Sunday Regatta

Cruising pretty close to the break zone at Diamond Head - I bet the crew was having a blast! Over the course of the couple of hours we were out, I saw 25+ boats going back and forth between Waikiki and Hawaii Kai. Makes me want to get a boat... oh wait - I already wanted to get a boat!

SUP Surfing One of My Favorite Spots

Can you guess where it is??? Wait for it..... It's not a secret place - it's Diamondhead! Every tourist bus on Oahu stops at the top of the road. And everyone surfs here - local or not. I wiped out a few times and even messed up my left foot on one of the waves... hmmmm low tide reef bites... (I still love you Diamondhead even though you hurt me....) I didn't even realize I was bleeding until I was at Kua Aina. Mmmmmmm!!!! Bloody slipper clip-clop!!!! Makes you hungry for hamburger doesn't it???? ;)

A Little Piece of Heaven on Earth (in Honolulu)

Post-surf lunch on Sunday - 1/2 pound Avocado Burger with large fries at Kua Aina in Ward Village. This place has character and incredible food (but wait until I go to eat at the one in Haleiwa - original character and the best out of all the Kua Ainas - maybe it has the oldest, most seasoned equipment to cook the food - who knows - all I know is the food is so good up there - this place is Ni-ban). When we were stationed in Japan, we lived pretty close to this beach (Miura). And the Kua Aina we frequented was in Kamakura. Pizza La wasn't bad, but there were some really good sit-down pizza places near our house. I just like saying "Pizza La" because La would roll her pretty eyes (ironic that she isn't a big fan of pizza - and almost everywhere you looked there was a Pizza La delivery car running around). The best burger in the universe if you ask me!!!!

Rough Parts Glued Up - SUP Paddle

Speaking of making SUP Surfing Paddles, here is the raw version of the one I'm making. So Charlie is not making the paddle - these pictures were of him cutting the shaft stock for the one he is building. But cutting the shaft pieces (you want to glue them up so they have more strength than just a single piece) and making sure they are near the final diameter (so you don't spend all your time sanding away the excess wood) are the first steps. Here is the shaft all glued up. A paddle handle (not sure if it'll go on this paddle or not - we figured out another way to make a handle out of the excess shaft material) is in the last picture. Work for next week - maybe gluing up the paddle face.

Getting Closer...

Charlie is making a canoe paddle for Amy. I've been watching to learn how so I can make my own (SUP Surfing version). Rough sanding the blade and rounding out the shaft is pretty much done at this point.

Paying Taxes

So this is a picture of the scrape I got from SUP surfing Flat Island on President's Day. Several years back, I put my knee into a coral head while kitesurfing nearly the same place - Kailua definitely collects it's due tax... Hopefully I'm paid up for a while. One consolation, scars are better than tattoos

After School Fishing

I am taking a class right now - meets four Saturdays, two Tuesdays and two Thursdays (once a week). Today was the first Saturday meeting - it was also the first day of class, but it was a hard pill to swallow going to class on a Saturday... After class, I went fishing down at Hickam. I broke out the 13' Nitro light whipping rod. On the second cast I caught this little guy. The rod is certainly softer than the St Croix Triumphs I have back in WA, but not so soft it can't set a hook. Really balanced action. But the length puts some leverage demands on the wrists - the length helps launch the terminal tackle a really long way out. Nice way to "decompress" from class (the class is actually really fun so not much decompression needed)!

And Last But Not Least.... Ding Repairs

Teaching Charlie how to fix various types of dings - shallow ones, deep gouges, spider web cracks and water logged foam.

Before and After

This one is a bit out of order... This is the Surf Taco loaded for bear before the surf session on Monday. Not exactly at capacity - I could have loaded several more beach toys in the bed and if needed, I could make more room by strapping the paddles up on the top rack. After the surf session, the load grew by two more "larger than the first set" boards. Now this was just a hair on the side of "OK" capacity wise. The straps almost didn't wrap around and there wasn't much room anywhere. Nice getting to haul a bunch of stuff again!!!

OH MAN!!!! THIS PLACE IS CHOKE FULL OF FISH!!!

I am still doing the research to see if it legal to fish this spot... Of course it'll be catch and release - I'm not keen on eating anything that swims in storm drain canals... but one of these on a lightweight flyrod.... oh yes, may I have another please!!!

This One is for You Marlon!!!

Your sushi restaurant is still here where you left it!!!

Flat Island Microwaves

On Monday - President's Day 2015 - I surfed Flat Island over at Kailua. If you have been following this blog, you might remember that I surfed this same spot with the ULI FAQ I had. I thought it would be great to surf it with the GL. Random cool water shot from the GoPro Green Sea Turtle coming up for air There were some decent waves, but for the most part it was really small GoPro cameras are pretty funny - they make stomachs look much bigger than they really are, and they shrink waves. Charlie on a much larger wave (than what it looks like taken with a GoPro ;) I wiped out a couple of times - I hit some coral on the second one - I got a nice scrape on my lower right back right now... another story for another time, but the only reason I don't have a bunch of tattoos is because I have scars. And scars have real stories behind them (not that sappy crap the people on the tattoo shop reality shows come up with for their "reason I'm getting a tattoo). This ULI GL 9'0" is really something - overhead to ankle biters - it just works!!! After all this, now I want to come back and surf this spot with the ULI 14' Race Special Edition....