Paddle power is back!
I got a call from a friend of mine today from the North Shore of Oahu. He was standing on a 3-story beach house where he was doing construction. There were a few guys surfing a well known tow-in spot in front of him and he was giving me the play by play. ”One of them just took off he’s higher than I am on this house! Whoa, they are all paddling! There’s no skis!” Whoa is right. How cool is that. Paddle power is coming back into vogue with all this swell around. Seems the old school hellman were just waiting to come out of the wood work. A big gun and your own power. There’s something to be said for the whole waterman process of getting out into the ocean, stroking into a monster and making it back in on your own.
I received this press release from the Billabong XXL today (see below). It describes what is being claimed as one of the biggest paddle-in waves ever at Waimea. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like anyone got another angle than this side view. I sure hope one turns up because a front view of this would really put it in perspective. Anyway, It is a monster and worth big congrats to Shane and Mark for an impressive display of bravado!
The photo here is of Kohl Christensen earlier that day (front view). Kohl is one of the paddle guys. He can usually be found in the gnarliest places when the surf is big. I’ve seen him as a little spec on the horizon out at Himilayas as I drove by Lanis on many a large swell. Sometimes he is by himself. I was stoked to see him in the Eddie. Now that I think about it, it was probably Kohl that was out paddling that tow-in spot my buddy was telling me about. Cool.
NEWPORT BEACH, CA — (January 8, 2010) — The promise of the El Nino winter appears to have delivered for big wave surfers, as many long-standing records are ready to fall in this year’s Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards presented by Monster Energy. And more than ever before, the Monster Paddle category (just for surfers who catch their waves without any jet ski assistance) has taken center stage as the elite of the sport refocus on this elemental man-against-the-sea tradition. Visual evidence of these landmark performances can be viewed at the event website at www.BillabongXXL.com.
While huge swells have blasted nearly every coastline of the planet in recent months, it has been the Hawaiian Islands which have had the most mind-bending proof of the power of the current El Nino weather phenomenon. December 7-8, 2009 saw one of the biggest swells in modern history batter the northern shores of the entire Hawaiian Chain, followed by another extraordinary day of outer reef waves on Christmas. From these historic moments of oceanic grandeur have come images which show several top big wave surfers paddling into what may well be the biggest waves ever caught by human power in the long history of the sport.
Among these superlative rides is a massive dark wall caught by Shane Dorian and Mark Healey which closed out the legendary Waimea Bay on Oahu on December 7. Also up for consideration is another mammoth peak at Waimea ridden by Chile’s Ramon Navarro which earned the South American hero a perfect score in the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau event on December 8. And more recently, grainy, documentary photos have arrived depicting Garrett McNamara paddling into a distant peak at Outer Log Cabins, a rarely-seen outer reef far off the North Shore shoreline, previously only the domain of tow-in surfers with jet-powered watercraft.
All are likely to figure prominently as finalists for the Monster Paddle Award to be given out at the tenth annual Billabong XXL Big Wave Awards to be held in California in late April. A panel of big wave surfing and photography experts will analyze the available images and by interpreting the known sizes of the surfers and their surfboards, calculate reliable height estimates for the face of each wave. One will emerge as the Monster Paddle winner and will receive $15,000 out of the total event purse of $130,000.
The current world record for a paddle-in wave belongs to Taylor Knox of San Diego, California who rode a wave measured at 52 feet at Todos Santos Island off of Ensenada, Mexico during the last major El Nino episode in 1998. Many experts are expecting an update to the Guinness Book of World Records once this winter’s measurements are complete.
Dorian and Healey are veterans of decades of big wave hunting and both concur that their shared ride at Waimea was easily the biggest either had ever caught. “I’d been waiting 15 years for that wave,” said Dorian, of Kona, on the Big Island. “That wave, we could see it from when it was like two or three minutes away from breaking, we could see the wave coming in, everybody’s screaming on the beach and yelling and stuff… When the wave finally came in, it was SO big. The thing was a MONSTER. We both put our heads down and started paddling and somehow we both caught it.
“I was going no matter what,” Dorian added. “And I know Mark felt the same way. It was just fun. A party wave — a wave of that size, and it was for sure the biggest wave I’ve ever paddled into, and to do it with my real good friend, it was very….memorable.”
Mark Healey has lived down the road from Waimea all his life and has been one of its most dedicated practitioners. But he’d never seen waves like this.
“That was the biggest day I’ve ever had at Waimea,” said Healey. “And that wave in particular was definitely by far bigger than anything I’ve ever caught out there, for sure.”
