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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Nov 30, 2013 - 10:37am PT
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Psyched to check out that surfing and climbing book.
Had a fine go-out at Ocean Beach yesterday. Sunny, glassy, overhead, and consistent. One of those days that makes me wonder why I ever bothered to tie a knot.
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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Nov 30, 2013 - 09:39pm PT
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Psyched to check out that surfing and climbing book.
I'm stoked to see it as well Gregory.
A new swell arrived yesterday and every one I talked to had great sessions.
I was going to paddle out in my back yard but instead I chose to join some friends down the beach at Kanaha.
Lower Kanaha was well over head in the sets and it was really good.
I struggled with the fact that almost every wave that I paddled for there was already a large man on a SUP powering down the line.
Don't get me wrong I did get some great waves and it was fun surfing with friends but, It just aint like the old days at Kanaha before SUP's!
Maybe I should have stayed home and surfed here at Kuau. It wasn't crowded at all and there were plenty of head to nearly double over head sets rolling through.
I did a photo shoot here in Kuau before going down to Kanaha. Here's a random shot from that photo session.
EDIT: go to this link for more of my surfing images at Lanes 11-29-13
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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O-man, when you refer to Kuau, is it the break right out in front of Mama's? Or more west down the coast? Mama's can get kind of gnarly, I've sailed in on big days when it was almost sucking dry on a low tide at the shallowest spot.
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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O-man, when you refer to Kuau, is it the break right out in front of Mama's?
Studly that's a good question.
When I refer to Kuau it is more of a general area that stretches from Lanes through Sunrises,Kuau Pipe,Mommas,the area in front of the launch, down to Noriega. The shots I took on 11-29 were at Lanes.
As you mentioned, the break at Kuau Pipe/ Mommas can be extremely shallow at certain tides.Some times it feels like you can almost touch the reef just siting on your board or sailing over it.I have hit the bottom there in a wipe out. In fact just the other day my friend Chris Eubank had some gnarly abrasions on his back from that place.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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^^^Did that dude survive?
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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criminy, they're good in ^^^ Oman's last. Even so, with those crowds and waves, there had to have been some serious injuries?
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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I have known Dave Kalama for well over a decade and he has done a lot, a real lot. He has been a professional surfer for most of his life. Short board,long board,tow in,and S.U.P.
When Dave talks, I listen.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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If you know Dave Kalama, then you must know Haas and Digger, brothers. Haas used to hit the dawn patrol with Kalama regularly, they'd be out there tearing up Hookipa dawn patrol every morning if there was a whisper of wind.
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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I had a great session three days back at Mommas with my neighbor Debbie Brown.
It was an extremely low tide with shoulder to head high waves in the sets. The take offs were pretty steep and I was on a longboard so I didn't make several of the drops.
Like we discussed upthread it's very shallow at Mommas on a low tide so I hit bottom a few times with out much damage other than a scratch on my toe.
There wasn't a breath of wind until right at the end.
It wasn't epic by any means just fun surfing with a friend.
Some how I strained my right arm in that session and it got real stiff and painful.
We had a sweet new swell arrive here on the north shore yesterday but I had to take it off and rest my arm but today it feels better and the swell is still here.I think I'll give it a go as soon as I post this.
I took a few photos when I went by Hookipa yesterday. All I had was the little Olympus and it doesn't reach out very far so quality isn't very good but I thought I would share a few of them anyway.
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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Dec 10, 2013 - 03:16pm PT
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After my last post we've had a delightful and rather large wave event here on the north shore of Maui.
I've been plagued with a very sore right arm so I have had to rest a day and surf a day. I am hoping this gets better soon but I'm not counting on it.
I have had to sit out some excellent sessions but scored some as well.
Yesterday was all time wave sailing here at Kuau but my arm was sore from my session at Kanaha the day before.
I didn't want to risk further injury especially in light air and mast high conditions.
It was really good at Kanaha the day before yesterday but I had to sit that one out also.
An interesting thing happened at Kanaha that day that I didn't paddle out.
An S.U.P. surfer fell off his board in the busy line up and literally
landed on a 13' tiger shark.
I was told by someone that was there that the spooked shark made quite a commotion before swimming away.
No one was bitten but the line up cleared out real fast.
I did paddle out at Kanaha the next day and most of the usual suspects were back out in the line up.
So, although it's on everyone's mind, (and no one in their right mind is taking it lightly) but we're not going to let this keep us from getting a session.
(I don't know how much mainland media attention this is getting, but, here on Maui we have had shark encounters every week for quite some time now and just last week a dude from Stevenson,WA. was kayak fishing. He was dangling his feet in the water and a shark bit his leg bit and he bled to death.)
Well it's sunny the water is clear and warm, the trades are up and there is still some good swell.
So it's game on again today and my arm feels rested.
I'm hoping to go wave sailing in my back yard later.
I shot this photo at "Lanes" the other day.
To view more photos of Lanes that I shot that day click here.
