So contrary to what the naming of my blog implies, I haven't really reported on the surfing that much. I shall now make amends for this travesty and blog giddily about how much I love to surf! In fact, one of my most favorite things to do in this whole beautiful world is surf breakwall at sunset. Breakwall is the name of the surf break a few blocks from my house, it is so creatively named on account of it's proximity to the harbor's breakwall. I have written about surfing here at sunset before, but I am going to do it again because it is so amazing. Tonight was no exception, well except one, that I'll get to in a bit. The colors in the sky were still as beautiful as ever, the clouds above the Maui mountains were lit up in a way I've never seen before. The mountains had gone dark the sun still lit up the bottoms of the clouds above the mountains, the effect was quite breathtaking. The whitewash behind crashing waves leaves lots of tiny bubbles that when they pop send tiny sprays of water into the air, the low sun lights up these little droplets and the effect looks like a golden blanket covering the water. Across the entire horizon the sky is a smorgasbord of pink, yellow, orange, blue, purple and black. The palm trees light up like they are on stage when the sunlight hits them from such a low angle. The Luau at Lele still provides Polynesian rhythm with it's drums and music. It's still as beautiful every night as it ever was last year. But tonight, the difference was this one wave...One wave that has filled me with endless giddiness. A wave that I will recall every time things in life seem to be a little less than awesome, to lift me up and remind me how amazing life is. Waves are measured by their height from the top of the wave to the bottom of the trough (looking at the wave from the beach) Hawaiian style of measuring used to be from the back of the wave, but to stay politically correct we'll use the official measurement. So saying a wave is overhead, means that it is at least 6 feet high in my case. (it's over my head, scientific) Normally I would put the average wave height at breakwall at about 2-4, this would be a good day anyway. And tonight this was the case. But in every swell there are always a few waves that break the day's mold. These are hard to catch though because you have to be in the right spot, and if you've been catching small kine waves all day you will be in too far (too close to the beach) these larger waves break much further out. But tonight, by the great graces that be, I found myself completely surprised by one of the most gorgeous waves I have ever seen at breakwall. And I was in the perfect spot! I caught the wave with only a few paddles, and shot down the face. My first bottom turn back up the wave was so fast my face was only inches from wave face. I got at least 10 bottom turns and just as many top turns, I was ripping off the top break getting the nose of my board all the way out of the wave and bombing back down into the trough at speeds I'd never felt on a board before. And this wave kept going and going. It was such a long ride! At the end I was making another bottom turn with a huge giggly grin on my face when I noticed something I have never seen at break wall. This wave was barreling! Oh it was gorgeous, unfortunately I was not expecting this and since I was making my bottom turn I was not in position to get into the barrel. I tried anyway though, well duh. But alas, getting into a barrel after it's closed is all but impossible...water is heavy. So I just got knocked silly off my board. The ride was over, but my exclamation as soon as I came up said it all, "best wave EVER!!" When I got back in the lineup several bruddahs actually told me how sweet of a ride that was, this my friends = Hawaiian respect. I probably sound like a hippie to most of you, but Reed, Josh, Audrey, or any other surfer who might be reading this, you know exactly what I am talking about. It was most definitely, Pono. Everything is awesome my friends...
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