The wave was so large it closed out all the way across the Bay, not allowing the surfers the opportunity to kick out over the top of the wave as usual, and forcing them to straighten out and take the endless tons of whitewater on their heads. But for Healey, a renowned freediver with the ability to hold his breath for over five minutes, it was a fun experience. The longtime friends surfaced unharmed right next to each other, hooting with excitement.
“We were pretty stoked,” said Healey. ”Big waves are different, there’s a lot of brotherhood involved, stuff like that. I’d rather have had Shane catch that wave than ride it alone. It was cool to share a wave like that with a friend, and someone I look up to.”
McNamara, another North Shore stalwart, likes his own chances in the Monster Paddle derby. A past winner of the XXL Paddle crown in 2007 for a huge wave at Northern California’s Maverick’s, “GMac” reckons his Outer Logs Christmas present was several notches larger. “I don’t know how big it was,” McNamara said. “But I do know it felt at least ten feet bigger than anything I’ve ever paddled into. The Mavs wave a few years back was small compared to it….”
Remarkably, there may be much, much more to come. This week the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center issued an alert confirming that the current El Nino episode had intensified in the last 30 days from “moderate” to “strong,” adding that the condition would exert a “significant influence on the global weather and climate in the coming months.” And for surfers in the North Pacific basin, that means more enormous waves. According to Surfline.com, major new swell events are lining up in the coming days, impacting the Hawaiian Islands around Monday and the West Coast around Wednesday of next week.
Big ups to Shane
Who is one of the best all around surfers in the world today? Kelly? Well, ofcourse. Mick after his second world title? Yes. Joel’s surgical cuts even after his world title collapse? Sure, the argument could be made…and there are many others. But I’m all about looking a little deeper and beyond the ASP tour. Just on the other side of the hype you will find Shane Dorian. Same as he ever was.
While on my recent trip to Hawaii, I couldn’t help but notice him. If you were there you couldn’t either. He was dropping in on the best waves of the day at Waimea the week it was breaking (not just during the Eddie). Then you could find him getting one of the best waves during the Pipe Masters a few days later. And let’s not forget the waves he has been charging in Teahupoo the past few years! Freaking brilliant. Is he just a big wave guy? No way. Check out September Sessions and remind yourself that he has been ripping perfect Indonesian waves back when Kelly had hair!
Is he the best all around surfer of his time? You be the judge, but I will tell you it is hard to argue with his performances over the years and most recently on the North Shore. I wanted to use this space to give Shane his props and show you this cool photo of him hiding out in the frame, away from the limelight, doing his thing. Well done Shane.
Eddie Overview
‘Hey, cool photo,’ you might say in a non impressed way, but some of you realize what you are looking at. This is a view from the West (Haleiwa side) of Waimea Bay! So what? Well here’s the deal. There is no way up on that cliff- no road, no trail (other than the small trails the wild boar have carved). This was a planned attack that took research, long hours of fruitless searching and some muddy clothes and gear. Fortunately I found the way up two days before the Eddie. I have been trying for two years now. You can see a few clips from my successful first climb and watch as I slide down into a muddy ravine right before getting to the edge of the cliff (and let me tell you it is a long drop off that cliff- the fish eye takes some of the angle out of it)!
I shot this image in the afternoon of the Eddie during one of the big sets and you can see it lining up out the back with a peeler going in the middle of the Bay. It is so rare to see Waimea look like this especially from this angle. I love this shot and several others I took this afternoon. It was well worth the effort for me. I hope this motivates the photographers out there to try different angles! Look for more from the Eddie coming soon…
Buzzy would tow!
Everyone knows how much I love Waimea, so why would I go with Buzzy’s tow-in team when the Eddie was on? I was asking myself this exact question when the 20 foot set caught us inside. I knew better. I should have stayed on solid ground, but I found myself on the back of jet ski with 15 pounds of camera gear being chased by white water the size of a garbage truck with an elephant on top.
The doubt started in the Haleiwa harbor as I was slipping on Buzzy’s tow-in wetsuit. It is a brazilian make, bright red with florescent yellow flotation pads strategically placed to insure protection whilst making one look like batman with huge abs. The ‘get up’ is loud – Perfect for Buzzy. I looked and felt silly, but somehow ‘protected’.
Now that I had donned my gladiator armor, I put the final touches on my camera waterhousing by tightening the wingnuts that secure the lens port. That’s when I noticed I was shaking. My hands were trembling. It was a mixture of fear and excitement that I can’t explain. I couldn’t wait to get amongst it and I was petrified we would leave soon. This is the main reason I opted to shoot this session over the Eddie. I may try to tell you that ‘I’m not into contests’, or that ‘a lot of other photographers would be shooting the Eddie’, but that’s all bullshit. I had to go and see the ocean and meet this monster swell face to face (with a jet ski of course).
