The Smokin' but Sometimes Fickle South Side Report

[covesurfer]

Awesome shot LPB! Hope you had a great run!

Maliko was fully firing on all cylinders today. Fantastic conditions for the race. Kathy made the Elite Women podium with a very impressive 3rd place, just behind Sonni in 2nd and Andrea in 1st.

[headmount]

Yeah hall of fame shot LPB.  Perfect grab.  We've all been there.

[stoneaxe]

Love that pic, perfect technique, one of my best moves perfectly illustrated....

[headmount]

Finally a day and a 10miler from the pond to Makena Landing.  We saw a good size shark in the bay at Makena when we dropped the trucks.  Fin broke the surface.  But we were starving for a run and went.  When we finished we were more concerned about getting in, in between sets.  Still a good south swell rolling in.  Then after we remembered, oh yeah the shark.

Conditions weren't huge but very good the whole way.  Anticipated a counter current from the south swell but tide was flushing in and somehow current wasn't noticeable.  What was noticeable were some extremely long glides. 

My compadres grinning away at the end.  These three are usually in the vanguard of DW crusaders who typically break the ice when conditions get going.  Then everyone else hears about it and starts showing up over the following days.  PBill would be in there as well but he's back in the Hood.

[covesurfer]

We saw a good size shark in the bay at Makena when we dropped the trucks.  Fin broke the surface.  But we were starving for a run and went.  When we finished we were more concerned about getting in, in between sets.  Still a good south swell rolling in.  Then after we remembered, oh yeah the shark.

Hahaha, that's exactly right. I have been told by several people that there is a large 'resident' shark at Makena. The divers know him/her and even have a name for the shark. Todd saw a large shark right off the point as we came in together about a month or month and a half ago, swam right under him.

Anyway, not much could have deterred us yesterday. The wind really delivered, as if to reward us for showing up and having kept the faith. I was definitely more concerned about getting caught by one of the widely spaced sets than about that shark, who is probably always there anyway. When I showed up at Makena, I watched the water for about 20 minutes. It was pretty much like a lake (except for the cranking wind out beyond the bay) but then a set would roll through. Some of them weren't much but some of them were fairly impressive and the way they break on the sand, you wouldn't want to get caught with a big, monster downwind board.

Interesting how much water is moving around with the full moon pumping up the tides. I'd expected some stickiness yesterday but there really wasn't much. Had a great run and it felt so good to get back out there. Interesting to contrast it with surfing, which we've had quite a bit of lately even though there's been no downwind. The waves are smaller but you never are in a lineup, there's no paddling out, no big walls of whitewater coming at you and you never have to dodge others. What it lacks in power and size is made up for by the sheer quantity of surfable glides and the continuous speed.

Not saying one is better than the other, love it all, but just kind of cool to observe the similarities and differences. N side is forecast to be working today (20 to 25) but it's currently raining in Wailuku. If things start clearing off, it may be a go this afternoon.

[headmount]

Pond to Makena today.  Top was absolutely epic.  Eight guys spread out over clean lines right in the middle of the bay... out where PBill likes to go but today was straight down the pike.  First really good one in awhile for me anyway. 

Passing dark shadows at the end where it got grey.  Also had to take off sunglasses near the end as they didn't clear after a fall.  Bare eyes suck.

[headmount]

Today with the great Kathy Shipman... back out in the middle of the bay.  Perfect wind, epic day.  Kathy would pause and let me catch up every so often whenever I babbled so that motivated me to go faster overall.  She set great angles for me to copy which really helped.  Felt like a student.   Long glides gave way to big fatties with smooth faces.  Fast run

[covesurfer]

Desperation drove several of us to the south shore this afternoon for a run. Maliko was too light.

Honestly, I was prepared to go no matter how crappy it was, just to get in the water and get some paddling. Still, I took my OC1 rather than my standup, thinking if conditions were light, that would be the right tool for the job.