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bob
climber
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Dec 10, 2013 - 04:15pm PT
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The shark thing in Hawaii is scarey. My girlfriend is close to a family on The Big Island and one of their sons was munched recently at his home break. He's a big kid and beat the shark off and was aided by another surfer who swam back out to help.
Olaf, do you know or know of Ulu Boy Napeahi? Glad he made it!
Bob J.
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Darwin
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Dec 11, 2013 - 05:48pm PT
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O-man; thanks for posting your own photos. Likewise all of you that post your own photos (pyro, drljefe). Esparza, was that beautiful photo from the Mentawais your own? Awesome.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Dec 11, 2013 - 09:11pm PT
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The great and legendary surfer from the Sixties and early Seventies, Wayne Lynch, has an online video about rescuing a friend in Australia while a very large GW shark was spy-hopping and circling around the two men as they slowly returned to shore on one board. Really worth digging up online. Probably the worse tale I have heard/read/seen regarding a GW shark incident where no one actually was attacked!
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Dec 11, 2013 - 09:28pm PT
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Tiger shark visitation while out surfing Pakaukaulo's. Be safe O-man!
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o-man
Social climber
Paia,Maui,HI
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Dec 13, 2013 - 02:03pm PT
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Rumor on the beach is we have a GIANT swell heading our way and should hit our beaches on Saturday.
If this forecast is correct 'The Eddie' big wave contest at Waimea Bay on the north shore of Oahu will probably go off this year.
I am proud of my neighbor Kai Lenny for being chosen as an alternate in this prestigious event
I wrote this in a journal while back and thought I would share it.
The ocean has been in a unique mood.
Friday morning I addressed work things for a while and then I did my morning surf check and found glassy well over head waves in my back yard. When I paddled out at about 8:00 am there were a few standup guys already out but it wasn’t crowded. There was one dude that stood in the same line as me and just paddled for every wave. He was tall and very fit looking but he just kept missing waves that I could have caught.
I finally had to tell him that if he was going to paddle for waves he should make a point of getting them.
He was so close to my line that if I got a wave that he had already initiated and we both got it, I felt that we would be too close for safety.
I was still getting some great waves and the swell getting bigger and bigger.
After about an hour I was joined by my buddy Mark.
After two hours the waves were in the solid double overhead range and all the stand up guys had gone in except my buddy Mickey Eskimo.
With just the three of us out we cloud be selective and avoid the real bombs.
We had our pick of the sweet head and a half nuggets.
After three hours we had scored a bunch of waves and the sets were starting to get erratic and the frequency and size were impossible to calculate.
On one set, Mark took off on the first wave and I took the second. His held up all the way to the right channel while mine closed out after I made the drop and got one turn resulting in me being in a very bad place.
This set was one of the biggest of the session.
Mark got to see me take the next eight waves square on the head. All I could do is just take a breath and dive for the bottom and hope that my board made it.
We both agreed that we should paddle in soon but things settled down some and we kept getting waves and the wind was only just starting to pick up.
Most of the waves were silky smooth after the first wave of the set came through.
We paddled in after four solid hours and we were STOKED!
I walked back home and took an hour break and had lunch.
I was contemplating a second session but when I walked back over to the beach the waves had gotten a lot bigger and the sets were even more erratic. I’m talking ten foot Hawaiian that’s twenty foot plus faces and that just too big for me to paddle into.
The next day I checked the surf at my local break and it was just too big.
No one was out and except one team that was towing in at Noriega’s, my local break.
I loaded my board in the back of my truck and drove to Kanaha Beach Park where the scene was much mellower.
So I thought.
Kanaha breaks about a quarter mile off shore so it can be hard to judge the size from the beach even with binoculars.
I did notice that the left channel was occasionally closing out and that told me to use caution.
When I arrived at the line up every one had a sober look about them. I went about the business of surfing.
I wasn’t having much luck.
Then I saw this set out on the horizon and I started paddling out as fast and far as I could but it just wasn’t far enough. I made it over the first wave but the second was bigger I was paddling up a gigantic dead vertical wall water and as I got to the lip it broke!
I went over the falls and the force drove me straight to the reef. When I made it back to the surface by board was snapped but was still held together by the glass in top.
I took two more waves on the head and the pounding subsided. With razor sharp fiber glass still holding the two pieces together I made the long paddle back in.
I drove back home and got another board and drove back to Kanaha and paddled back out.
By the time I got back to the line up there were only three other surfers out and they were being very cautious.
I caught some really sweet left hander’s that were in the double over head size and realistically that was the limit of my comfort zone. The only problem was that in order to get those I had to sit a bit deeper than I wanted.
Three of those a major sets rolled through and pounded the living s..t out of me.
I didn’t feel like snapping another board that day so I paddled in and called it a day.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, CA
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Dec 13, 2013 - 09:50pm PT
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Pipe has come up from around 3 ft to something more than ten in just the last hour and a half. Well worth watching right now as darkness slowly grows out there.
It's 6:45 pm PT. Friday evening.
The Billabong Pipe Masters will resume tomorrow there and it will be quite a bit different than it was for Rd 5 a few days ago….
http://www.vanstriplecrownofsurfing.com/billabongpipemasters2013
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