I had this really dreamy picturesque image of what today’s tow-in session would look like. I would sit in a large channel at Outside Log Cabins on a new jet ski and easily shoot away Billabong XXL winners while the rest of the photogs were shooting the Eddie. Ken Bradshaw’s wave would be forgotten because I would take a shot of Buzzy dropping in on the wave of his life, win the $10,000 XXL prize money and then go to Sizzler. Simple, right? Nope.
I have been pouring over weather maps and buoy reports for the past few days and last night noticed a strange anomaly- The buoy did a little jump upward at to 21 feet, 17 seconds. Strange, I thought. I calculated the approximate time of arrival of these waves to be around 10am. I told my jet ski driver Tony this as we were preparing the ski and thought nothing of it until later.
After saying the ritual prayer with our group of 10, we left the Haleiwa harbor headed to Log Cabins on a new jet ski! I couldn’t believe it everything was going to plan (this will be great)! We exited the harbor cleanly and began heading east towards Waimea and Outside Log Cabins. On the way we checked Outside Alligators (the spot that claimed one of the all time Hawaiian waterman and big wave charger Todd Chesser back in 1997). This is the same wave one can see in the distance when viewing Waimea from the East side of the bay.
The set up is a series of two peaks next to each other, or one long wave/closeout depending on swell direction and size.. The peak to the east breaks slightly further outside and is the usual take off spot setting up a long (possible closeout) right or a shorter faster left. The wave barrels top to bottom, which is unusual for a tow in spot. The way to shoot it is to sit in the ‘channel’ which happens to be right in between the two ‘peaks’. This results in constant adjustments of the ski to keep me positioned just far enough in to get the shot, but not too far in to get caught inside. It is absolutely gnarly. There were ‘channel sets’ and I didn’t want to shoot there. I was relieved when we headed to Log Cabins.
The swell had dropped overnight and Log Cabins just wasn’t delivering the goods. The conditions were clean and the sun was out, but the wave was not working. Everyone was disappointed- especially me. We headed back to Outside Alligators.
Once at Alligators, I successfully shot a few photos when a large set loomed outside and we were able to dodge it easily by gunning the engine and escaping around the end of the wave. It is amazing how fast a jet ski can actually get up and go (and get one out of trouble). I was feeling confident now and so was the driver. The sets were coming every 15 minutes. ’This isn’t so bad’, I thought. Just then a huge wave popped up in front of us and one of the guys was immediately towed in and flying down the face. The wave was 20 feet Hawaiian scale (roughly a 40 foot face).
I was shocked to be looking at it and Tony starts yelling ‘take the picture, take the picture!’ I was way out of position as the jet ski was facing the wrong way and I would have had to have an exorcist head to spin around and click off the shutter. I yell back, ‘Dude, OUTSIDE!’ There it was a massive wall rearing up to get us just behind the wave we were looking at. Tony gunned the engine and raced just in front of the building peak trying to get to a less steeper area that we could get over the top. He started to approach the wave to climb up the face and then suddenly turned and straightened out. I couldn’t believe it. ’We’re f*ckd’, I thought.
I sat there knowing the beast was right behind us. It broke with a sonic boom and I could hear it rumbling after us. We streaked across uneven foam and white water from the last wave. It reminded me of crunchy snow in the sunlight with dark holes. I didn’t want to fall in any dark holes. I held my camera tightly as we bumped up and down towards the beach a few hundred yards away. That’s when I noticed the rocks. Suddenly Tony turned around to face the monster wave and with enough distance to between us he found a fat part of the wave that wasn’t breaking. Amazing! We darted and dodged and weaved around the next three waves getting dangerously close to the ‘inside’ section where the rocks were (which would be the outside section for paddle surfers). After several harrowing minutes, the white water horizon subsided and we cautious made our way back outside.
Tony is a skilled driver and saved our ass. I feel like most people would have tried to get over that monster wave. That would have been disastrous. I can now see that we would have barely made it over, possibly dumped the ski, and then taken the full brunt of the three set waves right on the head! We would have been doing underwater cartwheels with the ski close to us. I didn’t want any of that. I am thankful for his experience and good instincts. When we got outside he said, ‘Well there’s your 10 o’clock set’. I had completely forgotten. It was 10:09.
We shot a few more waves and then returned early to the harbor. The waves just weren’t what the boys were looking for and I was happy not to risk any more close calls. On the way back we drove by the surf spot Himalayas, so named for the mountainous waves that come in there. I had a moment of peace in the middle of the ocean among swell. I was glad I had joined the team for the morning session. Stoked to be part of the energy. Then I started thinking about the Eddie and how I would get there through the crowds and where I would shoot. That story is coming.
