Our flight left Papeete at 11:30pm and we arrived at HNL a little past 5am for our layover, went through immigration, rechecked our bags, caught a taxi and got to Waikiki before 6am. Took the photo above on the way to BK for a sandwich as the rain was ending and the sky was turning a light pink. We suited up, chatted with Tony, got our boards and paddled out with only a few SUPs and a handful of surfers in the line up. We both got a couple of waves right away and were stoked! Glad we got some small, fun waves as things started to slow down later on and we sat with others through the lull before heading in with one more wave. Had a big breakfast at the Marriott, dried our stuff in the laundry room, stopped by Koa for some stickers, got our bags and headed back to the airport for the final flight home. A few hours in Waikiki is better than none! An epic end to an epic trip.

#473 / 9’6 rental

About to head down the cliff to surf.

We finally made it to Tahiti, after a couple of years of delays due to work changes, then moving back to Dow last year. This time, after rejoining the web team last month, it all came together with a week’s window for vacation from Oct 22-29. I found a great deal to stay at the Manava Suite Resort in the deluxe lagoon suite for 40% off. Manava was the best and became our home base for our week’s adventures. We had planned to surf Wed and Thurs with two different instructors but it turned out that the heavy rain brought lots of debris and brown water from the multiple rivers that run into the ocean. We switched it up and flew to Huahine instead, and the snorkeling and island was mind-blowing. Made it back to Pape’ete on Friday night and Claude from Surf Vision Project was available for a Saturday morning surf. We slept just barely enough to get up for breakfast and meet him at 8:20am. Claude was friendly and low-key. Turns out he’s from Reunion Islands and friends with Jeremy Flores, but after the shark incidents and surfing being closed on the islands, he moved to Tahiti to keep surfing. He drove us north about 40 minuts to the Papeno’o region, where we checked out Orofara (which I’d seen on the came years ago), but it was a bit crowded and small, and kept going up to another spot he called Chinese Bay. The watch picked it up as Rocky Point. From the cliff, the waves looked really big, rolling in and steeping up and crashing onto the black rock shoreline. I had some trepidation but didn’t really have time to discuss with Max. Just carrying that heavy Bic board down the hill was initially a challenge and getting out into the lineup seemed sketchy, given the big shore break. I decided that even if he said to go, I was going to wait until the set had flattened. Made it out without incident and the board paddled surprisingly well. Max was on a 9’4 longboard and he paddled out to the lineup fine as well. Claude was on a boogie board with his GoPro in hand to catch some shots of us. He stayed more on the inside. Marked our lineup by the vans on the hill and the island to the right. To our left, several surfers were trying for the left that wedged up a bit. But as Claude said, this was going to be a patience game since we might only get a few sets in a couple of hours. So we waited and chatted, and paddled to keep lined up as the current pushed us to the left. Went for several waves in the beginning and some were just too fat and not breaking. The first one I got was off a breaking outside set and even the foam had quite some power, shooting me forward so fast I couldn’t get up! Stood up for a few seconds before flying off. The first four waves were like that – whoa, here it comes, wow, that’s powerful, pop up! Oops, slid off. On one paddle out, I got pushed back quite a bit towards the beach and the watch counted that as a wave, haha. After a long lull, moved more towards the peak as a set started. Looked like it was going to work and I paddled hard for a wave, felt it catch with speed and popped up, held my line and leaned in harder than I ever had to make that drop and turn right. Saw the wave steep next to me, kept going for a bit and then the shore was approaching and I jumped off the back. WOOO. Adrenaline coursing through my veins and so stoked on that ride, which seemed incredibly fast and powerful. Turns out it was 11mph but I thought it was 17mph only to realize my watch was set to kilometers. Nonetheless, making that last real wave made my day!! Tried to paddle back out through the set but even with rolling, couldn’t make it through the nonstop incoming waves and got pushed over the black rocks on shore. Luckily, I went horizontal to avoid them, then realized I wasn’t going back out through this, grabbed my board and stood up and hustled towards the hill. I saw Claude coming out of the water too and I signaled with a thumbs up that I was fine. He came over and asked if I was ok. “Yes, and I got a great wave!” I answered. He was stoked and said he saw it from behind the wave. Just then we noticed Max had come to shore but probably 200 yards down the beach on the black rocks. He was kind of stuck with his board in the shorebreak and I could see from his actions that he wasn’t ok. Dropped my board and both Claude and I both ran as fast as possible over those rocks to get to him. Claude got there first (with his conditioned feet) and got the board. Max was still in the water trying to get out and finally did, but he was bleeding on his knee and feet. I was so worried. I ran back down the beach and up the hill to the van to get his reef shoes and brought those back to him. The tarmac on the road was so hot I nearly burned my feet. Luckily, no major damage to Max’s feet or knees but lots of cuts. So glad it wasn’t reef! All in all, an exciting sesh surfing a place that’s inherently intimidating for its reef breaks and the powerful waves. I’ll always remember that wave. Maururu, Tahiti!

