GoPro or Go Home Bro-dy.

Thanks to Lindsay's reference, for Christmas my parents got me a GoPro Hero HD 2. It wasn't until last week that I was actually able to use it in the water. After a long morning at this one shorebreak, I found myself completely hooked. These are the reasons:

Numero uno: It's much lighter and easy to move around with a GoPro in hand as opposed to heavy housing with camera body and lens.

Numero dos: If something happens to my GoPro I don't have to commit harry carry.

Numero tres: It shoots a 10 frame burst in one second. The files are pretty large (4.5MB, give or take) and 11megapixels.

Numero cuatro: It tests my knowledge of waves and helps me understand (even more than before) the art of being in the spot.

Numero cinco: It's difficult. It's a thrill to see if you can get the shot.

Below are shots from each of my first three days using the GoPro. Hopefully I can eventually win the GoPro photo of the day. That's my goal!

First day. 

Second day. 

Third day. 

New Year. Better Style.

New Year's resolutions, in my opinion, can be cheap commitments sometimes. Every December you start hearing all these non-sense cries about this and that, but in the end most people don't want to change anything. Of course, I applaud those who actually do live out their resolutions. Although, I even further applaud those who don't have to wait for some imaginary measurement of time (like January) to finally curb procrastination and take charge of their lives. Such things merit it.

Now, to my resolutions [drum roll] ... they are many. Some I'm enthused about because they are improvements on positive things that I've witnessed work in my life, some I'm frustrated with because I haven't given them the proper attention and priority earlier. Overall, though, I see my biggest improvement being the art of planning ahead.

Planning is, by nature, something that comes difficult to me. I wish it weren't but it is. I've always been one of those on a whim, capricious individuals that just goes wherever life flows best at the time. On one hand, I see how it's a good thing. On the other, I see how it curtails my potential. For that reason it's my main focus for 2012.

It's a new year, and I'm planning it out.

Season's Greetings | PHASE II | Up North.

So the New Year is coming to town—2012! While part of me is kind of scared of it, probably because I turn 30 at the end of this New Year, I can’t do anything to stop it. So I might as well embrace it, and embrace I am.

To add a little more context to what I’ll be covering in the blurb, the Pacific had started to wake up and the Cali coast was looking to finally get back to back sizeable swells for this first time this season. The first swell was to hit Tuesday and Wednesday, and the second one was to hit Friday into Saturday. My original plan was to leave Wednesday back home to Oahu, but there was no way I was going to miss out on this opportunity. Since my little brother was in town, and he was more than willing to document all the action, I switched my flight to Sunday afternoon to cover my bases.

I didn’t spend New Year’s eve dancing or staying up late into the wee hours of the morning. I didn’t even hoot and holler when the hand of the clock chimed 12am. On the contrary, the cross over to the new year was about as quiet as a crickets. I actually went to bed a decent hour and woke up early the next morning to go to church. That evening I met up with a few friends – Natalie, Emily, Robin, and some others – in Santa Monica. That was cool.

The next day, Monday, we spent lounging around. I went and lifted weights a little bit and got some Mexican food for an early dinner. Man, Mexican food is the best food that exists. While I like Tongan food and what not, like Lupulu, nothing compares. Then we left to stay up and Blake’s house so that we would be on scene for the next couple days.

The next morning, some of the boys called and gave me the early report that the swell had not quite filled in but that the buoys were up. That meant I could sleep in an hour more before jumping out in the water. When we all arrived at the spot, it was apparent that the swell was up. It was the biggest surf I’d seen in Cali the whole trip. Thomas Pagano was already in the water.

