from anonymity to anonymous notoriety

My how time flies. Like so many sitcoms, I'm celebrating my 100th episode ("Man This is Great" -- 9/6/97). Well, actually, it's 100 surf session, but they really are episodes in my life. Let's take a retrospective look back.

I started checking out the alt.surfing newsgroup early in the summer of 1995, lurking at first, then meekly posting some surf reports. However, I didn't start compiling my surf sessions on my HI Surf Advisory website until after my daughter was born (the first one is dated 9/25/95). I can't believe it's been that long! It's been an epic two years for me, both in surfing and in life.

Keeping in line with my Clint Eastwood'esque title, here's a sampling of my past two years of waveriding:

The Good...
Caught a few big days at Pipe/Backdoor -- Going Big
Taken some insane surf photos -- (Sitting) Pretty in Pink
Traveled a lot, even surfed with icebergs -- The Undiscovered Country
Surfed with old and new friends alikeTeam uNRaD

the Bad...
Skunked on the surf -- Barbers/Pipe
Snapped my tanker in big Makaha -- Westside Story
Bowled over by a Second Reef set -- (Sitting) Pretty in Pink

and the Ugly...
Head split by a surfboard in Mexico -- Kiss of Death
Car broken into in Puerto Rico -- Down and Out in PR
Burned by locals at Backdoor -- It's a Tradeoff

Would I change anything? Nah, everything that has happened--good, bad or ugly--was a learning experience. You appreciate the good days that much more when you have bad ones. The ugly, well, you deal with it, and hope that things'll be better next time.

A toast. Here's to Mother Ocean for giving me a playground to have fun in, and a classroom to learn about life. Here's to all my friends and family who get stoked with me, as well as have to bear with me. And here's to thousands more surf sessions to come.

Somewhere over the horizon, there's another swell on its way. I can't wait.

Aloha from Paradise, (riding into the sunset)