It wasn't light, I'm guessing there were gusts in the low 30's. It was damn near perfect except for one little thing....it was blowing off shore with a vengeance. I guess none of us really figured that out until after we launched. And, since it was only good to Sorrentos, I think we wanted the longest run possible so we went to the boardwalk.

PB and HM were on their standups, LPB was in his surfski, and Jack D and I were in our OC 1's. Heavy wind from the left side is tough, especially when combined with some significant, breaking windswell. Before I knew it, I was out about a mile off shore. Way too far with the wind blowing as it was. I could not go straight or right at all and the conditions were beautiful. But, give in and you'd end up on Kaho'olawe, if you were lucky.

I still don't consider myself very experienced or particularly skilled in an OC1 but I get by. Working left, with the steep chop and strong gusts was very difficult. The rudder must've been at too sharp an angle as it would become almost completely ineffective and the boat would round up to the left, over and over again. And, speaking of over, I had an instantaneous huli when an especially nasty swell and gust combined. The wind was blowing so hard, I could not flip the ama, which was downwind, back into the wind nor could I maneuver the boat into a different position. Wanting to remount as quick as possible, I pushed the hull up and over the ama to right the boat. It worked, the wind was blowing so hard, it got under the hull and flipped it back. Now my leash was all tangled and I'd have to remove it to remount. I knew how risky that was. One hand was holding the paddle and the boat. I reached down with the other and popped the leash, grabbing the boat as quickly as I could with that hand. I was sketched out having my leash off but managed to swim under the ama and get my butt up on the seat. The boat was still sideways to the wind and swell so I kept my feet in the water to help keep me from repeating my tip over. I managed to reattach my leash and get back underway. Shook me up.

After the huli, I paid a lot of attention and I didn't fall again. My angle improved with only a couple more round ups. The wind stayed hard offshore until about a mile from the end of the run. But, by then, I'd worked well inside and was fine. Even HM and PB had a challenge on their boards with the wind. Jack had a similar huli to mine but got in fine. LPB, polished in the ski, looked pretty unfazed by the conditions. He's seen and paddled in a lot worse. For me, I'm glad I went and it was good experience but I hope I don't have another boat run that is that challenging. I was actually concerned whether I'd be able to get in ok. The south side can do that. And from shore, after our run, it looked like a piece of cake.

[headmount]

Yes what Cove said.  We had talked earlier and then decided to bail as the no wind bubble extended over half the run.  I resigned myself to taking a nap and smelling the christmas turkey cook.  Pretty deep sleep when LPB called and said wind had filled in.  We rallied and were down ready to shuttle in an hour. 

Immediately after launch it was apparent that the wind angle was seriously wrong but we held out hope that it would do it's usual bend to shore.  If anything it got worse as we went and for the first time in awhile I was fairly concerned.  Glides towards shore only resulted in a crab out to sea.  Over steering to the left got in trouble on one glide, the wind got under my rail and the rest was mayhem which also resulted in my paddle handle coming in like an uppercut into my chin, making the stars come out early.  Got back on and took the opportunity to knee paddle towards shore while my senses returned.  That was effective and when I felt I had a line to the finish that resembled what I was used to, I stood and resumed.  Glides were comfortable at that point and then the wind died for last mile.

It was a 'technical' run, which meant all five of us who have over a decade each of experience, were a little spooked.  This is what happens when you're really in heavy need of a run and have been frustrated by days on end of not going.

[PonoBill]

Yeah, anyone who thinks Maliko is the dangerous run shoulda been there. Still, it was fun.

I was having Christmas lunch with Diane at Gannons on the Southside. We tried to do a beach day and walk off the monstrous breakfast she made me, but the beaches looked like Coney Island--packed with bodies. I'm not that fond of people, so we went for a swim and a little walk and off to lunch at a quiet restaurant. Not really hungry, just getting away from the crowds. Of course I'm not a complete idiot, so I had both downwind and surfboards with me.