The scene (p) Roger Fa

 Thomas lining one up (p) Roger Fa

 Yours truly with a little ramp (p) Roger Fa

The place is pretty heavy (p) Roger Fa

Air dropping (p) Roger Fa

Cory dipping into one (p) Roger Fa

I suited up in a flash and jumped in. Man, I’m glad I had gotten a 4/3 since my last little stint in the water. While it was still cold, it was now much more bearable. Thomas and I shared waves for a while before one of the groms from Carpinteria – Cory – showed up. The place was kind of tricky. Kind of a vertical angled wedge, but when you connected one you could launch it. Heavy, too.

Jacob Reeve throwing some rail into this reverse (p) Roger Fa

About an hour into the session, Jacob Reeve – legend and one of Cali’s best bodyboarders of all-time – paddled out and demonstrated his local knowledge of the spot. It was cool to finally meet him. Really humble and just good people. Ryan Heimple also paddled out.

With the dropping tide and sand, the spot became more of a backwash. Actually, kind of similar to our spot on the east side except for the fact that you couldn’t really ride the wave out on this tide here. I was able to link up a few ramps, which was fun. After a dozen or so, though, I had to throw in the towel because the water was getting to me.

If you know, then you'll see the similarities (p) Roger Fa

The winds never really turned on, but this ended up being the day for me. I was definitely burnt out. Meanwhile, Josh and Cory went up north to shoot at this one shorebreak. We took Blake, Megan, and Adeline out for fish tacos on Seaward. This one spot has some incredible fish tacos. It makes me wonder why no one on Oahu can figure out how to do it, especially since there is such could fish there. Baffled.

The next morning it the surf was much smaller than the previous days. We ventured up to Emma Wood, which was deceptively bad. What I mean by that is it looked really fun and rippable, but ended up being weak and not so rippable. Thomas, Josh the grom, and myself only lasted so long as Joshua and Roger shot photos from the beach.

We then headed back down to the spot we surfed yesterday only to be disappointed. It was not only on the small side but wasn’t linking up right. Ryan had gotten a little reverse 360 attempt and Thomas threw a nice snap on one, so I paddled out to check it out anyways. Got one kind of fun one, but that was it. Everyone headed in.

The one and only decent one I caught this morning (p) Roger Fa

We rapped in the parking lot for a little bit, and Josh said that Ryan was on his way back home to Zuma and would give us an update on whether it was worth it to go down there. By this point, Rodge and I were pooped. We went back to Blake’s house and lounged for a bit. About an hour later, Josh had gotten word from Ryan that it was pretty epic down there at Zuma. So we said our good byes to Blake, Megan, and Adeline, and were off.

As we arrived in Zuma, there was no doubting Ryan’s report. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the winds were non-existent, and the surf was head high on the sets and roping down the coast. It was kind of abnormal of this time of year, people said. It was so hot outside I wished I had shorts to wear in the water instead of the 4/3. Of course, the water temps were still frigid.

The scene at Zuma (p) Roger Fa

Second evidence (p) Roger Fa

Third is a charm (p) Roger Fa

Ryan, Jason, and myself jumped out at Zuma to some slabbing, crystal green shorebreak. Joshua was shooting. We traded waves so everyone had a chance to link up with Josh. It was so beautiful out in the water. It was so awesome to see the waves breaking down the coast to where you were. I wish I had either had a housing with a long lens to shoot up the coast or my new GoPro.

Jason sliding into one (p) Roger Fa

Ryan and Joshua making a connection (p) Roger Fa

 My first one (p) Roger Fa

One of the magical ones that lined up (p) Roger Fa

 After that session we all talked story by the cars as the sun escaped on the horizon. It was a wonderful two days of adventuring this stretch of coastline. Especially since it was with family and friends. It’s times like these that you wish you could freeze, sit and experience over and over again. Unfortunately, time doesn’t work that way.

For more photos by Roger Fa, head to rajahdatphoto.com!

END PHASE 2. 

Surge Version 4.0 is here!

Surge Bodyboarding Version 4.0 at SurgeBodyBoarding.com

Season's Greetings | PHASE I | Christmas.

Pretty amazing to watch planes take off from LAX and shoot right over us. 

