"You Want Pull Lip Haole"

Hawaii is a place of "puff lip." Hawaii is a place where some people hate haoles. Hawaii most of all is big surf.

I sure learnt this when I went there with Alby Falzon and Air New Zealand on a four-week movie-making trip.

As usual when we arrived at the airport, there were hula girls, giant eight-door cars and American GIs.

It was an hour trip to Makaha, where we were staying. We arrived during the middle of Makaha Open Surfing Classic. My first surf was at Beach Park, where I split my lip and grazed my back on the shallow coral.

Next day I survived my scars and wounds to see the best surfing of my life at Haleiwa. I can't describe enough, and I know it will be even harder for you people to appreciate, even when you see it on movies. You had to be out there watching and trying a few for yourself to realize what Hawaiian surfing really is.

How often do you, when you go out in a surf, take off and your heart starts to tremble and you're too petrified to move? This is an every wave experience in Hawaii. It is not a top turn, noseride or a re-entry, but a surfing reality.

Ben Aipa, Clyde Aikau, Randy Rarick, Keith Paull, [and] Midget Farrelly all know their ability and versatility, that's why the next day you might see them at Sunset, Chun's or Laniakea.

Sunset Beach is incredible. It is a peak that breaks in the middle of a small bay. We only saw it start to work once during the Duke Contest, but what we saw was enough. We knew when it worked it would be the best. Then there is Makaha Point at 30 feet. Buzzy Trent, Greg Noll, Fred Hemmings, Filipe Pomar. All the people you see in magazines who look kooky because they don't do re-entries.

I've got news for you about these guys — what they don't do, can't be done.

Rubbish man, if you can imagine riding a wave the size of a telegraph pole then you would nearly have the sizable waves they start to have fun on. A wipeout is nothing. A broken board is nothing to these select few. This is surfing, and it is fantastic to watch them.

Hawaii is a place for the individual and his ideas. Ever seen a 360° or a side-slip or a down-the-wave backwards executed on 10' waves? For Jock Sutherland and Gerry Lopez, this is nothing.

In Hawaii, the top group of hotties don't discuss who is the best, nor does it matter to them, as there are so many good surfers it is hard to pick out just one.

Oh, Pipeline, you might hear so many say as a perfect left, breaks [like] Narrabeen. You have to be kidding. Pipeline is a place where people don't get to their knees, hands or legs before it breaks.

Hawaii is proving ground, a do-or-die effort, a make it or break it surf.

Hawaii is where mokes break boards.

Hawaii is where you blow your mind, petrifying.

Hawaii is Kula Sunn.

Hawaii is the Mecca of the best surfers in the world.