Buzzy later asked me in his Brazilian accent, ‘Hey Davy, you makey a pee pee in my wetchysuit? maybe I gotta soak in simple greeny now.’ I quickly replied, ‘Nah, man..’ But now that I think about it I’m not so sure. When that set caught us inside maybe I did pee my pants, but only just a little.
The ‘Almost Eddie’ Day
I am too tired to write much because I was up at 3am hoping today would be ‘The Eddie’. Well, It didn’t go, but there were still some incredible waves and remarkable performances. Here’s a shot I liked because it shows the whole wave in the scene and gives it some scale.
The evening started to really pick up and I expect the Eddie will run tomorrow. Unfortunately, I am probably going to miss it, but the upside is that I am on for a tow in session! Gotta prepare and get some sleep….zzzz
Kelly at Backdoor Pipeline, Oahu
While the Triple crown’s second event is being won by Joel Parkinson over at Sunset Beach, I decided to take a smaller lens and shoot some wider shots at Pipeline. It’s nice to be able to walk around more freely (not that I don’t move around with my big lens- shame so many surf photographers plant themselves like they do). I got this image of Kelly about to paddle out at backdoor. You think he likes what he sees? With a huge crowd and shifty conditions, Kelly went out and got two good waves in less than 10 minutes. The guy is still amazing, and while the hype will be all about Mick and Joel’s title race don’t be surprised to see Kelly take another Pipe Masters crown.
…This just in, here’s the latest from Pat Caldwell:
HIGH SURF WARNING FOR NORTH AND WEST FACING SHORES
HIGH SURF ADVISORY FOR EAST FACING SHORES
Surf along north facing shores will be 15 to 25 feet with 30 foot sets on outer reefs today. The surf will build to 30 to 40 feet with occasional sets to 50 feet on outer reefs Monday.
Outlook through Saturday Dec 12: slowly dropping northwest swell is still keeping north facing shores in very large heavy surf this morning. Another much larger northwest swell arrives abruptly overnight pushing surf heights to extremely dangerous levels. Surf will exceed warning levels well into the second half of the coming week. Adjacent west and east facing shores will see very large surf wrapping into the area as well this week. South shores will see fading southern hemisphere swell today into Monday. Some areas may experience inconsistent waves in unusual places this week due to the large northwest swell also wrapping into south shores.
And Surfline:
Truth is I have never read a forecast like that! Pretty exciting indeed!
Waimea Bay (warm up?)
At any other time this would be really good Waimea Bay, but with all the hype of the next swell, it seems everyone is overlooking today’s good surf. I say this was a great day- sunny, light variable winds and some incredible surfing!
Above are 21 unforgettable moments from the session.
Here are ALL THE WAIMEA PHOTOS.
Here’s a quick video of a Waimea set wave.
Big Wednesday – Waimea Bay
I think everyone knows I love me some Waimea Bay! Today looks to be pretty good over there and I am really missing it right about now. I tried to see it on the surfline cam and it is too busy- drats. I tried to call Sean Davey for a report and he didn’t answer (I don’t blame him I would be shooting too)!
This is a shot of Waimea from the water on a ’smallish’ day. It is real Waimea and not pinballs, but it is not big by any stretch. What I like is that you can see this is just the top of the wave. If you look down in the lower right of the photo you can see where the beginning of the bottom of the wave starts! This guy is in for a steep drop and he doesn’t know it yet. Most people eat it on the drop and get steam rolled by mounds of white water and get stuffed deep. That’s why I think making the drop is so rewarding, because you pull off what is often an air drop with your hands over your head and avoid total destruction!
HIRE A SURF PHOTOGRAPHER- This Friday and Saturday look good here in California and I am not hired yet, so let me know if you want me to shoot your session. The usual spots should be pumping including Rincon in the North and Pt. Loma in the South. Have fun wherever you go and charge!
Merry Christmas
Wishing you season’s greetings and Happy Holidays to all. Here is an image I really like from my recent Hawaii trip. It is Pipeline on a really good day. That is actually Jamie O’brien in the tube. I remember he was just owning it. Everyone else was getting scraps and he would score the perfect set waves every time. It was pretty unbelievable. He really knows that break.
The main reason I like this shot is because it is a surf check. The guy on the bike just rode down the path and saw this wave. That feeling of excitement when he left his house is confirmed – It’s on! I hope the same holds true for your Holiday.
Thanks for checking the site and your support over the years. Peace on earth.