Christmas time is so positive. I love it. I love the lights, the songs, the typically cooler temperatures, … the whole vibe of the season. As a teacher, I also love the fact that my work schedule follows a school student’s. If they are on holiday, I am on holiday. That means two weeks plus more off of work. Cheehoo!

The first week off consisted of trips to town, taking Lindsay to the airport, goodbye’s to Ted and Ian, doner kebab, meeting up with Kumari and her fiancée, Lindsay and Ashley, and a little surfing. (If you’ve never had doner kebab, please go to China Town and you’ll be stoked!) The surf was pretty below par, as this whole season has been thus far, so that wasn’t exactly the high light of the first portion of the break by any means. Just not having to go to work, though, is sufficient to make one happy. At least that’s how it is for me. Love to relax and do nothing.

The second portion of the trip included a certain flight out of HNL to LAX on Christmas Eve. My little braddah picked me up and, after a quick visit to Lindsay at her grandparent’s house in Torrance, we were off to my older braddah and his family’s house in Ventura. My parents were there already. Ventura is located just south Santa Barbara. It’s a mellow city with plenty of surf potential within its midst. My kind of place.

One of the spots Rodge and I checked. Was a tad bit to small to brave the cold. 

We had some Mexican food at the house and talked story. It was nice to catch up with the famili. We woke up to a Sunday Christmas. Christmas doesn’t land on a Sunday too often, so that was nice. We opened presents, and I received a Go Pro HD 2! Holy crap! I’ve been wanting one of these. So blessed. Afterwards we went to a sacrament meeting at the local ward. It was only a sacrament service for Christmas Sunday, so church was only one hour. Now that’s a Christmas present. Haha!

After church we ate some tamales, I took a nap, and we hung out for a bit. Then Blake, my niece Adeline, Rajah, and strolled down the coast to check out the surf. Not jump in the water but to just scope it out. Tide was super low, but it was a definitely a pristine, warm day in the Californ-I.A. It’s days like this that would make any person question why they wouldn’t want to live there.

We got back to Ventura and hour before sunset. We walked out to the ocean. Blake taught Adeline how to fly her kite that she received. Boomer, the dog, ran around like made. We all watched the sun go down. It was nice. Memorable. 

My mom and me. 

The next day I met up with a friend, Thomas Gaulke, who happens to live right in Ventura. Thomas is from the Big Island, but he has been all over the states in the Coast Guard for the past eleven years. We talked story at his house for a while, and then we ventured down to check the surf at a famous naval base in the area.

The surf was small but looked to improve with the tide. We sat on the rocks and watched it for a while. Thomas made a few calls to some friends, Julien “Speedy” Durand and Jason Belzer. We hung out for a bit and then jumped in with Jason. Julien came down a little bit later. Man… the water was coooool-ddd. It seriously felt like needles piercing through my thin 3/2mm wetsuit skin. It’s been a while since I felt this cold in the surf.

One of the gems. 

There were definitely some little grinders out there, so that helped us cope with the cold. Everyone got some really fun looking waves. There weren’t so many ramps, but I could definitely see the potential. The potential is mind-boggling, actually.

By the time I got out of the water, I realized I had stayed in too long. I couldn’t even feel my feet. It felt like they had gone to sleep. Kind of funny trying to crawl up the rocks. I felt like a newborn or something.

We headed back to Ventura. From there I was to head down to Lindsay’s grandparent’s for the afternoon and evening. Part way there, though, I started feeling really achy and sickly. After a call to cancel my drive, I headed to Jamba Juice, ate an acai topper (since they don’t serve acai primo bowls in Cali for some reason) and veg-d out in the truck. I fell asleep for about an hour or more and realized I was sick. I drove to my older braddah’s house and crashed.

I hate being sick. Plus the fact, which I don’t think I mentioned, I always get the meanest allergies when I go to Cali. Anyways, I was fine by the morning. Not healthy enough to jump in the water, but felt good enough to head to Torrance to meet up with Linds.

