Fun Surf in Late October

I actually took the SUP out to surf on Saturday - it was small and I figured more of the same pictures wasn't worth the extra logistics.  I took Marlon out on Sunday evening - there was a background south swell that pushed in a few good sets - nice time!

New Spot

We had some errands to run on Saturday, so I took Marlon to a new spot that was (kinda) on the way.

We waded Hawaii Kai - only saw one humuhumunukunukuapua'a and one grazing green sea turtle.

Perhaps if we got closer to the break we would have seen more fish - I think this would be a good place to take out the Hooked SUP...

More Rough Shaping

I had a couple of hours to work on the foils yesterday. 

I knocked out a couple of rear wings and struts before my belt split.  And for all you tool geeks out there - this is a handy device to dimension out your projects -

Getting Back on the "Horse"

It's been a while since I have shaped anything.  Most things I've been working on recently have been repairs or modifications.  Well - that changed today.  I have been rearranging the garage to get the tools into an area that is more conducive for using.  With that completed, I broke out the new bench sander and shaped the front hydrofoil wings I templated out (unfortunately a while back now).

The Porter Cable sander was strong and removed wood easily.  It still took some time because of the large size of the wing, but I got the three wings ready for detail sanding.

Tomorrow I'll try and get the struts and fuselages rough sanded.

Using Bait to Break the No Catching Streak

I took Marlon out this morning to get some fishing in.  I saw a bunch of tailing bonefish on the way out to the channel (I should have turned around and grabbed the flyrod...) - but the mission was to catch fish and not just fish.  Ika strips and spinning gear = catching!!!

Marlon caught the first fish - a good sized po'opa'a (po - o - pah - ah).

And I got my first fish in quite some time - a "just too small to eat - because these should grow and spawn first" papio

The next fish I hooked up to was a coronet fish - this one was barely hooked (I think it just really wanted to the eat the squid).

And I even picked up a third - another papio!

Next time I'm going to bring my light game St Croix Triumph rod.  We called it after this fish and pressed our luck at the harbor side.  We tried flyfishing for the humuhumunukunukuapua'a but the tide had filled in and the wind picked up substantially.  Well - we at least got to catch a few!!!

Strike Two -

I decided to drive in earlier this week instead of taking the motorcycle - so I could bring my fishing gear.  I went back to the same part of the Flats to see if I could get one of the triggerfish to play tug-o-war.

I totally struck out.  Where I would at least get some interest and head turns from the orange fly, I used some brown shrimp flies and I didn't get a single look.  I did have plenty of humus to target, and a big solitary oio even swam right up to me (while I was snagged on a rock).  Typical.

I may go back tomorrow morning to get laughed at again - I'm such a glutton for punishment!!!  Or I may bring spinning gear...

Back Out

And while Marlon was at music practice today, I decided to break out the fly fishing gear and cast some line.  I ended up at Hickam on the harbor side.  I didn't have any hook ups, but I did get a bunch of humuhumunukunukuapua'as to chase.  I need to dial in the flies again - I got the most interest using a small mantis type that was burnt orange.

Oddly enough, unlike this morning's surf session there was a decent breeze on the flats.  On most of my outings in the last year, I've been focusing on using fiberglass rods - mainly to get my casting stroke dialed in (slower = better form).  I brought out a carbon rod today - Scott Meridian - and casting into the wind was much easier than normal.  I have been ignoring my carbon lately - I may have to turn that trend around.  This rod helps you cast some really tight loops without extreme effort - I likee!!!  I used a RIO Bonefish (non quickshooter) line.

I have really been trying to limit the breadth of the things that I get into - surfing, fishing, horticulture, ceramics and cooking methods - but I still find it challenging to do even these limited things (yes this is limited - there are some many things I want to do, but I know I am limited on time and other resources).  

Time is truly our most valuable thing.

Decent Swell This Weekend

It has been a few weekends since Marlon and I got to surf.  The swell has been almost flat during our last tries, but that changed this weekend.  We went out Saturday morning and again Sunday morning.  Both days had very light winds (if any) and the rides were really nice - shoulder high on the sets and I rode several from the outside all the way back to the beach.

This was post session - I sent Marlon back to the beach after we loaded the van so he could take these (for this blog).  The waves were bigger than this when we were out there.  These next ones are some pictures I took of Marlon this morning.  I paddled back in about 20 minutes ahead of him and grabbed my phone/camera.

If you look just behind the guy in the picture, you'll see Marlon on the wave.

And here was one of the last ones he rode this morning.  Fun weekend surf!

Shrimp Summer Rolls for Dinner!

Last night, La was on fire (cooking spree).  She made shrimp scampi and a bunch of these shrimp summer rolls.

Sooooo gooood!!!!!