Valentine’s Waimea is back
There have been several requests for last season’s Waimea Bay session on Valentine’s Day (February 14, 2008). I have reposted this gallery and made your photos available one last time. If you want your photos, please order them as soon as you can or they may be gone forever. The gallery is huge- over 1300 photos! Which means it takes a lot of room on the server. As soon as new sessions come in old sessions like this one will disappear. Every week I get someone saying ‘oh man, I forgot to order my photos…do you still have them?’ Most of the time I have to say, “Sorry, bro..they are gone…” Don’t let this happen to you! Ok, enough said.
This photo I took on that day at Waimea. It was shot from over on the rocks on the west side of the bay towards Alligators. I love the way the sun is lighting up the wave. It may not look like it, but that wave is HUGE. It was so perfect I was actually thinking- ‘if I could just get into the wave I could make it!’ I mind surfed it while shooting the bay in the other direction. This is another photo that may make my print section of the site, which is coming someday – I promise!
Happy Holidays everyone!
Snow, TSA, Books…
Welcome home from Hawaii. It’s snowing. C’mon. Are you kidding? Snow? Really? Yes, snow. Right behind my house in the mountains. So close I could drive half an hour and touch it. I am freezing my ass off. I talked to a friend who is driving to Colorado to go snowboarding and got stuck in San Bernardino. Snowed in. Didn’t even make it out of California yet. He’s got the whole Rocky Mountains to deal with.. “Dude, you should be flying..” I said as if he hadn’t thought of it.
So my wife and I made it home after a 5 hour flight with a 1 year old. Thing is, he was the easy part. The worst of the flight was clearing TSA security. Now they are an easy target and I know they have a tough job, but the whole thing is just so silly sometimes. When I left California I was told to ‘take the laptop out of the thin protective cover’ for scanning. I did so and started to explain that radiation should successfully penetrate the cover, the entire bag that I removed it from, and probably our complete luggage load placed in a pile. I trailed off and realized it was useless. Then I removed my shoes and shuffled through the metal detector. I was thinking if TSA would have been on hand for George Bush’s speech then he probably wouldn’t have gotten shoes thrown at him.
As we were clearing security in Hawaii, I knew we were in trouble when the family in front of us with an infant was getting hassled for caring too much liquid. What was the dangerous item? A bottle of breast milk. They let her go with a scolding. (until you have a baby you have no idea how valuable breast milk is). With our son in a baby sling sleeping, we were told he had to be removed and passed through the metal detector separately. So there we were passing sleeping baby through metal detector wondering what happened to our life as travelers. Meanwhile, I was preparing my computer to go through the x-ray machine and even took it out of the cover when the guy says ‘oh, don’t worry about that..the machine will scan right through it’. I laughed and said, ‘Exactly’.
So today I made a book of my son’s first year on the planet. I used the ultra cool site ‘Blurb’ to create the book, but unfortunately I didn’t make the Christmas deadline. Looks like a coupon for the folks, but the damn book is so cool they will forgive me. In his first year our son has been to Hawaii (twice), Japan, and Indonesia. Mommy and Daddy are pretty stoked about that and want to continue to travel with him as he grows up. We want him to experience the world. We just hope TSA will let us through to catch our next flight.
Aloha means…
Aloha means I am going home. Saying Aloha is more fun when you arrive. Today I am on a plane back to LA. While the rain made it less painful to go, it is never easy to get on the plane and say goodbye. I love shooting surf and perfect waves and Hawaii was kind enough to provide some great surf while we were here.
Check out this shot my wife took of me shooting on her iphone. That is a day at Pipe back in early December I believe. There are a lot of shots I haven’t posted yet and I will work on that when I return home. For now ‘Aloha’ to you all and thanks for helping to support SickShots.
Pipe Masters?
Well, I wonder what they are going to have to call it? The Ehukai Beach Masters? I am not saying that the surf is tiny. At several feet overhead, it isn’t. It’s just not what you want the last contest of the year to be. We all want huge waves. Life and death sets. I think most competitors agree. This is THE contest everyone dreams about and to have small conditions is a let down. Don’t get me wrong there were barrels and it was fun to watch, but take one look at the promo poster and you see what we all want!
Today I played with a Tilt_Shift lens from Canon (the 45mm). This photo was taken with it and I really like it. I used the lens with the 40D so the multiplier of 1.6x didn’t let the full effect come through, but it still looks pretty cool. Notice how the focus is only in a certain part of the image. You can control the focus area and make some neat pictures. I will post more of these later. So stay tuned!
Eddie Opening ceremony
I went to the Eddie Opening ceremony this afternoon- begrudgingly! Why? Because Pipe was off it’s head, mental, insane, whatever you want to call it. I experimented all day with different angles and lenses and have some cool shots to show for it, but you’ll have to wait to see them.