From our quiet table, reading and sipping a nice Rose' I could see a brisk wind line moving in. WTF?? says I, since Maliko looked dead when I drove past. Winds out of the North will do that. I called Headmount with the happy news and he said "where are you, I'm on Haleakela highway, Larry says it's filled in to Sorrento's." So I dropped my Visa on the check and said "You don't mind if I do a downwinder do you. We can take our time with the wine, Bill's going to be thirty minutes at least".

A fidgety five minutes later I said. "Drink up, we gotta roll."

We hit the water about twenty minutes later, anxious to get going because the Southside wind can be very fickle, shutting off suddenly and even reversing direction. What Admin calls "the wind turned around and came in our face". As soon as I got a ways from shore I realized the wind was blowing right at Kahoolawe, so I started angling left. Bill was inside me and turning sharper left, but the bumps started being ridable and I couldn't resist taking some. After all, the wind was probably going to die.

When we got about halfway to Kalama Beach Bill was half a mile inside me,the wind was screaming in my left ear, and I was dropping into big bumps and turning hard left, trying to head towards Sorrentos. Larry went by me a little outside, happly zooming along on his Surfski. I figured he had the right idea, take the rides and keep angling, but by the time I got to Kalama Park Bill was a dot on the inside and looked like he was on his knees, and Larry was well inside me and disappearing fast. The wind outside was turned even more offshore, and I wasn't making good progress. Still, my line seemed to be inside the cinder cone, so I wasn't too worried. Okay, a little worried.

Then I saw what looked like a Canoe way inside me but roughly the same distance on the run, and he seemed to be struggling, sometimes pointing upwind. I figured Jack Dyson and Cove must be long gone, but perhaps one of them broke an ama or something. The wind was very strong and the big swells were head high and rough. Good for turning on, not good for trying to head towards shore. But once I fell, I decided to check out the Canoe, since a broken Canoe is not much fun. And it was a good excuse to Pocahontas towards the beach. I'm glad I did. It was pretty tough to make headway even on my knees, but I kept at it, trying to get to the Canoe. But when I got about a hundred yards from it, it seemed to clean up and start heading towards Sorrentos again.

So I got up and started riding bumps again, working hard to go left. Lots of big rides, it was really a lot of fun, and about two miles from Sorrentos the bumps got perfect. I was catching everything I was going for. Only problem is that I was getting away from shore again. Still, too much fun to resist, and I wasn't losing that much ground.

About a mile from Sorrentos I turned hard towards land and started trying to get in. The swells were breaking on top which kept shoving the board hard sideways, and making it hard to stay lined up on the beach. I finally fell and started knee paddling. Even that was pretty hard, but I was making way towards the beach. When I got in line with the boat ramp the wind slacked but started blowing straight offshore, right in my face. So I got back up and started angling again, working hard to catch the oily swells with no wind to help. The angle worked fine, but I started getting a lot of opposing swell, which means the wind had come around the end of the island and was blowing the opposite way somewhere past Big Beach and the cinder cone. If that moved further west I'd be screwed, I'd have to come ashore at the ramp and do the walk of shame, so I paddled hard for every swell and finally turned the corner into the beach--which of course was full of wallowing tourists. They seem to actually try to get in the way while you're trying to safely land 17 feet of surfboard.

Nice to finish without having to do something extreme, but not what I'd call a cakewalk. I would have had a pretty fast run except for the long Pocahontas straight for the shore. For that matter if we hadn't been in such an all-fired rush to get in the water we would have launched at the Canoe Hale and had a pleasant run close to the shore.

I'm VERY glad we didn't have any newbs with us. that would have been a rescue deal for sure. I've had to drag people in from conditions like that. Not my idea of a fun time.

[headmount]

To give a sense of wind angle... downwinding is great when your destination line is within 20 degrees of straight downwind.  Ideal has wind blowing tangent to the coast where one can use those 20 degrees on each side of straight DW.  This allows you to balance your glides with lefts and rights.  Guys on 14s without rudders can do great on days like these. 

