves were very bowly, with lots of currents making them hard to read, and tide was low. Rocky rights in those conditions is very shallow on the inside, so shallow that the reef can sometimes be dry at random spots. Lauching yourself into a backflip on the inside is therefore very audacious, to say the least, and I was in awe of the guy's smooth style. He looked quite young, probably still a teenager, and he made pulling crossed-legs backflips and reverse airs look so easy. I saw that guy again later during my stay, ripping it at Off The Wall, Pipe and Backdoor. We exchanged a few words, he was cool too. I was doing ok on my side, taking heaps of waves. I got a couple of short barrels on the rights and several nice long, bowling lefts on gas chambers. On one long right I wanted to finish nicely I hit the section, pulled a gay invert, landed with the lip and hit the reef quite hard with my hip (nice little souvenir scar). That was my last wave, I was stoked for the first time and went back in completly satisfied.
Next morning I met with Neal at Pipe for some 2 to 4' action at Backdoor. That session was special because that was the first time I was actually meeting with Neal IRL. The surf was ok - way more than ok by my standards in fact- I got a couple of small barrels on Backdoor, and I was introduced by Neal to some locals in the line up, including Tamayo Perry! I was stoked once again, and this was just the beginning.
Forecasts freaked me out the following night, since they were calling it 10' for the next day. I was not sure I could handle that size in Hawaiian conditions, since that was pretty much the biggest surf I had ever been in, add to that the Hawaiian power and the mean reefs... Our rental house was on Pupukea hills, over Waimea bay, and that night I did not sleep that well, I could hear the surf breaking in the bay like 2 miles away! I woke up at 4:30 to the sound of the breaking waves, my body anticipated for the action and did not allow me to sleep anymore. I met with Neal very early at Ehukai beach park as planned (I actually wondered when Neal sleeps). At 5:15 it is so dark you can only tell if it is breaking or not, and that day Pipe was not breaking, at least not big enough. At 5:30 we were checking Laniakea. Laniakea is a less famous long right hander that works on northerly swells. When on it is a totally insane wave with 300 yards potential rides. At 5:45 we were the first ones out there paddling for the line up. In the distance I could see Himalayas going off, the lip taking quite some time before hitting the bottom, scary stuff. After a long paddle we were finally approaching Lani's outside, and then I could tell how big it really was, a fair triple overhead on the sets. I took a couple of waves upfront to deal with my fear before it outgrew into panic. The
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