Hawaii, Where I Long to Be

Only when we were flying at 30,000 feet and the captain piloting the huge Air New Zealand jet broke the silence by saying something or other about the weather and speed; only then did the whole thing finally become real; only then did I realize that we were finally on our way to Hawaii. I looked over to Baddy and he looked at me and we both began to laugh, we were on our way Wow! For both of us it was an unbelievable feeling. He just kept looking at me and grinning and behind that big freckled face grin I could see and just feel that he was thinking "pinch me will you I don't believe it!"

Three meals, seven gin and tonics, 14 magazines and 11 hours later we were making the descent to the Honolulu airport. It was 6 a.m. and the sky was a brilliant yellow, orange, blue and the excitement of seeing those tiny Islands for the first time with that brilliant sunrise was indescribable.

The landing was super smooth and the day was a deep blue with green mountains blanketed by huge soft white clouds and the wind was light and warm and both of us were bursting with so much excitement that we wanted to scream.

Straight through customs and into the waiting car of Evelyn and Ernie Tomson, through the traffic, turn left, turn right, no U turn, right lane, left lane 40 mile speed, 50 mile speed signs, signs, signs and more signs pointing every which way. We were on an American freeway or at least trying to get on to one. After three quarters of an hour of absolute and total confusion we were on the highway and heading for Makaha at 80 m.p.h.

With boards, cameras and tripods stuffed in the boot out of the windows and on the roof, we came around a bend and I instantly recognised Makaha. Surf 6 to 7 feet, backwash 35 surfers in the water, off-shore wind and beautiful crystal turquoise water.

Young Hawaiian kids riding spears, super narrow, pointed noses, rolled under the front turned down rails and flat on the bottom at the back for about 3-4 ft. and super short fins. Young Kids out there surfing and doing things that Australian kids don't even know about. Side slipping and 360's. The side slip is used as a stall and as a manoeuvre to eliminate the turn. It is performed in the pocket or steepest part of the wave by standing square on to the wave taking the weight on to the rear foot and applying pressure to release the backslide. Most of the boards are designed with flat bottoms and with the use of a small fin side slipping can be used and controlled for in the pocket surfing.

A 360° turn is only an extension of the side slip and although a little more difficult to perform a lot of surfers have mastered it. Eddie Piper a young Makaha surfer does them with so much ease and control that it makes you wonder how long has all this been going on. We were completely dumb founded, God, I thought to myself, "What's happening in Australia?"

George Piper was a super friendly guy and wanted to take us to a reef break "that's just like the Pipeline" and less crowded than Makaha and seeing as we'd just spent 11 hours on a plane and seeing as Baddy was eager for a surf we decided O.K. Along with Shaun Tomson we jumped into Piper's car and headed for his "pipeline". The break was less crowded and the waves did look a little like the pipeline. They were about 4-6 ft. (Australian size) breaking about 30 yards from shore and fast.

Baddy went out and Baddy went down and Baddy came running up the beach all foaming at the mouth and said "WOW" His first taste of Hawaiian surf was a brush with the coral and a little bit of power. It was a ridiculous break but as we were to find out later on most Hawaiian breaks are like this, a reef in the middle of nowhere that's just given a name.

Within one hour off the plane we have seen guys doing 360°'s, side slipping, had our first taste of surf and were asked if we wanted some dope or "righteous" chicks. Trying to adjust to all this so quick was a mind blower in itself.

The next few days there was an open contest at Makaha so we had the chance to check out the local chicks and get a better idea of the surfers both young and old. One thing that was so obvious even in the first few days on the Island was how everyone surfs, it's just such a beautiful natural thing. It's easy and free and the water's warm and the temperature is 86° every day and everyone is friendly and receptive and we were hooked.

The contest was good in one respect because we did see Paul Strauch, Jimmy Blears, The Downings, Pomar, Ben Aipa, Randy Rarick and countless other Hawaiian surfers performing, we had a chance to assess their individual styles, their equipment and a chance to meet and talk with a few.

Because of adverse surf on the final day the surfers protested about competing and the event fortunately was postponed to a date to be fixed. Fortunately; because that afternoon we drove to the north shore and straight to Haleiwa and straight to the best Haleiwa for two years.

Haleiwa is a super tube and fast, that breaks on a reef some 250 yards from shore. The end of the ride is over a very shallow reef that is so dangerous that it's frightening. Baddy and Shaun along with Midget went straight out. The surf was reasonably smooth and fairly consistent with some sets around 10 feet. Shaun had had the first wave, around 8 feet, of power and tube, he worked his board in and out and up and down pushing with all his knowledge for more speed. After his one ride he came in screaming and stamping and yelling and raving about the fastest ride he's ever had. For a little guy on a little board he was completely guts up because Haleiwa like most other North Shore locations is not like any other wave in any other part of the world. It's fast and powerful and thick and a complete tube. To come in from another country and go straight to 10 ft. North Shore surf requires a lot of experience and confidence.

Baddy had a few waves but was restricted because of his equipment plus the surf. Had he the right board and a little bit more adjusting time he could've destroyed Haleiwa.