WOO, got waves :)

Claude driving

On the ride to Papeeno

Driving by Orafara, another surf spot

#472 / 8’4 Bic board

The heatwave and SSW converged over the weekend and continued today and I was eager to get out after missing the weekend. Still, after being at work, eating a burrito for lunch, my motivation was lagging. Max encouraged me to go. Main lot was packed and tons of beach goers everywhere. Found a 30 min spot in the south lot. Didn’t look like many waves on a low tide. Contemplated skipping. Got so hot in the car that I finally thought, well at least I won’t be hot! Paddled out and felt refreshed. Within a minute, a wave rolled through and I got a nice right, even registering on my watch. Next one was an 8.1mph and a longer right with some face and time to do some swoopy turns. WOO. After that it was just pure fun, catching seven waves and even a nice left. Just me and the guy with the Strive board catching waves while two guys on soft tops sat mostly chatting. So stoked. Thank you, California!

#471 / 9′ Mitsu
2-3 ft +- knee to chest high
FAIR CONDITIONS
Afternoon Report for SF-San Mateo County: A nice mix of short-mid period NW windswell and continuing SSW swell is offering up waist to chest high+ surf to good exposures. Standout swell magnets see some head high sets. Winds are light still, allowing for smooth conditions. Tide is dropping to a 2.08′ at 2:26PM.

Snuck in a Friday morning surf after seeing conditions have been fair with some NW and SW swell. Two girls parked next to me and felt bad for one of them who hit her face with her board and was getting a big bump. Told her to get ice on it right away and don’t be surprised if it swells again in the next couple of days. Lots of people grouped in the middle peak by the main lot but only a handful of folks on the south end, which looked a lot cleaner to me.By the time I paddled out, only a few surfers were in that spot. Chill guy with the single fin black board and I traded waves for the next hour. Some wind, some fog. Got a bunch of sweet, long rights with a more power than last week. Watched clocked one at 7.5mph which is pretty good for LM. Really needed the head-clear and some peaceful time in the ocean. Stoked.

#470 / 9′ Mitsu
2-3 ft +- knee to chest high
FAIR CONDITIONS
Afternoon Report for SF-San Mateo County: Decent NW windswell mixes with a nice, mid-sized SW swell to offer waist-shoulder high+ surf to good exposures, while standouts see some head high or better sets. Winds are moderate from the WSW now, adding a bit of texture and crumble to otherwise very rideable conditions. Tide is rising from a 3.19′ at 11:23AM.

Another beautiful beach day, this time with sun and some wind, but occasionally offshore. Got down at 10 after dropping off Max’s wallet at work, and thought I was early but the main lot was packed and the lineup looked like a weekend already. Ah, well. Everyone’s trying to get in a 4 day weekend with Labor Day coming up. Found a spot upfront in the south lot after waiting a bit. Parked next to Poodle Bob, who commented that they were just talking about us and our long absence from the beach. Rick Eastman had been there and said he figured we were surfing SC everyday. I wish! Explained to Bob about the whole work change thing and that we haven’t surfed LM since March. He was super nice and chatty today. Showed him Woody’s amazing work on fixing my board. Headed out at the south end and waved to grumpy guy. Found a little spot with just a few longboarders. Today was one of those days where it looked really good, but wasn’t all that good. Lots of waves that didn’t break on the rising tide. But I did get one really good one early on – a sweet right with a little drop and swooping turn and rode it in but not too far in, knowing there were rocks on the inside. Hooted after that one. That’s kind of all I needed was one good ride today. Got another right near the end, more on the inside as the tide rose. Had to step out carefully across the rocks since there was no beach. Super fun week surfing LM. Really needed this break before the new job starts. Now we’ll see if I can get motivated to get up at dawn next week and make it to daily stand up :)

#469 / 9′ Mitsu

2-4 ft- knee to shoulder high
FAIR CONDITIONS
Morning Report for SF-San Mateo County: Building NW windswell and small, fading SSW swell are offering up knee-chest high surf to good exposures, while standouts sees some bigger sets. Winds are steady+ from the W now, making for textured, crumbly conditions. Tide is still low now, rising to around 5′ at 12:40PM.