But days like that are rare on the south shore.  A 'good' day is usually offshore with only that 20 degrees on one side of the compass.  30-to 40 from your destination line is doable but has a constant focus to grinding left.  Those days are where a rudder board is the only safe option. 

Yesterday wind direction was around 50 degrees, maybe even a little more, off our finish line.  With wind speeds over 30 this is where things even started to go sideways for rudders, literally and figuratively.  Like posted above, all five of us were fairly experienced and pulled it off but mainly because the wind died at the end. 

Our collective mistake was seeing wind when we dropped vehicles at the finish and assuming that if there was any wind from the right it had to be doable.  We made that assumption based on the usual set up, that if it's too offshore, the wind dies by the finish, which it did when we did the run.  But when we dropped cars, it was blowing offshore.  In our hysteria about finally getting to go we neglected to closely check it out.  I won't do it again.

[PonoBill]

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

[PonoBill]

I surfed on the southside this morning. Small (waist high) but fun. Greg texted that it was shoulder high. I keep forgetting how short he is. Either that or there was a Christmas Elf out there. He says it was big before I got there. I've heard that crap before.

It picked up a little but three hours was good for me. Went to get some lunch and maybe surf more, discovered Diane was on the SS too, so we had lunch. As we left the restaurant I noticed the wind line had moved in. This is starting to get repetitive. Went and checked it out at Sorrentos--lo and behold, smoking and right down the middle. Called Boyum, no answer, called Gregg, and he told me folks were trying to get in touch for a Maliko, I waffled, but I was already there, so we I talked Gregg into a SS. By the time he got there the wind was down a lot. It was great when I got there. He said he's heard that crap before.

SS was fun, but I screwed up at the top. Lesson two of check wind and swell direction before you commit. With the hard offshore direction a couple days ago fresh in my mind, I didn't want to go to the ponds. We launched at the Hale. Onshore, moron.  The Ponds would have been a perfect run, as it was we had to scratch like hell to get out, but then it lined up good. I was tuckered from the paddle out and started doing that desultory lame-ass paddle for bumps thing, but after Greg got well away I woke up and started going for it. Much better.

Some tourist called 911 I guess, saying we were getting blown out to sea. The ran a fire truck out to the Hale and sent out a jetski. The lifeguard must be a newbie. He was sure we were in trouble. Gave Gregg some shit for "leaving his buddy behind." Chan would have blistered his butt. A nice scramble for the lifeguards though, they like using their toys. I asked a few years ago if we should call in and tell them when we were doing a run, but they said they'd have to roll out anyway.
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[covesurfer]

I went to the southside this morning to see if the 2.5 feet at 16 seconds from 185 degrees was real. When I got there, it was. Made the grave mistake of texting a report to the other guys, in particular Pono, who is the only guy likely to show up for baby waves at Kihei. That's because he's actually that horney for waves and that desperate that he'd drive all the way down there for 2 footers. Well, I don't have any room to talk. For 45 minutes, there were sets at roughly 5 minute intervals that had 3 to 5 good waves. Ankle high for Pono, but chest to shoulder for normal sized peeps. Head high for me 

Unfortunately, it was crowded. There were over 20 people surfing at Bowls, which has a pretty small take off area at a single peak. I managed to get a few nice waves but it was not that easy nor that fun. Five or so people would paddle for everything, no matter what their position. Well, it was warm, sunny, no wind, a little bump and almost January so when you add all that up, plenty of reason to keep a smile on your face.

After about an hour, around 9:15, the sets got less and less frequent and the size and power dropped off as well. The crowd increased. I paddled down towards the cove and found a peak with nobody on it and the sets were still about waist high. That was as good as it was going to be for the rest of the morning.

