YON at Ke Kaha Nalu Hanana 'O Ehukai 2011

That translates to The Bodysurfing Gathering at Ehukai, AKA, the NSLG = North Shore Life Guard's Pipeline Bodysurfing Extravaganza. Holding Period March 8-18 2010. The contest ran Sunday, 2011.03.13 in 3-5 foor Hawaiin WNW swell. Thank you to Rick Williams for making it possible and making sure everyone had a great day.

This page is about ME. Greg Rice, got some good pictures in the morning: NSLG 2011 gallery, featuring these:

Best Wave
Wave #2

,

Most of the other bodeysurfers
would have had much more
lateral movement and still
be in the curl

Second Best Contest Wave

Saturday Wave #1

	, ,	, ,
, ,	, ,

David, YON, Mark Great talk with Mark & Barbara about Keep the Country Country http://northshoreland.org/	Steve David Jan Barbara
No Swimming, Morning After Tsunami	North Shore Breaks
Pupukea 2nd break	Sunset & Pipeline

Wave log

2011.03.06 Boston ATL 3 hours ATL->HNL 9.5 hours. Rent car; drive to Deanna's in front of Pupukea, 100 +/- yeards from Ehukai. Jump in water and catch a little wave to "get my feet wet."

2011.03.07 Jump in water again and get a few waves. Walk down to Ehukai and Mark Cunningham is watching the surf. We go back to Pupukea. He questions how much drag I have with the custom velcro straps I need to keep my Mares SuperChannels on my feet, but, then he sees my baggy suit. I resolve to wear my Speedo - at least until the contest. Both trips out to Pupukea I get waves that by my standards are FANTASTIC!!!. After lunch I went back out to the same spot, but, lots of boards are there now. I figure I need the exercise, so, I paddle down to Ehukai and past to Gums, I think. Not to Pipe, it does not look that great and I'm not ready. I try 3 waves at gums and I am not catching them. I paddle over 30m to Ehukai and catch a few respectab le waves. A good day. Dinner wiht David Ross and Barbara at the Breakers. Great food, well intentioned service :-)

2011.03.08 First day of holding period. No contest. Morning swim... write it down while it is fresh!!! Rendez-vous with David and Barbara at 12:30 to go out to Pipe. We must have been out for 2 hours. I got a handfull of waves and David got more. Late lunch at Shark Cove ?? next to Starbucks. It seems like the contest might be Wednesday, so, early to bed.

2011.03.09 Rendez-vous with David at 3PM at Pipe. A bit chillier, more boards. Fewer rides for me.

2011.03.10 Go out to Pipe early. Spend an hour or so. Try for three waves and start to get overly eager, as in over the falls eager. I am just not in tune with the waves - meanwhile, Larry "I want to die with my fins on" Russo is hot! Also, I stretched out my right pectoral. I paddle over to Ehukai and catch a respectable wave all the way into the beach. A benefit of Speedos - no sand in the suit. Given my shoulder, I stay out of the water the rest of the day. Reading until David and then Deana alert me to the Tsunami.

2011.03.11 No Swimming in the AM. Fine, more rest for my shoulder. I start this very page. About 11:30, I check again and 3 bodysurfers are right out front at Pupukea - Larry Russo being one of them. He is hot again. I paddle out and almost catch 2 - being dragged in the foam. I catch one very good sized wave with a tiny bit of side action before it closes out. Steep & awesome, then tuck under and I'm out. I try for a few more including the first wave of a set. I'm on the inside and deep diving and swimming out thru 4 waves. I AM SO GLAD I trained as hard as I did. I was definitely breathing hard when I made it back out, but, I had plenty of gas left in the tank. After that, tho, I wait for my last wave. A great medium sized wave that I get a reasonable cut on and then take a deep breath and put my head down. I should have paddled and it would have taken me all the way in, but, close enough. My shoulder feels OK, but, I'm not sure Im going out again.

2011.03.12 Out to Pipe in the AM with David and Barbara. A fair number of boards, but, I got two waves that I would be happy with tomorrow. Greg Rice was snapping away, but, I think he had packed up when I got my waves. Lunch at Pupukea and then back out to Ehukai/Gums. I spent the afternoon waiting for lone waves with nobody else around. Very hard to catch, I swam for well over 10 and caught 4 or so, with 1 glorius ride. Pipe looked good but very crowded.

Contest Notes 2011.03.13

Wake up 6:40. Sound rise
Call SURF line. Unclear when contest is running.
7:10 walk down the Ehukai - Rick is on the phone, the tents are going up. It's ON!
Back to ranch, more coffee. Pack sun goop, gatorade, sun shirt, ear plugs, shorts, etc. Go back to Ehukai.
I'm in the first heat. prep, prep, prep. Get Green shirt. Swim out at 8:15, catch breath.
Heat starts at 8:25. I catch two small waves immediately to get myself on the board. I think I got one more, but, I ended up with a score of 8.X, the third lowest heat score of the 2 rounds.
20 minutes per heat. 5 ride max. top 2 rides score.
Second round, 2nd heat. I got 2 OK waves and then waited for a bigger wave. It came. I got it Greg Rice got a photo of me sliding down a hype face. I improved my score to 10 in the second heat.
Between the 2nd round and the semi-finals was the reuse relay race. 20 or so contestants who did not make the finals put animus in a hat to see who would be "victims" and who they pair up with as rescuers. Good entertainment.
Interviewed by "Come Hell or High Water" crew. Making a movie on bodysurfing.
Watched the semis and finals from as close as you can get. Only get wet once.
Mark Cunningham had a glorious semifinal heat. His grace and poetry of waves is mythic. Mike Stewart was awesome in the final and took home top honors.
Followed by a barbecue put on by the Boomer Boys at Rocky Point.

