One hawaiian experience
@lex (Adresse IP journalisée) - mer. 26 novembre 2003 22:02:17
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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 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 first one closed out quite quickly, but I managed to straighten out, cleared the impact zone, got in the current and made the long paddle back out again. Then on the second wave I got badly pounded. I took off well too far inside and got stuck in the barrel. I got ragged dolled, held down for quite some time, but that was not as bad as I would have thought. I was now more confident and went for some more. Some guys on guns took control of the outside peak and at about the same time, freak sets came, breaking far outside. Those were the biggest waves I had ever seen while surfing, a good 4xOH for the biggest ones. However, the conditions were very clean and you could see the sets coming from far away, which limited the surprise and allow for proper positioning. But man, was I thrilled! It was like I was at a movie, it just did not look real, like in a dream. I did not get any of those bigger sets, there were maybe less than 10 of them during the 3 hours we were out, and they were breaking so far out you needed the paddling power of a gun to shoot them right. Some guys were setting the rules out there, showing so much decontraction in those conditions they must have scored similar surf for years and years. Neal was doing fine, looking for the smaller sets on the inside of the outside peak pack. As he got some neat ones, I positioned myself identically. We were playing cat and mouse with the bigger sets, but again, the conditions allow for some anticipation, and I guess I only got caught by one set. I scored about a dozen of waves, some of them really long on which I gained lots of speed and did good carving in the curl. Some were shorter, and I pulled in into a couple of shutting barrels. As we finally came in I was buzzing with adrenaline. It lasted until I got myself a shiatsu massage in the afternoon, a japanese girl relieved me from a nasty upper back knot I had had for the last few days. I know, I am not getting any younger. The swell was on the decline and 2 days after that big session I was out at Off The Wall at dawn. That day Off The Wall was a bodyboarding only spot. There were like 30 stand ups out at backdoor, and about 15 bodyboarders at Off The Wall. Quite funny when you consider that the waves were pretty similar in the two places, the two populations don't mix easily. Anyway the waves at Off The Wall were good, 3-4', offering good barrels and ramps. And again the talent was sick. There were Alistair Taylor and Jeff Hubbard, as well as some ripping locals and australians I did not recognise. At the same time the mood was really mellow, and when I was not watching the boys killing it I found the time to get my fair share of waves. I got one really good barrel with a little hoot from Alistair Taylor, stoked! Photographers on the beach, pros in the water, I could feel the season was now on. Another session that remains printed in my memory is the one with Bud and Rich at Jockos. A new swell was due to hit during the night and while we were enjoying the sunset at Waimea I could spot some forerunners, indicating that it was indeed on its way. I met up with Bud and Rich before dawn at Lanis, waves were really looking bad there, small and sectionny. We went up to check Rocky point, closing out, then we drove past Sunset that was looking really good (and with no one out yet) and V-Land, maxing out. From there back to Jockos, where the sizeable surf was looking good, although already crowded with like 20 guys out at 6:00. But hey that was the week end after all. Waves were 6 feet solid, with a few bigger sets closing out the channel. Rip was strong, I just kept paddling either towards the W when inside, then E when outside, only to get pounded on those nasty sets. I got a couple of nice ones, so did Bud and Rich, but after a while it looked like all the waves were coming from a too Northerly direction. Jockos is a beautiful barreling lefthander, moving quite a lot of water since the swell hits a ledge there and jacks up from deep water. It is not a good place to be caught inside on a bigger day though, rips are strong and tiresome, hold downs are quite long, and rocks are waiting for you on the shore. After a while we decided to paddle out to Lanis since it was looking better... Usual deception occured once there, surf always looks better when seen from the side! It was very sectionny so we just went for the inside section. And there it turned out to be pretty good. Waves were much smaller than in Jockos, in the 4' range, somewhat less clean and about as crowded, but much more consistant. We stayed there for another hour, and we had our fair share. I even got a couple of nice clean in and outs, I was stoked! The following morning I hit Pipeline at dawn with Neal. That was a bit frightening since I could not see the waves and I knew it was bigger than anything I had surfed there, but well I just went for it without asking myself further questions. Neal and I took a dive in the river-like current, once again the first ones to hit the water. Neal got the first wave at Pipe that morning, a clean peak he followed all the way to the inside. I was a bit nervous and had a hard time to position myself with the constant arrival of bodyboarders and surfers in the lineup, the bigger sets were 5 to 6', and I was doing what I could to get some. I did score 7 or 8 waves in less than an hour, all at Pipeline, which I was happy with. Backdoor was working nicely too but there was always either Mark Healey or Jamie O'Brien paddling deeper... Talking about a competitive lineup! At one moment I saw Neal shaking hands with a bodyboarder whose face was familiar to me, wait a minute, this is Brian Wise! Then Neal introduced him to me, stoked! He was leashless, very relaxed. We exchanged a few words in french before a set came (Brian spent some time in Tahiti) and he took off, he was of course very deep. I took off on the next one, a nice long Pipeline perfection I rode in the hook pretty much all the way to gums. No spit on that one, but it remains as my best wave ever at Pipeline. That was time to leave, it was Sunday morning and at 6:45 there was like 40 guys out already. We met with Bud on the shore and went for what we hoped to be a less crowded session at Rocky point. The conditions were pristine by the time we got there. Sun was now