Looking back towards Bowls, I saw a familiar giant in the lineup, a large individual with a small, goofy, orange hat with ear thingys and a freakin' chin strap. Pono Bill. Duhn dundun duhnn! I paddled over and got an immediate earful about my wave report and many questions about 'garden gnomes'. This shit is partially Southbay's fault. He started the 'double over-Greg' standard. I ran with that, parsing it into 'double over-Greg, Hawaiian' and just 'double over Greg'. Whatever.

Anyway, Pono managed to get an immediate rise out of me, since I'd been festering with little water time lately and am kind of grumpy. I made the silly mistake of trying to explain that it really had been good earlier. Pat, the Ke Nalu rep, was out there and backed me up - he's well over 6' tall so he at least had some height credibility. But, it didn't much matter. I became embarrassed by the small, baby waves and felt responsible for getting Pono all the way down there for some mediocre surf.

Anyway, I finally headed home late morning. I wanted to spend an afternoon at the beach with my wife and I'd had a nice morning, even if the surf was small. A good portion of the lower Maliko run was visible on my drive home and it looked epic. SB and HM were saddling up for a mission down the northshore. I was tempted but when they said they were coming in at oil tanks, the beach walk was sounding better and better to me. Surfing in across the reef with decent sized surf on a 17' board that I can't possibly afford to replace isn't a good plan for me. I'd enjoy an afternoon beach walk and that would be that.

I wasn't home 15 minutes when Pono called. Then he called again. I answered. It was blowing stink, all the way to Sorrentos, and lined up. My wife overheard the conversation and told me to go, the beach was choke people anyway. I got loaded and on the road in 10 minutes.

Looking at the direction, a run from the boardwalk looked like the best plan. When I got to Sorrentos, the wind had backed way off. I felt good because the crap wind equalled out with the crap waves that got Pono down there earlier. Anyway, we loaded up and started driving to the top. I gave Pono the report but he'd made his mind up to launch from the canoe club. I didn't really care that much because I thought it looked pretty straight down the pipe. Once we launched, I realized that it was more on -shore and we had to paddle out about a mile just to get a good line with the wind and swell directions. It was still good.

As soon as I turned down, I just started surfing right, a really nice change after the Christmas day debacle in wind that was straight offshore and blowing like stink. About 2 to 3 miles in, I noticed an ocean safety guy on a ski riding north, inside me about 50 yards. I was catching lots of glides and feeling pretty relaxed and happy. I hoped he wasn't on one of their shark patrols - where they go up and down the coast for miles because someone saw a shark near a swim beach. Imagine, seeing an actual shark in the ocean! Crazy huh?

I glanced back and saw Pono about 1/4 mile or so behind me. All good. We were out plenty far, so if there was a shark scare, they'd probably leave us alone out there. I kept paddling and surfing, I was really enjoying the conditions, which, although on the light side, were really kind of fun. You could definitely link some glides up and connections were easy and plentiful.

After a short time, I heard the ski approaching from behind me. As he drew up parallel, I sat down on my board. He explained that a tourist had called in that we were in trouble and being blow out to sea. In light of the Christmas day run, when that actually could have happened, it was kind of laughable. I thanked him for checking on us. I thought it was pretty clear that we knew what we were doing but evidently, to this guy, it was not that apparent. I had to assure him several times that everything was good. I got a brief lecture about leaving Pono back there on his own so I told him that Pono was my grandfather and that he would be fine. I assured him I was keeping my eye on him, all the while salivating over the opportunity to pitch Pono a ton of shit. After assuring the safety guy multiple times that I was fine out there, he finally took off. That was weird.

The rest of the run was uneventful. The wind got pretty light towards the end but the bumps were still catchable. It was a good combo workout paddle and glide sesh. No complaints. This is the second run I've been on where someone called ocean safety on us. The first time, the guy was a lot more savvy about downwinding. He knew the deal. This time, the guy acted like we were just crazies paddling beginner boards out in the middle of the ocean. But it's solid gold that both instances involved Pono Bill.

[Kieranrsup]

Not to worry Cove: every wave I surf is overhead or even double sometimes.