For now I give you a shot of Bruce Irons from the Eddie Opening ceremony. Remember, he won the last Eddie a few years back with an epic drop out the back leading to a inside shorebreak. He pulled into the shorebreak knowing he would get clobbered (and he did), but he also sealed his victory with that ride and shorepound antics. It was pretty cool to watch.
I like the ceremony and the vibe, but I feel like they miss a few of the Bay regulars in the invitations. It is a long list and I won’t go naming names, but there are men (and women) that show up every swell and dedicate their lives to the place. I wish somehow they were more recognized.
Anyhow, today was also cool because there were waves at the Bay while the ceremony was going on- that is a first that I can recall. It wasn’t big, but there were some sets. It should come up even more tonight and I plan on dawning it to see what is happening.
If you are looking for the Rocky Point Gallery from December 3, 2008 (yesterday), it is up and loaded, so check it out. Alrighty, it is late and I am tired…zzzzzz
Waimea Bay
Does this Waimea charger make his air drop? You will have to wait and see when the galleries load. This might take awhile because there are 1,200 photos! Ridiculous? Yes. Way too many photos, but I just couldn’t help myself. Waimea was good. Not great or epic, but just really good (BTW, I think people use ‘epic’ way too much, if it is always epic then, what, do I have to say ‘Really Epic’ or exclaim ‘nah bro, you don’t understand it was REALLY EPIC’- I’m not good at that stuff). Waimea was good and I took a lot of shots. If you were out between noon and dark I have a shot of you. Dig it.
I started the day at Pipe just waiting for the swell to build- and it did. There were some huge outside reef sets at Pipe, but it was a bit out of control in the late morning with the occasional perfect tube. Shane Dorian got the best one I have seen in awhile and I got a great sequence of it.
I chatted up fellow photographer Vince Cavataio who I always see around when the waves are good. Dude, was taking photos of the North Shore before most of the guys shooting Pipe today were even born. I could see a lot of people looking at the guy and thinking he is some tourist with this little camera and writing him off, but you gotta check out his website for some of his incredible wave shots or just perve some of the beautiful models he shoots. Unreal.
At 11:30 I crusied by Sunset and saw a few sets wash through and decided to make my way to my favorite wave- Waimea. Sunset would have been great late in the day, I am sure of it, but I really like Waimea. You may even find me there later in the week. I hear it is going to be EPIC!
The Creature
Surf photographers that shoot in the water have lots of these photos. It’s when you are packing your water housing and you want to check that everything is firing (nothing worse than having problems once you are in the water!). So we click a few and get these odd images. Instead of deleting today’s version I thought I would share it because I look so crusty!
So I’m in the back of the rental which is an Electric Blue Dodge wagon (I told my wife,”Hey honey, could you find something low key?” “Sure,” she said as she walked away leaving me with stack of luggage and baby. 20 minutes later she comes racing around the corner of the Thrifty lot with this car and a big smile. ”Could you turn that off’?” I asked. ”What?” she inquired. “The friggin’ color- you’re blinding me!) So believe me when I tell you it is really loud blue. Anyway, I am parked in front of the Wall at Off-the-Wall and I am screwing in wingnuts on my SPL waterhousing rushing to get down to the beach and have a swim. I drank too much coffee and I gotta pee really bad which isn’t helping and I can’t get these damn wingnuts on fast enough. But really, I just want to swim. I’m stoked. I haven’t done enough of it this year. It has either been too huge or just not the right conditions.
Today was playful. Fun. I shot a few wave shots with the talented North Shore based photographer Jim Russi and we chatted in between sets. Jim is a cool guy and his work is super versatile- Land, water, portrait. Good stuff. I swam between Off-The-Wall and Backdoor and got a few little shots I’ll post later.
Meanwhile, I am kind of up late trying to see what tomorrow’s wave’s will be like. I keep checking the buoy for the answer…I always seem to be one buoy report short. I want to see it do something crazy with like a 20 second interval. Then I will know for sure that we’ll have some big surf tomorrow morning. Pat Caldwell called for a ‘Surf Warning’ for sunrise which is better than an ‘Advisory’ if you are into XXL. That’s good news. I’ll be up early looking around. See you there.
New Galleries posted!
We got your Galleries – Pipe, Sunset, and even Waimea right here! Let’s start with the epic day at Pipe which was on ‘Black Friday’ shopping day. I couldn’t think of a better place to be than at Pipe going off while the rest of the US is in WalMart! ha ha…This gallery includes the Aamion Goodwin wipeout, but if you don’t want to wade through all the photos and just see the sequence of Aamion Goodwin and his wipeout click here.