Midget's experience in the Islands was so evident. He surfed Haleiwa with the confidence that only comes with the right equipment and a few years experience with North Shore surf. The regular Hawaiian surfers, Downing, Rarick, Pomar, Hemmings, Strauch, Eddie and Claude Aikau surfed the place with ease. Downing had the bigger and better rides, Pomar manoeuvred everywhere and Rarick surfed it with a determined, aggressive ripping attitude.

Big surf warnings had been issued for all Hawaiian Islands, and thousands of people had flocked to the North Shore and complete with binoculars, cut lunches and beer had positioned themselves around the cliff face at Waimea Bay and other high vantage points. We arrived about lunchtime and the radio had issued high sea warnings for midafternoon. The surf was around 8 ft. the weather was clear and just a light trade wind was blowing. For us it was inconceivable that the surf could rise from 8 ft. to 30 ft. in a matter of hours and even though rescue units and police were out and ready and 10,000 people were sitting with binoculars trained seaward, we still felt pessimistic about the whole thing. By 3.00 it had risen to about 10 ft. by 5.00 it was 15-18 ft. and by midnight it was a massive 30 ft. plus and developed into one of the biggest seas ever recorded in the Islands.

The sea had ripped through the North Shore destroying homes, uprooting telegraph poles and overturning cars. After pressuring through three police road blocks the next morning, we were able to have a first-hand view of the massive seas and extensive damage. The giant 30-50 ft. walls of waves pounding and crashing against the cliffs and over the reefs was absolutely unbelievable. The sight at Waimea Bay with those huge mountains of water closing out the Bay is one that I'll never forget. The magnitude and size of the sea made us realize how insignificant and small we were in comparison. We sat there and watched the whole thing with open mouths and blown minds.

There is only one place you can surf in the Islands when the surf gets that big and it's Makaha Point. So after checking out the devastating North Shore mess, which was by now considered a disaster area we took off back to Makaha.

Point surf, real Point Surf, doesn't happen too often at Makaha but when it does it's considered to be one of the best big waves in the world. It was 15 ft. with occasional bigger sets. Shaun, because he was so anxious for some surf grabbed his board and went out without even looking at it. After trying for a smaller wave, 12 ft. he got picked off by a 15 ft. set, had to swim the 500 yards to shore and came up the beach completely in a state of fixation and mumbling something about the biggest waves he's ever been out in.

Keith Pauli and Randy Rarick amongst other notable surfers were out and had some beautiful rides. Riding fast and high across the wall and swooping down and around the famous Makaha Bowl with excellent timing, Keith was up and down, and all over the face as if he had been surfing it every day of his life, and Randy surfed the bigger waves with the same aggression as he does in smaller surf.

There is always surf at Makaha during the winter, which incidently is 85°- 87° every day. We were there for three weeks and only two or three days were completely flat. The shape is good and it is more of a fun wave than anything else except of course when it gets big. The water is warm (just like Queensland) and you can stay out for hours. The local surfers are friendly except if you do something like running over "Buffalo" to make them unfriendly. Buffalo is the local beach guard, he's big and strong and he's the only surfer that can go out on a crowded day at Makaha and have every wave to himself. No-one drops in on Buffalo or any other BIG Hawaiian when it comes to that. We sat on the beach one day and watched a giant Hawaiian pick up some young kid throw him on the ground, pick up his board smash it six times against the biggest rock on the beach and if that wasn't enough he stuck the nose under a rock and broke off the front 18 inches, then, walked off grunting. Why? All because the young kid lost his board and the board smashed against this giant Hawaiian shins.

Let that be a lesson.

Baddy was paddling out one day and Buffalo for a moment lost control and ran over him, I'm sure Badman didn't want to come up but just how long can your air supply last. When he eventually came to the surface, he was coughing and spluttering and apologizing. Then there was the time Baddy and Shaun were having a friendly little fruit fight and Badman threw his beautiful big, soggy juicy orange and it missed Shaun and landed fair on some big Mokes chest. Baddy just died on the spot. Then there was the other time he left the car door open and some drunken Moke tripped on it and came over and wanted to fight us; until he found out we were Australian and "No understand". Ignorance saved the day thank God. He had six of his friends with him and they were all full and looking for a few hippies to beat up.

"You hippie huh!"

"No, not a chance mate we're from Australia."

"If you no hippie why you wear hair long!"

Three days after the North Shore disaster another big swell hit the Islands. We were at Makaha and surf early in the morning was around 8 ft. By lunchtime there were a few close-outs, right across which just doesn't happen very often. George Downing said that the last time that happened was in 1958 under a similar weather pattern. The surf wasn't good, it was just big storm swells. For a wave to close out right across at Makaha it had to be in the vicinity of 35 feet and I guess we watched half a dozen, monstrous waves close out. There were about six surfers out, Wally Froiseth, John Kelly, Charles Galento, Greg Noll, Fred Hemmings, Filipe Pomar and for a while Keith Paull, Randy Rarick, are Bobby Cloutier

The surf was big. Galento said that it was the biggest surf he's ever been out in, Hemmings was fearing for his life and Noll was sitting out 100 yards behind everyone else. No-one surfed inside the bowl they were all sliding down the edge except for one wave Greg Noll caught. He took off inside the bowl, the wave started at 20 ft. and as is typical at Makaha jumped up at the bowl to 25 - 30 ft. He slid down the face on his 10 ft. thing, the wave bowled and threw and he lasted for about 3 seconds after it broke. Surfing Makaha at that size and under those conditions is a survival thing — all the way.