out shining, wind was dead, and there was almost no one out! Let's go! Sure we had a hard time to make it out, sure the waves were mainly closing out at Rocky rights, but some of the sets were just damn near perfect. Powerful and shallow, the kind of waves that shake you and your board when duck diving them. The kind of waves that have you shivering with anticipating pleasure when spinning to paddle into them. On one wave I saw Bud paddling for a mean wall and just going with the lip, boom! Then having a hell of a pain to make it back out again. That was why we were so few out there. Later on he hurt himself, dinging his board with his knee and face and making it back in. I scored several excellent long grinding rights, one insane bowling left. I was done and went in too. Neal was shredding and wanted some more now that Bud was taking pictures, camera pressure! We saw him getting barrelled twice, and lauching it too! Woohoo! Despite the great surf I scored in Oahu, my best session took place in Kauai. We had been there for a couple of days, surf had been inconsistant, and a new swell was due to hit late during that day. Checking the ocean from Hanalei bay that afternoon I knew the swell was right there and now, in front of me. I took my car and drove to a place I checked the day before, having made the promise to hit it again on a bigger swell. Oh boy how beautiful that was! Sizey, in the 6' range, mainly long lefts barreling down the reef, as well as a few shorter powerful rights. I was on it! There was less than 10 guys out, and I sat on the shoulder as I usually do at spots I surf for the first time. It was gorgeous, actually hard to say what was looking better, the waves or the amazing rain forest backdrop. And some guys were doing really good, pulling into round barrels for quite some time, making some, eating some. Wow! I took a couple of wide ones, coming right at me, some long, clean waves, but not as powerful nor hollow as the one breaking on the outside corner. Those were the ones to favour, obviously, breaking on a shallower portion of the reef and reeling for one hundred yards, sometimes more. Of course this is where everyone was sitting, since the rights were breaking from there too. The swell was building and sets kept on coming frequently. I managed to get one very good wave at that sweet spot when everyone was paddling back out, then another, and then I was part of the lineup. The mood was relaxed, some surfers talking to each other, smiling, I felt well. I guess everyone was feeling well. I had several very good rides, and at one point I was even invited into some waves as some guys were now leaving the water. I was the only bodyboarder but it made no difference to them, at least they were nice enough not to show it. One set lined up nicely, getting closer to us, I was well positioned but one guy was sitting deeper than me, he asked me if I wanted it and I said 'Sure!' while spinning around. That was one of the most perfect wave I have ever surfed, or seen for that matter. The type of wave you drawn on your notebooks as a kid. I got slotted right after bottom turning, for what sounded like forever. I had enough time to visually explore the barrel, above me, on the sides, ..., that was really crazy! I got out, did a clean full speed cut back and that was it. Then I noticed that guy right next to me, paddling back out. "Great wave brah!" he said to me, "But look ahead!" As I turned around, I saw a bigger one about to come break in front of us. Then the two of us were caught inside for the whole set, about 10 waves I guess. Those waves turned into beasts as they broke over the ledge, wedging up, doubling up, almost drying up the reef at some spots, I was very cautious not to get sucked out there, not sure if I would be able to handle such a beating. Sick. Then it stopped, and we made it back out, I was relieved. Then another similar scary looking set came, I would say it was close to 8', but this time we were out there, the surfer and I. In fact we were the only ones who made it, the rest of the lineup just got washed back in. So there we were, the two of us, now smiling and considering the situation with unhidden pleasure. The sun was setting but I had time to catch a few more lefts, again with good barrels. My companion was doing good too, getting shacked with a powerful yet graceful style. Then that psycho right came, jacking up monstruously right in front of me. The guy shouted a loud "Go! Go! Go!", and there I went. That right was the hollowest wave I saw during my stay, just one huge round bowling barrel with a hell of a thick lip. I took off, got shacked into that huge tube for one second or two and thrown into the channel with amazing power. And that was it. I could not take it anymore, I had like 2 exceptional waves and a lot of very good waves in just one session, it was time to go back in. I felt the buzz of it until I learnt about the shark attack the following day. As you certainly know, a young surfer girl, Bethany Hamilton, was attacked by a tiger shark while surfing a spot west of Hanalei. She lost her arm but made it thanks to the friends she was surfing with that day. Later a shark was spotted several times in the same area. A couple of times the lifeguards even called everyone out of the water in Hanalei Bay after a shark was seen, the atmosphere was quite tense. Weird to see 25 guys paddling back in together from the point. Back home we learnt that the shark had finally been caught in the Bay, it was most probably a sick individual lurking close to the shore for unknown reasons. After Bethany was attacked every time I went to check the conditions on the outside reefs there was no one out. Of course I did not go either. The attack happened a few days after we had arrived to Kauai, and I chose to rent a longboard and stick to Hanalei Bay for the remaining of our stay. We were deeply touched by what happened to Bethany and that was really moving to see the strong local support she got. Bethany was indeed very brave, and she is very lucky to have such a great family and friends. We truly hope she will do well in the future. Then it was time to leave. Now that we are back home I miss Hawaii a lot, my wife and son miss Hawaii a lot. I guess we will be back. @lex</HTML> Re: One hawaiian experience
ln (Adresse IP journalisée) - mer. 26 novembre 2003 22:36:25
<HTML>Hihihi, jolie voyage.C'est beau de rever!!!!</HTML>
Re: One hawaiian experience
Paul (Adresse IP journalisée) - mer. 26 novembre 2003 23:00:30
<HTML>Vraiment excellent Alex !!!
