Smaller than expected, but still way sweet

The forecast was for a rising swell up to six feet Haw'n on Friday. I wanted a piece of it.

Took some time off and shot off to the North Shore in the morning. Was very disappointing to find barely head-high surf at Ehukai Beach Park. It looked like the new swell hadn't arrived, and we were getting mostly leftover north swell.

Paddled out anyway, and hooked up with Kent Brown (former High Performance surf meet director) and Cade Oyadamori (local pro and Kinsan lookalike).

The waves were kind of fun, especially the small Backdoor waves. Later on, some local pros, Ross Williams, Joel Centeio and Jamie O'Brien, came out and dominated the place. Man, Ross surfed really powerfully, making these big snaps in the hook.

After a while, I ended up paddling over to Off-the-Wall, looking for a better wave. There were few over there, but I just felt like I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

By the time I paddled back to Pipe, the winds were on it. I futted around in the junky surf before catching one in.

My first North Shore surf of the season was anything but stellar. Still, it was nice getting back out there and into some power. Looking forward to the winter.

Aloha from Paradise,