2011.03.14 It's getting bigger. I buy copies of Greg's pictures before heading out to Pupukea. Larry Russo was already out there. Some boards and Fred David, Orien, Boomer guys: Don, Jeff, XXX. I try really hard and get a left and stick my arm out. Yes, I stear up the face a bit and I get the sense of being in the barrel a little bit, but, the water splashing off my hand and into my face is bugging me. So, I just go back to the old same way. I wait out a ways and catch a huge wave. Probably the biggest I have ever ridden. Don got a good look at me going by. I am just fine doing it alone and many of my best rides have been unwitnessed, but, it is nice to be appreciated by other bodysurfers. I paddle back out and wait outside for another monster. It is hard to say how big the wave actually is. It is a sideways parabola, so, the crest is very steep and then it flattens out over a distance. And, as you ride it, it keeps rising, so, you keep sliding down. I believe that the steep part of the wave was 10 ft. I rode about 30-40m towards shore, about 25m laterally and over the course of the whole wave slid down well over 20 ft. See blurry image Pupukea 2nd break.

My bunion is bothering me. Go out again or not? Starbucks - quad vente and then back to Ehukai. Finally I decide I'm going in. I check in with the life guard about Ehukai. He asks - you were down at Pupukea, yes, how was that? I got the two biggest waves of my life. I walk back and see Larry and Patricia. Just then the Fire Rescue Truck & boat roars off with its siren blaring. Maybe the two biggest waves of my life is enough for one day. Still building. The rest of the week I use my Viper V7s. A few people ask if I got new fins. No, these are my back up fins. I am definitely a heretic.

2011.03.15 It's breaking way, way out at the third reef at Pupukea, according to the lifeguard, 5th reef according to kid with boogie board, 2nd reef according to Deanna. Some monster swells all over in the early AM. Nobody in the water except a posse of boards after the sets at Waimea Bay. At the end of the day I ran down and let the white water wash over me. I needed to get in the water every day of my 2 weeks.

2011.03.16 Out to Pipe in the morning. Messy, windy, I missed the first wave of a set and got a good workout getting back out thru the set. That's exactly what I trained for. Breathing hard when I got back out, but, I still had plenty of gas in the tank. I caught a few, but, only one reasonablly long ride which took me close to shore, so, I quit while I was ahead(?) Out at Ehukai in the afternoon. Fewer people to compete with, but, not as many waves. Still windy and messy.

2011.03.17 Pupukea in the morning. Smaller, calmer, but a few nice rides. At this point it is just like a great day in Long Island. Out with Nick Menas at Ehukai before luch. We went to the Hukilau Cafe for lunch. Back to the Boomer house for a beer. After a nap I went back out to Pupukea. Smaller still but, they are still waves and the water is now crystal clear with occasional whales out further.

2011.03.18 Morning and afternoon at Pupukea. Still small; still waves; still beautiful. I should clarify that small means a 3 ft face. That would be a great day in Long Island. Go to Clark Little gallery in Haleiwa. Highly recommended.

2011.03.19 last swim. The waves a slightly bigger. I catch 3 beauties and then it is time to pack up and go.

2011.03.20 Finally home. Almost ALL of the snow has melted. When I left is was a solid 28 inch blanket everywhere. It snowed the next day and the day after that.

To Be Done

Cap: KuaAina.jpg	Cap: sandy.jpg	Cap: dragonEye.jpg
Cap: simpleFood.jpg	Cap: knee.jpg
Cap: pipe3rdbreak.jpg	Cap: pupukea3.jpg
Cap: localRips.jpg	Cap: outfit.jpg	When I got home most of the 28 inches of snow were gone.

How did I come in 70th in a field of 48! I don't do tricks and I don't stick your arm out. The allows you to stear further up in the wave and last longer in the barrel. Most of the waves I ride I can get out on the shoulder and stay there. At Pipe, I just need to live with shorter rides, but, they are intense! More thoughts on this later. For example, what is the difference between going there and getting 18 points for last place and going there and getting 33 points?

I did to learn to stick my arm out and let it steer me further up the face on Monday morning. The downside is that your arm is splashing water in your face.

Training On January 5th I got email from Leona saying the contest was on and the holding period was March 8-18. I had started to work out a bit. Snowshoeing. I bought a 3 month pass to our pool because that was cheaper if I was going to swim 24+ times. I only swam about 6 times because sometime since 2004 I seem to have developed a sensitivity to the chlorine in pools. If I swam hard for an hour in the AM, I would being coughing and feel achy in the afternoon. Need snoeshoe picture.

Pre Pipeline 

Elliptical at work
Level 15 1hour

Fri 2/18 6.17

Mon 2/21 6.66
Tues 6.95
Weds 6.74 w 6 minute mile
Thurs 6.45? 6.54? W 6mm 5:40
Fri 6mm 4 total in 30 min

Mon 6 mm 7.4? Total
Tues 6 mm 7.12 total
Weds 6 mm 7.21 total
Thurs 6 mm 7.52 total

6,7,7.5,7.5,8.5,8

last update 2011.03.24

,

			Most of the other bodeysurfers would have had much more lateral movement and still be in the curl