2016 #3: Below the Radar

It’s official. I’ve fallen off the map. No Instagram, no Facebook, no social media. If you’ve had a birthday in the last eight months, chances are I missed it (from lack of Facebooking), and being the lame friend that I am, I apologize. If you’re not part of my small childhood circle of friends, if you don’t surf where I surf, if you’re not a coworker, or if you haven’t collaborated to kill some AYCE sushi with me, chances are I haven’t seen or talked to you.

                I’ve lost the drive to write about my sessions, and it’s taken me years to realize this, but nobody gives a shit about what my sessions at El Porto were like on so-and-so day with Kook the Noob McGillicutty dropping in on me and me getting pissed off, blah, blah, blah, we’ve all heard it before.

                Despite all this, I haven’t lost my passion for surfing. Even now after securing work as a Ramper at LAX and an Associate Editor, I’ve still been in love with surfing more than ever. I got my first custom-shaped board from Don Kadowaki a few months ago and have been surfing the shit out of it. I scored uncrowded surf at Oceanside and surfed uncrowded Trestles when that whale washed up at Lowers. I recently camped at San Onofre just this past weekend when a pumping swell rolled through, both times I had my battle buddy Klaude by my side.

                I lost my drive to write and instead gave myself up for the moment. I felt like taking time out to snap that picture, post it, hashtag it, or blog about it later was taking away from myself, and it’s been relieving to put it all down and just be one with the experience that I was undertaking, whether I was pulling out my board to rush it or standing on the beach staring at onshore slop. It’s helped me with establishing a better balance between work, my life, and my wife.

                Only recently have I gotten back on my apps and opened up this blog to provide content with a different approach. Life isn’t just surfing. It’s also everything else in between. And it doesn’t have to be all the time. Just a blurb will do.

2016 #2 (Maui, Oahu)

            I’ve been out of the loop for a long time, fallen to the wayside of not writing, but here I am, trying to get back into the swing. It’s not about writing about every session anymore, but more about writing for significance, and I’d be missing out if I didn’t at least document part of my honeymoon to Maui and Oahu.

            The last time I was home was in August of 2009, right before I went to Iraq. I told Bri before the trip, “Don’t be surprised when I constantly bump into people I know.” I remembered the old Lahaina, when I couldn’t walk down Front Street, let alone buy something at Longs Drugs without running into friends or family. I’ll have to say that it was a bit saddening to see how much times have changed. Where did everyone go? Moved interisland, Mainland, or just stay home with the keikis?

            So the trip turned out legitimately for just me and my wife, which was fine. As much as I wanted to rent some foamboards just for good fun, the weather didn’t quite cooperate. There was rain and a lot of wind. I showed my wife all of my old West Maui haunts, even my Grandpa’s pastures, not covered in overgrowth lying in ruin. Only old timers will know whose hands worked that land.

            I didn’t learn to surf in Maui back in my high school days, so I paid more attention to the surf. We cruised Honolua Bay, Windmills, and the smaller breaks coming off the Pali, entering Lahaina. The water was tantalizing with small longboard peaks, but without a rental spot around the corner, we just watched and justified that “it was too small.”

Small Honolua Bay

            My teenage years as a Wharf Rat on Front Street, I never even stopped to look at the surf at Lahaina Harbor, and I was most impressed when my wife and I walked over for a peek during our bar crawl. A small A-frame peak was working. Maybe five people out, local groms and tourists. The groms were so gangly and light that they were busting incomplete airs and milking each ride for distance. Even as we were leaving with the sun going down, the standard local pickup trucks were just arriving with boards in the back.

            If I was a local before, I definitely wasn’t one anymore. Suddenly, I could see myself living here again. How awesome would that be to live in Lahaina within walking distance to the harbor, to just grab a boards and walk on over, catch a few waves, and come back home?

Lahaina Harbor

            During that bar crawl, I got to enjoy the things that I used to scoff at when watching tourists. Looking up from the street, I’d hear all the noise coming from the second-story bars, and now I was the one looking down on the street, waiting for something familiar. A squad of high-school punks who would remind me of me and my crew from back in the day, but the closest thing I witnessed was a car cruising past with its music blasting.

            On Oahu, we attended my good friend Francis’ wedding, and he actually found the time to take us out for our first surfing experience in Hawaii at an isolated spot on the North Shore. It was a playful 2-4FT day with scattered peaks over reef. Having to use different equipment, I surfed like shit, but I still had fun. A few local longboarders were stoked to hear about my first time paddling out in Hawaii.

Francis, the man the myth...

            The day after the wedding, Francis took everyone out to the legendary Makaha, where we paddled out in big, unruly surf. I caught two waves that fizzled out on the shoulder. The locals knew better to sit on the inside and catch those that connected. Bri got one, too. Now we can actually say that we surfed that spot, us tourists from El Segundo.

Makaha

            I could easily turn this trip into a novel, but I’m just going to focus on the important things. One, I realized how much I’ve missed Maui. I missed the slowness of the westside, and if I was better positioned in life, I would even think about moving back. Second, I’m grateful for the friends I’ve made in Hawaii, who have shown that my wife and I are always welcomed back. Aloha.

2016 #1

            I’ve been out of the groove for a while. Mostly because of looking for jobs after my summer trip to Indo, working odd jobs, finally getting hired for a major airline company, and also getting a part time job as an editor for a book publishing company. The days of fudging off at Churches for “staycations” have come to a halt but hopefully not permanently. In June, I’ll be able to swap shifts and have more flexibility in my time.

            I think I took a lot of things for granted. On the other side of that coin, I can also say that I was enjoying life and having fun flying by the seat of my pants, and even though I have two part time jobs, three if you count the military, I still kind of am flying by the seat of my pants. But I have to be wiser in how I do so. I can’t just take off down south for waves if I work that day. And if I’m backed up in my editing work, then chances are I’ll be surfing close to home or maybe won’t surf at all if the waves don’t look worthy.

            Being a husband has also changed things a little. I’m a selfish bastard, but I have to tone down on that as well. “Happy wife, happy life,” as my best friend said. “And then they still aren’t happy.” That last one was from my friend Jonathan.

            I still surf. I surfed local this morning at 42^nd St. with my other surf mentor Gary. Even though the cams showed the waves looking awfully swampy with a rising tide, three-feet max, I still held my commitment and went for it.

            Yeah, I got snaked by Tony, the guy who got beaten up in the famous Porto parking lot fight video. Yeah, the waves were so soft that I couldn’t get a turn in. But I was there with a friend. My waves were pumpy before turning soft serve, but I was there period. I’d compare a morning session to jumping in a pool on a cold day, except you’re doing it in the ocean. That’s how the first duck dive feels to me. Why would anyone want to do such a thing? Because regardless of all the changes in my life, in the water is still the best place to start my day.