Surf

My first barrel, August 20, 2021

Diamond Head: ~10:30 a.m.

The wave reared up, and I caught it with my new body-board. It was a good sized, overhead wave. The lip began to curl, so I hugged the face of the wave and pushed my body into it as hard as I could. After a few seconds I was out of the wave and didn't think too much of the wave besides thinking that I got covered up quite well. A few minutes later, Justin, a first-rate surfer (he surfs body boards like regular surf boards), paddled up next to me and congratulated me on the barrel. I couldn't believe my ears. He said that he was right in front of me as the sequence unfolded. He explained how he saw me set up the wave, disappear into it, and come out the other end. "That's the definition of a barrel," he said. Can't argue with that logic!

A Brief Surf Encounter with Carissa Moore

At the end of June, 2021, I was surfing Diamond Head in the afternoons, and there was an amazing female surfer ripping it up. While paddling back to the line up on one of those picture-perfect Hawaii days, the young lady was paddling next to me, so I said: "Another shitty day in paradise." She smiled and said: "I know, right!" After that I said: "Nice carves!" This was my way of complimenting her amazing surf skills. A few days later I spoke with my friend Barry in the line up. We were hanging out when I pointed out the young lady I had seen a few days earlier. She had always looked familiar to me. Who was it? "Oh," he said. "That's Carissa Moore. She's in training for the Olympic Games." No wonder she looked familiar. She's a surfing world champion four times over and just became an Olympic gold medalist. Congratulations, Carissa!

Check out this amazing documentary about Carissa's life.

The Stoke

I got my first “stoke” surfing on Nov. 23, 2003, at Waikiki in Honolulu. That “stoke” is still with me, and I surf every chance I get, which is quite often.

Tiger Shark Tale 1: "King Brownie" (Nov. 2004)

I saw a massive Tiger shark when I was surfing Diamond Head. The scene was lifted right out of the movie "Jaws." I sat on my board facing the ocean on an overcast day, trying to line up for a good wave, when a shark’s fin emerged in front of me. The shark, known simply as “Brownie” by locals, emerged 50 feet in front of me. I saw the translucent, lightly beige-colored fin, rise out of the water. The fin measured a good, solid foot in length. I believe that I let out a major gasp and sat glued to my board, as time slowed down to a moment that wouldn’t release its hold on me. I was utterly transfixed. The fin seemed to hesitate for a moment, judging the distance between itself and the mass of surfers, before descending and accelerating towards my fellow surfers. The majority of surfers were blissfully unaware of the shark swimming straight towards them. Needless to say, I turned my board around and headed back to shore as fast as my panic-stricken arms would allow me. I don’t think I’ve ever paddled harder, or faster, in my entire life. Haven’t seen old Brownie since, and I hope not to see him again in my lifetime. I shared my experience with others who saw Brownie that day, and we became very close friends for five minutes, before carrying on with our separate lives, knowing full well that we were very fortunate that we did not become shark fodder that day in November, 2004.

Shark: Second Encounter (Nov. 2005)

Today was a picture-perfect day in paradise. I had just sat through a long faculty/staff meeting and decided to hit the water. I paddled out to my favorite spot at "Threes" and had the whole place to myself until Nick, my colleague, joined me about twenty-five minutes later. A wave closed out on me, and I made another head-over-heals somersault and my board did the same. I always protect my head in a wipe-out and today was no exception. One of the surf-fins banged into my elbow, and I got a little cut that started bleeding. Nick and I were chatting and we saw a wave approaching. I turned the board to the left in anticipation when my right foot touched something under my board. I looked down and saw a long, black shape underneath me; my foot slid down its back until it hit a tail and I realized in utter horror that I actually "stepped" on a shark! I let out a short shout and paddled like a madman to get away. Nick saw me flailing wildly, paddling in a panic; I realized that he was trying to paddle away from me to get as much distance between us as possible. After the initial panic had subsided somewhat, he said: "Don't panic, let's calm down and just paddle back to shore." Sharks pick up on panic and fear. We managed to calm down and paddled back to shore in record time. I believe that the shark was curious about the smell of blood from my little cut and was probably swimming around trying to locate its source and accidentally came a little too close and panicked when I stepped on it and swam off. I vaguely remember that the shadow of the shark was about as long as my board, almost 8', before I paddled away for dear life. It felt wonderful to reach solid ground after the encounter; it kept me out of the water for two full days.

Shark: Third Encounter (Aug. 16, 2015)

I was body boarding when I saw something that looked a large plank of wood in the water. The only difference was the stench--it was an enormously big dead eel. As soon as I realized what it was, I made sure to put as much distance between myself and the carcass; it would only be a matter of time before a shark would find it. Sure enough, when I paddled in an hour later, a five-foot shark was attempting to eat the carcass, but was having difficulty navigating the shallow waters. Luckily, I had my GoPro with me and managed to get some footage of it finally chomping down on the bait and swimming off. The footage will be shared on my August surf video. Apparently, a woman's dog was rubbing itself against the carcass on land, so she decided to take the dead eel and throw it back into the ocean (scaring the wits out of most of us in the water). She was happily bathing in the ocean with two toddlers when the shark approached to get its morsel. She exited the water with the rest of us and told me the story...

Shark: Fourth Encounter (July 14, 2022)

Today was one of the first major summer swells on the south shore of Oahu. I paddled out to Diamond Head at 3:15. At about 4 p.m. as I watch an incoming set, I see an 8-foot Tiger shark silhouetted in the curl of a big wave. It was spellbinding to watch the shark in its element. It was gliding through the water swimming toward Waikiki: poetry in motion.

The spouts that made me decide to move to Hawaii. New Year's Day, 2002