You will notice that these photos have been slightly processed where as the main Pipe gallery has not. If you buy prints, we always process them before sending them out for final print. We can also process your downloads upon request, but some of you like to do this yourself so we give you the choice. We can also do different types of process and examples are coming soon, but for now here is the ‘Nostalgic’ look to give you an idea.
The following day (Saturday- November 29) was pretty blown out and not as big as expected, but I did manage to click a few pros and regular guys ripping up Sunset Beach before the contest. It started raining and I usually would have packed it in, but as I drove by Waimea there were a few small sets. I am obsessed with Waimea and will shoot it whenever it breaks so I decided to go uphill to try to make it look bigger. It didn’t really work..as the rain settled in and I got wet and muddy shooting Waimea from the Heiau.
When I woke up today I thought it had finally cleaned up, but it is still all mixed up and stormy looking although the conditions are glassy and the wind light. What we really need is some trade to clean it up and I am waiting for that to happen as I type…I may just make one more run up to the North Shore to see if it turns on…I hope so!
SUP at PIPE?
I was going through some of my Pipe shots (which I promise to share soon) and I remembered that there was this guy on an Stand Up Paddleboard charging (it really is an SUP, just click on the photo to see the close up- his paddle is in his bottom turn spray). I just thought I would post it while I am working on some new galleries. Like him or hate him, you have to admit it is pretty ballsy to take that thing out at Pipe knowing that you could get caught by a set. Don’t forget he probably did not have many fans in the lineup either.
My buddy told me he has started doing the SUP thing in town this past summer and said this now classic line, “Dave, For the first time in my life I was getting stink eye from Longboarders!” I have yet to try it, but I am curious what all the hype is about. I could always use a new workout other than running, which I kind of hate.
WATER HOUSING…
Also, just wanted to let you know a friend of mine is looking to sell several housings over here on the North Shore. He’s got the Aquatech brand for 2 canon models- the 20,30,40D, etc. and the Mark 2,3. He’s an experimental dude so there are tons of accessories to be had, including ports and flash units. Contact me and I’ll give you some details.
Today was pretty stormy over here and I snapped a few looking around at Sunset and Waimea. I will post some of that soon as well…thanks for checking out SickShots.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanks giving out there everyone. I don’t feel like writing much so, today I leave you with one of those lame stories that you get on an email from one of your friends during the holidays. I might try to sneak a session during turkey time. Have a great day and get ready for a big swell (with wind to go with it).
A game warden was driving down the road when he came upon a young boy carrying a wild turkey under his arm.?
He stopped and asked the boy, ‘Where did you get that turkey?’?
The boy replied, ‘What turkey?’?
The game warden said, ‘That turkey you’re carrying under your arm.’?
The boy looks down and said, ‘Well, lookee here, a turkey done roosted under my arm!’?
The game warden said, ‘Now look, you know turkey season is closed, so whatever you do to that turkey, I’m going to do to you.?
If you break his leg, I’m gonna break your leg. If you break his wing, I’ll break your arm. Whatever you do to him, I’ll do to you. So, what are you gonna do with him?’?
The little boy said, ‘I guess I’ll just kiss his ass and let him go!’
May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have never a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!
Swell gossip…
It was flat today and it has been small lately. Everyone is playing the waiting game. Seems like a great time to gossip about upcoming swells. At the moment we have good reason. Looks like a nice couple of storms are brewing and this weekend could be epic, but it is still just a forecast. A lot can change in the next 24 hours. I actually heard the word ‘Waimea’ more than once the last few days and have been giddy ever since. I love shooting the place. I think it is one of the most incredible big wave arenas in the world.
Just in time for all of this is my new ‘Surf Links’ section on the homepage (down there in the lower right). The chart above was taken from the link ‘North Pacific Surf WAVE MODEL’. It comes from the Storm Surf website which is a great resource, but a bit of a work to navigate. Anyway, I like the colors and the way the chart plays out these scenarios. I gotta admit I get pretty excited watching the whole thing spin out the swell.
You will notice the very first link is Pat Caldwell’s Oahu forecast. I consider these words surf forecast gospel. Check out what he says about this weekend. “Outlook through Sunday Nov 30: a large northwest swell is expected to push surf heights to the advisory level when it arrives Friday. It will likely exceed the warning level of 25 feet for north facing shores, and possibly the warning level of 20 feet along exposed west facing shores for the weekend.” Wow, that sounds good to me!
There are other cool links there as well. Got a favorite of your own? Send it to me and I will post it if it is better than some of the others. I want to have a complete collection while here in Hawaii, so I can be informed and get as much info as possible. That is not to say I won’t gossip a little.