In one way or another everyone with the exception of Wally Froiseth and John Kelly came in. These two guys just sat out there in the middle of Makaha and seemed to be enjoying it. They were just like little specks of nothing floating in this gigantic sea.

We had timed the sets and they were coming through every 13 minutes and you could almost set your watch by them. It was inevitable that they would get cleaned up and after floating around for an hour or so and just scratching through a few monsters they were caught inside and faced the long swim to the beach.

Bobby Cloutier said afterwards that everyone was just sitting out there. No one was talking, they were just there. Keith Paull said that he looked into the tube of one wave and it was so big and had thrown out so far that you could've driven a train clean through it. One of the things that's so frightening beside the immense size is the thickness. The lip at Makaha can be 8 ft. thick. Beside the height can you imagine an 8 ft. thick lip coming down on you. WOW!

That was our first week in the Islands; we had watched Makaha Point surf twice, Waimea Bay close out, the giant storm sea, the best Haleiwa in two years and had surfed at a placed called Incinerators on the Town side of Oahu. All this in one week. [It] was a giant outasite happening and we just couldn't believe it.

While we were on Oahu, the North Shore was fairly messy with only one or two good days. We didn't see Sunset work, one day it was okay, around 8 ft. but very windy.

The Duke contest was held at Sunset and although organizers Kimo McVay and Fred van Dyke had as usual scheduled the meet for one week, the contest started on a windy, overcast, rainy, rotten Friday and the surf was the same as the weather and finished on a not much better Sunday. Why they held the preliminaries in such terrible surfing conditions when they had a week for the event was a fairly touchy point with everyone. It appeared to me that they wanted to get the contest on and off and pick up the money as quickly as possible. It was an obvious and blatant commercial trip. McVay, when confronted by Midget and various other people as to why the thing was held under such conditions, was completely evasive or else passed it on to Van Dyke who, after the contest was over, resigned from his official position.

Just the same, for Shaun, Baddy and myself it was a memorable experience to be there and watch the finals. At lunchtime when they decided to run the event the surf was far from good but much better than it had been over the previous two days. Some of the sets were up to 10 ft. The finalists were Doyle, Cabell, Pomar, Hemmings, Strauch, Eddie Aikau, Aurness, Hamilton and Peruvian surfer Barreda.

Cabell was an obvious winner, he had the best waves, fastest rides and was in the best position on every wave. No other surfer was anywhere near him. Strauch came in second and Aikau third.

For the last few days of our trip we packed our bags, cameras and surfboards and headed to Maui.

Maui, beautiful Maui for me this was the true picture that I had imagined Hawaii to be. Lush green hills shadowed by heavy rain filled clouds and amidst it all, giant Haleakala crater. Maui is different from Oahu in so much that the American money hasn't spoilt the surrounding coast with giant hotels and sky rise apartment buildings. I guess it's only a matter of time before this eventually happens but right now it is unaffected and the rich surrounding country, sheltered coral inlets and the small towns such as Lahaina are all the better for it. We checked in at the old Pioneer Inn at Lahaina an old Whalers Hotel that retains much of the character of its early days. From there it's a twenty minute drive to famous Honolua Bay and as everyone was itching for some waves we didn't waste too much time in heading off.

Honolua Bay would have to be one of the prettiest places in the world to surf. We arrived there on the tail end of a big swell. The surf was eight feet and fast and smooth. The clouds and heavy rain that had been around for a week had cleared and it was sunny and bright and hot, and with only half a dozen surfers in the water it turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip. Particularly for Baddy who, after 2M> weeks was just beginning to feel the powerful Hawaiian waves.

The waves on Maui and particularly at Honolua Bay although not quite as powerful as the north shore are still strong enough to give your board and body a pounding. If you happen to lose your board at Honolua there's a ninety-percent chance you'll find it in at least two pieces on the rocks at the base of the cliff or caught in one of the two caves directly in front of the take off area.

The take off is like most Hawaii breaks, straight on, with barely enough time to get to your feet. A super fast straight down drive, an on edge turn, then into the pocket for the ride of your life.

Yes Honolua Bay and Maui, and all the Islands when it comes to that have a lot to offer. They are absolutely beautiful and peaceful and there's always surf there and the tradp wind blows everyday. Maui was the best three days of our trip, there's something very special about Maui and Honolua Bay and the Pioneer Inn. For me, the day can't come quick enough when I'll climb aboard that giant AIR NEW ZEALAND jet that will take me back to those places where I long to be.