Had another excellent double surf sesh with Emily at Canoes today. Also, I went out on the shortboard for both sessions which was awesome. After several days paddling the SB is no problem. I’m still not quite as fast as Emily on her 9.0, but I’m keeping up a bit more every day. Duck diving is pretty good. I can get my nose down easily, however, I’m still getting use to getting my knee or foot on the back of the board to pop back up. I’m not having any issues with wave selection or my take off spot – I seem to be catching the wave just fine. So, the big question is why can’t I catch a long ride?

On the first sesh today I lined up next to some other surfers on shortboards to watch and learn. I …

Had two great surf sessions today on the shortboard. BTW, whether it’s sunny, warm, cloudy or raining the weather is awesome in Hawaii.

As far as getting to my feet – I was only there for a second, but I did it three times! I haven’t figured out whether it’s my balance, or my position on the board, but today I did find where to catch the wave on the SB.

I noticed a Japanese dude on a SB and decided to hang back and watch him for a while. He was hanging in the middle instead of the outside and kept catching wave after wave. I paddled into a position about 8 meters to his left and decided to go for every wave he did. While I didn’t get a real ride I did catch five waves in no time. I …

Had another awesome day trying to learn how to ride a short board. The question you may be asking yourself is probably, “why is Max trying to learn how to ride a short board rather than becoming a more proficient surfer on a long board?” Well, I have a long history of learning outdoor activities at a level that I’m not really ready for. My goals with most outdoor activities are task based. With surfing I really want to get to the lip and do tricks. For me it was the same with diving, whitewater kayaking and mountaineering. I always like to start out with the gear I need to accomplish the task or skill I eventually want to learn.

The long board was awesome, however, no matter how hard I tried I could never do the things I wanted to …

Short boards have been on my mind a lot lately. Many years ago, I surfed on a short board a few times and it just felt right. While I know you’re supposed to transition from a long board to a short board over time as you get better, I just really wanted to try a short board again. Today was the first day I re-tried to surf on a short board and I was fortunate enough to get a chance to ride a 6’6″ Firewire Dominator.

I got it last night and when I looked at it I thought there was no way I would even be able to paddle this board, but I also had hope since the dimensions were what I wanted – as wide and as thick as my 9′ long board. I had researched the new Firewire …

Had another great day surfing in Oahu today. Once again it was overcast and raining off and on so Canoes and Queens were not very crowded at all. The waves were supposed to to be a little bigger today than yesterday, but in reality they seemed a bit smaller and mushier. It rained most of the time we were in the water which turned out to be a lot of fun with a water temperature of 76 degrees. We were just inside the outside break and the sets were very consistent. We both caught several nice rides which made the day perfect.

#52 / #10 – 2010 / 2:20 pm

3-4 ft at @ 13 seconds. Wind 10 mph. Sea temp 76 degrees, air temp 75 degrees. Light and variable east winds with smooth seas. Small long period swell from the south.

After two and a half weeks of sunny days, warm water and great surfing it’s time to head back to Nor Cal tomorrow. While Oahu’s South Shore has a lot of advantages wave height in the winter is not one of them. Norther California may have very cold water but you can always find some great surf somewhere between Santa Cruz and Ocean Beach. So, I’m looking forward to getting back to San Francisco, putting on my wetsuit, hood, gloves and booties and heading out on my new board.

Today was the first day where it was totally overcast all day. This actually turned out to be nice as the sun wasn’t always beating down on your back or in your eyes. Also, I’ve grown to like the overcast and foggy days when surfing in Nor Cal. The south swell was …

If you surf long enough we all have a day like I had today. When we got up the swell was going off so we ate and headed for the beach. We paddled out in the channel between Queens and Canoes and sat up on our boards trying to decide which side to go to. As expected Queens looked much better and less crowded. Against my better judgement we headed for Queens. We knew when the break was firing it was for experienced locals only. I got the first wave I went for and it was even faster and more of a drop than the first ride I got there. I actually had to hang on to my board on my stomach until I made the drop and then stood up. I was happy with that but decide to head …

The southwest hemi swell started to fill in this afternoon which brought out the crowds. There were a lot more locals and tourists out today. Queens was fairly flat so we headed over to Canoes. The outside was filled with locals and a few tourists, and the inside was packed with instructors and beginners. The only problem with Canoes is that when it’s good the outside rolls right through the inside so if you catch an outside wave you end up having to dodge instructors and students on almost every ride. That’s fine if you have a bomber turn, but unfortunately I don’t as I’m still learning myself.

The building swell made for a great wave day. Instead of sets consisting of 3 or 4 waves they were more like 6 to 8 waves per set. Also, the sets were about …

As someone still learning to be a real surfer today stands out as the best individual day I’ve ever been on my board. We started out today back at Queens as it looked good from the beach and wasn’t too crowded. I sat on the outside to the left for a while watching the break trying to decide where to go. Queens has a very small take-off zone and every set it moves a little left or right. I tried for one and fell off the back and then I ran into Emily. She said she noticed it kept looking good to the right so I paddled over to the far right. As soon as I got there as set started to come in. The first wave was so big it almost flipped me over backwards, even though I was …

Today was the first day I’ve had to surf alone in several months. Emily was still sick and needed a day out of the water. So she sat in the shade on the beach and ate a vegan burger while I surfed. I missed surfing with her.

As I paddled out I looked at the right where we’ve been going with all of the instructors, beginners, and outriggers, and decided to go left finally. The wave are much bigger and more powerful to the left and the take-off zone is fairly small and crowded. Because this is still part of Canoes there is no line up, so you have to be ready to take off in a crowd.

The break itself was awesome. The water is a bit deeper and there is more sand than reef on this side. I wish I’d …