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 …

The big news today is that the break I thought was Canoes yesterday was actually Queens. Emily and I surfed Queens together today which was awesome. When we got here several surfers told us Queens was a locals only break which is very territorial. We found out today from the guy at Koa Board Sports that the break we surfed this morning was in-fact Queens and it’s not that territorial when the swell is not that large. This was awesome news as Queens is a much better break than Canoes for all of the reasons I stated yesterday.

The other awesome news today is Emily was back on her board after only one sick day! We extended our trip today for an extra three days since she’s been sick so she’ll get all her surf time in. Woot!

I tried out my …

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 …

We stayed up a little too late last night, and got woken up by an employee fire drill a little too early this morning. We were a bit out of it when we hit the water, but as usual we woke up as soon as we got on our boards. It was a little colder today as it was a bit overcast an breezy, but still very warm by Nor Cal standards. The water felt warmer than the air

Surf conditions were fairly flat, but as usual at Canoes if you wait long enough a set or two will always come through. In fact we waited so long for the first set that my bum hurt from sitting on my board. After surfing every day for a week now my paddling strength is going up every day. I can now …

We’ve surfed six days straight so far and every day seems to be better than the last. Today was no exception. The conditions were for the most part flat, however, we both caught three great rides. Also, today totally confirmed I finally found my first magic board. For the second day in a row I caught the first wave I went for.

What I need to work on is timing. There were at least five more waves I should have caught today, but I missed because of bad timing. I seem to be very good at finding the right spot, but my timing is off. That’s what I’ll be working on starting tomorrow.

I’m also feeling much stronger every day. Paddling today was very easy going in and out, and paddling into waves was no problem. Can’t wait to do another warm …

Today was the most awesome surf session in Hawaii so far! My new board is perfect. In fact, it may be my first magical board. It paddles smoothly, and I caught the first wave I tried for. The waves were rather small and few and far between today, but the stand-outs were awesome. Emily and I both caught waves today which was bonus. It was also sunny and water was warm. When you’re from Nor Cal you really can’t ask for anything else. Stoked!

Had another warm sunny surf session at Canoes today. Since I wrecked my Superfish the day before I had to surf on my back-up board. The board is awesome, however, it’s meant for someone the size of Emily. I’ve never really felt stable on this board which is why I bought the Superfish. On the North Shore you can get a board repaired in 24 hours, but on the South Shore it was going to take 5 days to a week to fix it. So, I went out on my back-up board.

I didn’t catch any waves all day, but I got in a lot of paddling practice. The outside break is a long paddle from the beach and I did that several times. Definitely getting stronger every day.

The big event of the day was that I bought a new board. …

Surfed Canoes again today with Emily and had another awesome session. Today was the first time we surfed two sessions in one day. The waves were bigger and more consistent which made catching rides much easier. Caught several waves in the first session and then chilled out and re-fueled on the beach which was bonus. Also, saw Santa Claus surfing with his big white beard and santa hat. Turns out santa’s a pretty good surfer.

Today I had an awesome surf session with Emily on Oahu’s South Shore. It was much less crowded, and the waves were a bit bigger. While they were not much bigger the extra size and consistency made all the difference. I also used my 8.0 Superfish which seemed much more stable than my 9.1 performance longboard. The 9.1 is more narrow and thinner than the Superfish. The extra stability really helped on the small waves.

As far as the surfing goes – I caught 5 waves total with one being a really long one. This was much better than an average day in Linda Mar where if I catch 1 or 2 waves I consider it a good day. This day really put the stoke smile back on my face, and 5 hours later I’m still smiling.

Going to try for 2 …