I arrived in Torrance that afternoon, and we drove to San Pedro to meet up with my good friend Nico, aka “Bang Bang,” and his lady, Desire, at Green Onion. It was nice to see Nico and Desire.

Manhattan Pier (10 minutes from Torrance) at sunset. 

The next day I had a few errands. I headed back to Torrance that evening to hang out. Lindsay and I walked the boardwalk at Redondo and then met Cory and his lady in Newport Beach for dinner at Bear Flag. It's this fish market slash poke place. We all subsequently ordered burritos, which were pretty good. We hung out until pretty late and then headed back to Lindsay's grandparents.

The next morning I parted ways with Lindsay and her family, and then I shot over to Orange County to get my sensor cleaned at Canon. I was supposed to meet up with Bryan Pezman to eat lunch and head to Samy's, but my phone died and I got lost in the rolling hills of OC for a couple hours. Nightmare.

I finally through in the towel and headed to Richard and Kari Pata's house in Irvine. We caught up a bit, watched their five children, ordered take from Golondrinas, and Richard and I hashed through the last details of Surge Version 4.0. After hours of that I said, "Aloha," and parted ways because I was planning to surf with Joshua Shelly and the boys up in Ventura early the next morning. 

END PHASE I. 

You're not cool unless you ... pee your pants.

About a week or so ago I was driving to town to meet up with some old friends at Cheesecake Factory. The drive was actually really nice along the east side, as it always is. Nothing out of the ordinary. Only thing is as I was rounding Chinaman's Hat I got the signal from my body that I was going to need to take a leak in the next 30 minutes. Well, thirty minutes give or take. I thought to myself, "Well, yeah, I think I can make it to Cheesecake just fine." 

I think I was doing fine until my truck started climbing Likelike. Then as I emerged from the tunnel and started descending down towards town, it - the piss pains (which I will refer to the rest of this story) - began. You know when your stomach slash bladder slash crotch region starts getting sharp jolts and your forehead and palms start sweating profusely? Oh yeah, and you also start thinking irrationally.

Instead of just pulling over to the side of the highway to relieve the pain (which I know sounds like the easiest solution to my dilemma in retrospect) I started pressing my gas pedal in hopes that I might make better time to Cheesecake.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. 

So I've done my fair share of pissing in a bottle while on the road. I don't recall whether I picked up from Lloyd Christmas on Dumb and Dumber or what, but it's just something I'll admit I've done a couple times. It's kind of tricky, but you don't have to be a pro. The only thing I forgot about before this particular attempt on Likelike is that I did it on H3. H3 is a smoother road with a solid slope when you're heading from the tunnel down to Aloha Stadium, whereas Likelike is kind of pot holed and not quite as steep. 

This is where it all goes bad. 

So I had a full bottle of water in the car. It was one of those $.99 Menehune bottles you get from Foodland. You know, typical kine water bottle and good enough. I unscrewed the bottle cap and poured out all the water onto the highway while driving. I unzipped my shorts, arranged and lined it up with the mouth of the bottle. I then tried to sit up in a standing sort of position to assure that the stream would flow right into the bottle. Then out of the corner of my eye I see TheBus behind me in the right lane

Of course, since TheBus is a lot higher, all the passengers in the left window seats were going to get an X-Rated peep show a la yours truly, so I had to abort mission. I maneuvered through the random cars until the coast was clear. By this point my leg is shaking, I have to piss so bad. Why I didn't just pull over and pee on the side of the road escapes me.  

This is where it all really goes bad. 

So now I'm paranoid. You know, for some reason when you're driving you feel like everyone is watching your every move. Of course, in reality they aren't. No one cares. Or do they? Such is one's irrational state of mind when they have to pee. Nothing else matters. Nothing is more important. The world is ending. 