Michel Bourez wins Reef Pro
After exiting another perfect barrel, Michel Bourez enjoys the view of an empty Haleiwa set wave during the final seconds of the contest. With none of his competitors riding, the feeling is probably just starting to sink in- Oh my god I WON! Stoked!
I couldn’t believe it. I was watching the Reef Hawaiian Pro contest online and the conditions just kept getting better. The semi-finals were some of the best ’small wave’ surf I had ever seen in a contest. Everyone was getting these incredible tube rides and just ripping it apart. It made me want to surf! The day had started with a trip to Starbucks only to find the electricity had been knocked out from all the rain the night before. The ocean was stormy, but small. ”Those poor guys in the contest..”, I thought. About midday the wind started to turn and by the time I was into hour two of watching my son while my wife got some writing done (she is working on a trashy novel), I started to freak out. “Honey, is there anyway..well the waves are flawless and guys are getting these perfect little tubes and…”, I didn’t need to finish. My wife is cool like that. She took over I jumped in the car and headed down to Haleiwa and caught the finals live. It was pretty epic. Just what it looked like on the website- hard offshore, small, perfect shape. I am not going to say I got any epic photos, but it looks pretty good to me. I’ll be posting some of my favorites soon, so stay tuned…
My modeling career…
I showed up at Sunset this morning and found super clean conditions at the peak and all adjacent breaks. A gallery is coming soon. It will be listed as ‘Sunset’ although I was pointing the camera in every direction! Same goes for ‘Ehukai’, which will include Pupukea, Turkey Bay and on up into Rocky Rights. Hell, I shot every thing that moved until about 1pm and there were some great waves!
As I was leaving the beach a japanese production crew rolls up on me and asks if I could model for them. I kindly declined as I was running a little late getting home and then dude offered up cash money! ”Uh sure”, I said. Then I met the photographer and started talking to him about his cool 70’s Canon cameras (an F1 to be exact and, yes, that would be film and completely manual including focus!). He was a cool guy and he had me put on the lame floral button up shirt and ‘be a surf photographer’ with my lens and pretend to shoot interesting things. The photos are to appear in a Catalog of a Japanese department store.
So, I am doing this gig the whole time thinking that I had not shaved in roughly a week (my beard grows super fast) and I left the house right out of bed without so much as brushing my chicklets- no shower, nada. My hair is 1970’s long with sandy, crusty feathering effect – probably the going ‘do’ when dudes camera was released, and here I am making my modeling debut in Japan! Epic. Funny, because some of my bros back in San Diego had recently been making Geico caveman jokes about my appearance!
So the photographer just kills it. I mean 4 lens changes, 5 different angles, two film changes in about 7 minutes- all in manual mode mind you. I was impressed. I just hope he caught my blue steel! Next thing I know I am driving with a pocket full of cash to Ted’s Bakery thinking about some Shoyo Chicken and a piece of pie. I could take some of that money and get myself a haircut, but I wouldn’t want to ruin my modeling career, cause, you know, I’m pretty big in Japan now and this gig is so easy a caveman could do it…
This is Bethany Hamilton…
This is Bethany Hamilton ripping a little wave out at Pupukea today. The thing is she broke a board, swam in, grabbed another board and went right back out and ripped it some more. Think about that for a moment. She SWAM in. Gathered two halfs of a broken board and went back out. Don’t take for granted how incredible all of this is. I watched it. The paddle out was challenging and those who know the spot understand it is not breaking right off the beach like Ehukai. She is incredible. You can see some of the shots in the Pupukea Galllery here and you will notice I took a close up shot of her board and the strap she uses to duck dive waves one handed- pretty ingenious. Nothing is keeping her out of the water! I know she surfs better and bigger spots and this shot kind of sucks (she caught me off guard getting out so fast!), but it was the first time I had seen her ever really have a session. Very inspiring. Enough said.
Look’s like the surf will be small for the next few days on Oahu, so maybe time to get some work done. Aloha
Coco Ho surfs better than me…
I will say it again…’Coco Ho surfs better than me.’ Damn, it’s true. I mean I watched her heat today against reigning Haleiwa Pro champion Megan Abudo and she just finessed a difficult Haleiwa onshore peak a few feet overhead with tight turns, lots of speed and a beautiful cutback. Wow. I was impressed. She ended up winning the heat with Volcom’s Claire Bevilacqua coming in second and Megan getting eliminated in third. In the post heat interview she was asked if she would be going on the WCT if she qualified to which she answered that it was a possibility. I couldn’t believe that she was old enough. I still think she is 9 or something having watched her grow up around the North Shore with her famous family. Congrats to Coco and watch out ASP women she surfs better than me!