mais vu certaines photos que tu m'as montré, je me dis qu'il y a certaines vagues dont je préfère me contenter de rever que d'affronter la réalité Paul</HTML> Re: One hawaiian experience
boards (Adresse IP journalisée) - jeu. 27 novembre 2003 00:19:13
<HTML>je suis pas une star en anglais mais certains passages sont vraiment effrayants
merci</HTML> Re: One hawaiian experience
rebel (Adresse IP journalisée) - jeu. 27 novembre 2003 15:06:11
<HTML>on est en angleterre ici ou quoi?
je veux une traduction , j suis pas un rosbeef</HTML> Re: One hawaiian experience
@lex (Adresse IP journalisée) - jeu. 27 novembre 2003 15:14:50
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Je suis désolé d'avoir mis une version anglaise en ligne ici mais aujourd'hui c'est la seule qui existe. C'est la version initiallement postée sur un forum anglophone (alt.surfing). Je me suis dit que ça pourrait aussi en intéresser certains qui comprennent l'anglais. Encore une fois ce n'est pas pour me la jouer, c'est juste que ça me gave un max de la traduire (comme ça me prend le chou de traduire en anglais les reports que j'écris en français). Mais rebel tu as un pseudo anglais non? @lex</HTML> Re: One hawaiian experience
SurfeurL (Adresse IP journalisée) - jeu. 27 novembre 2003 17:48:05
<HTML>oui je compren mais c lourd je parle tres mal anglais, j' ai compri quelque mot mais pas le texte!</HTML>
Re: One hawaiian experience
Akouel (Adresse IP journalisée) - jeu. 27 novembre 2003 18:54:45
<HTML>faut bosser à l'ecole !</HTML>
Re: One hawaiian experience
sioux (Adresse IP journalisée) - jeu. 27 novembre 2003 18:57:11
<HTML>on s'en fous un peu surferL que tu parles mal anglais, et vu les fautes que tu fais en français, à vrai dire on s'en doutais un peu ..</HTML>
Re: One hawaiian experience
loneranger (Adresse IP journalisée) - jeu. 27 novembre 2003 18:57:33
<HTML>on s'en branle un peu surferL que tu parles mal anglais, et vu les fautes que tu fais en français, à vrai dire on s'en doutais un peu ..</HTML>
Re: One hawaiian experience
@lex (Adresse IP journalisée) - jeu. 27 novembre 2003 18:59:26
<HTML>ah sioux je crois que tu es démasqué!
@lex</HTML> Re: One hawaiian experience
sioux aka loneranger (Adresse IP journalisée) - jeu. 27 novembre 2003 18:59:17
<HTML>LOL </HTML>
Re: One hawaiian experience
sioux (Adresse IP journalisée) - jeu. 27 novembre 2003 19:00:05
<HTML>bon sinon tu te la racontes un peu qd même @lex </HTML>
Re: One hawaiian experience
rebelle (Adresse IP journalisée) - jeu. 27 novembre 2003 19:04:21
<HTML>voila. comme ca je peux gueuler tranquille.
nan mais serieux. c pas possible quoi.</HTML> Re: One hawaiian experience
@lex (Adresse IP journalisée) - jeu. 27 novembre 2003 19:16:18
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hey tom pour raconter aux autres, il faut se raconter à soi avant, sinon c'est à chier. J'ai essayé de le faire le plus tôt possible avant que tout ne devienne flou et que les sessions ne se mélangent et que ça ne gagne en mètres (ou en feet)! Je suis le plus honnête possible, sinon ça n'aurait pas de sens. Mais personne n'est obligé de le croire... J'ai vécu une expérience fantastique, et j'ai voulu en premier lieu la partager avec ceux grace à qui elle a été possible, i.e. Neal, Bud and Co. @lex</HTML> Cette discussion a été fermée
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