I set things up for the second attempt while keeping my eyes on all cars in my peripheral. I finally let the first stream into the bottle. Things are good. Life feels better.

This is where it all really-really goes bad. 

The bottle is starting to fill up a little too much. The pee is starting to work it's way back up through the mouth of the bottle. Holy crap. I'm panicking. Why am I pissing so much?
 
I pinch things off. I thought it was a good idea a the time, but the only thing is I still have a lot more pissing to do. 

This is where it all seriously just goes bad.

Pinching doesn't work. A stream of piss shoots into the air onto the steering wheel. I actually piss a little bit onto my shorts. I cannot believe this is happening. What's wrong with me? Who am I? Holy ****! I think I said all of that. 

I'm baffled. Stupified. Embarrassed.

It's the first time I've ever pissed my pants.

Luckily I have some paper towels in my glove compartment. Not for these sorts of occasions because these sorts of occasions aren't supposed to happen. But I guess now I can say I carry paper towels around in my glove compartment just in case I decide to piss my pants again. 

My shorts have a small piss mark, and I'm going to meet up with friends at Cheesecake. I pat down my shorts. It'll take time to dry. I pull out some hand sanitizer and squirt it onto the paper towel to wipe off the piss that hit my steering wheel. Sanitize my hands, too. This is nasty. 

Crap. Now the piss pains are back in full effect. They are getting even worse. 

I merge onto the H2 to behold a parking lot. FML. Are you serious? What am I supposed to do now? I can't just pull over and take a piss on the side of the highway now.

Life sucks for the next 20 minutes until I exit Kinau. Well, life sucks still but at least there is a shimmer of hope. I head straight for the mall. Then I start getting side-tracked by these pains that stop my brain from functioning normally. Now I think Walmart is my savior.

As I'm approaching Walmart on Kapiolani, I think to myself, "Ev, Walmart is going to be packed, and you're going to have to walk all the way from the back of the parking lot to the bathroom towards the entrance. You won't make it." 

I won't make it. The piss pains are killing me. I start actually believing I'm in a dream and that it'll be okay to just let it go.

Come on. You can hold it. 

I'm at the light that turns into Pi'ikoi, the street where Walmart is located. I'm bouncing my leg in the truck like I have tourettes. The turn light is taking forever. What's wrong with this light? I look to the corner and see a KFC. 

That's the spot. Yes, KFC. 

I have to go for it. The light turns green. No one will let me turn left. Why are there so many cars? Jeez. I finally make the turn as the light turns yellow. I look for an entrance. It's an exit lane. One way. Just my luck.  I go for it anyways. I don't care. Give me a ticket. 

I jet out of my truck. Somehow I remember to lock it. I guess some habits never die. Do this  funky jog-walk-robot-boogie that let's me move fast yet holds the pee in to the front of KFC. I whip open the doors, sprint passed the ordering counter to the restroom in the back dining area. 

No way. No way. No waaaay. A woman and her son or daughter (I cannot remember) are just closing the door to a unisex restroom. There's only one bathroom in KFC? I hate KFC. 

There's no time to waste, though. I got to pee. I got to pee. I exit the KFC and find my next best option, which is the wall in the wide open parking lot. I corner myself as much as I can next to the trash can and release. 

Ahhhhhhhhhhh ... this is the longest piss I've ever taken in my life. What did I drink today? 

Right from that moment my reason to live and ability to use reasoning returned to me. I could see the world for what it once was. Thank you!

I made my way to Cheesecake. It was a good time. 

Lindsay the World Traveler.

About a year and a half ago my fiancee Lindsay had done a shoot with Devin Graham and some others from BYU Film School for an Independent Study program. Little did she know it would be televised, played at football games, pictures of her would appear on billboards, etc. The funny thing about the video is that while it appears to be filmed around the world, it was all filmed on Oahu. Kind of makes you think about the movies you watch. Enjoy!