A Crazy Bet, In4mation Watch for a Civic!

today was the last day of july and i had to get my safety check done on one of my cars, my 91 civic. i drove down to my buddy jun's shop. i surf with jun all the time and he's the guy to take your car into if you need an honest mechanic! he's shop is in kakaako right by old compUSA. the phone number's on the sign in the photo if you need to call him up!
here's jun taking care of my safety check papers. thanks jun!

i headed over to kewalos after. waves weren't that good but the regulars were all there. so what do we do when waves aren't that good? we try to throw empty vitamin water bottles into a trash can.

i was getting bored so i started betting stuff. i've been wanting to get a limited edition in4mation g-shock watch which are sold out everywhere and cody got one on his wrist. it was time to bet!! look how sick this thing is!

cody's in4mation watch for my newly safety checked 91 civic!! it's a 91 5 speed civic EX, good running, new registration, new safety check, new battery, good tires, cold ass AC, power everything and even got a $300 alarm system!

cody throws the bottle. if he makes it in the trash can, he gets my civic. if he misses, i get his watch! and the winner is...

nah, cody didn't take the bet. he was thinking for a long time tho. at the end, he told me he needs to clear his head and went surfing. shiiiiiit, i was hoping he takes the bet. i wanted his watch!! even if i lost, that'd made a cool story.

so bet's off and we were done with throwing bottles so we all jumped in the water for a surf session. man, the waves were weird today... any day of surfing's way better than not surfing at all tho!

after surfing, kapu brought out some markers. derek grabbed them and started drawing on his board. we thought derek was going to draw some cool stuff but this is what he came up with. he better bust some clean airs so we can get shots of his new artwork! $hiiiiit!! ha ha

It was a Crazy Day

woke up early (well, an hour after i was supposed to wake up...), picked up alyssa and sister and met up with derek, zeke, geoff, dana, jason (derek and geoff's cousin from cali) and tad (jason's friend) at koko head.

i don't know how i got convinced into hiking koko head... i don't like hiking at all, specially something this crazy.

at the bottom of the trail. left to right: derek, jason, zeke, geoff, dana, tad, alyssa, and sister

right after taking this photo some of the guys started running up the stairs. carzy kids!

sister and alyssa was behind me but all of the sudden they started running too!

jason, tad and i were way behind everyone but kept a steady pace. farther up this is what i saw. girls all tired resting. ha ha

derek was telling us how he used to run up and down this trail but what do you know, we caught up to him!

almost there...

jason, tad and i kept on going slow but steady and we were catching up to everyone. look we caught up to geoff and dana too!

well, almost everyone. zeke was gone! he just vanished up the stairs.

yes, end of the stairs! shiiiiit, zeke was just chilling there like it wasn't a big deal.

sister and alyssa told us earlier they were done and not coming up all the way. look, they changed there minds and came to the top! look how tired they look. ha ha. good job girls!

derek took us into a crazy cave/bunker thing. in to the dark...

inside was crazy! pitch dark and low roof tunnel leading to a huge open space. derek had a tiny flashlight and i was using my camera to get some light inside to make sure we don't hurt ourselves.

the tunnel...

alyssa was freaking out in there.

actually zeke was freaking out more than anyone else. ha ha

just in case we don't make it out, one last group shot...

light!! yes, we are gonna be okay.

after crazy tour of the bunker by our tour guide derek, we hiked up higher to the very top. man, the view was amazing up there. we can almost see the whole south and east sides of the island.

here's a proof i was actually up there with them and not just my camera.

girls were stoked they came up to the every top and not giving up.

derek and jason sitting on the edge. good thing they didn't fall...

time to head down. check out how far we have to go down. can't even see the end of it...

some of them just took off! my legs were shaking walking down the stairs. sister was one of the them who started running down. later she told us she couldn't stop once she started going. she fell once but nothing too crazy. good thing she didn't fall and started rolling down.

i was the last one down. everyone was just hanging out when i finally got to the car... ha ha. hey at least i completed the hike!

we were all sweaty and dirty so we headed over to china walls for a surf and lifestyle shots.

this is where things got really crazy! we got to the rocks by the water, derek jumped in to surf and we were all getting ready to jump in. that's when we noticed a guy throwing a rope in the water kindda far away from us yelling. at someone to grab onto the rope. i guess a guy who was fishing got swept into the water by a wave.

we told derek to go check and i started heading towards the guy with the rope and jumped in the water with my fins on.

by the time derek, another surfer and i got to the guy he was floating face down. i have no idea if he had any pulse but i know for sure he wasn't breathing. i started blowing into his mouth to get water out of his lungs while we swam towards the rocks.

someone tied a rope around the guy, timed the swell, got him on the rock as 3 of us pushed from the water, geoff grabbed the guy making sure the guy doesn't fall back in the water while everyone else pulled the rope. it was a team effort for sure cuz the rock was super slippery.

got the guy away from the water and geoff and dana started a CPR on him and never stopped until the paramedics showed up. man, geoff and dana are my heros.

the paramedics took him away as they continued CPR. i've heard he was pronounced dead at the hospital... fuck!! makes me think... what if we got there little bit sooner... what if i actually woke up on time... what if bunch of people who were just standing around watching and not doing shit actually helped out... he's someone's son, dad, brother, maybe even a grandfather...

i'm super proud of who i hangout with. except for a few other people coming to rescue, our group was the one stepped up and tried our best to help the guy.

it was a crazy day...

I Found Alyssa!

i found alyssa! she called me this morning so i picked her up and we drove down to kewalos to check the waves 'cuz we heard the waves picked up.

moniz's were there and they now have a new addition to their family. meet bill!

i guess when kirby took shun and seth they saw this little piggy fell off a cliff. the kids rescued bill and took him to a vet. bill just got out of his few nights stay in the vet. seth's stoked bill's okay!

waves did pick up but kindda closing out at kewalos so we drove over to bowls. super nice waves at bowls so i got my camera ready and we were about to paddle out when a ladybug landed on alyssa. maybe a sign of a good session to come??

bunch of people were out but alyssa was getting her share of waves. here's one of many waves she caught.

when we paddled in alyssa was having a hard time getting up on the rocks. look, she was super frustrated. ha ha

good thing issac was there, he helped alyssa out grabbing her board.

went for a quick lunch at taiyo ramen before headed back to kewalos. no, she didn't eat that whole fried rice. look at her, she's so petite she can't eat that much. taiyo gives you pretty big portions so we shared that thing.

man, waves were going off and everyone was out at kewalos. grabbed my camera and in the water for a 2nd session!

it's always more fun to surf with friends! alyssa and alessa (quizon).

alessa waiting for that perfect wave.

sister was still there ripping. did she stay there all day??

zeke getting covered up.

here's missy (valdez) doing her thing. check her out in the july issue of heavywater!

i think over all the girls were surfing way batter than the guys today. good thing i wasn't surfing, these girls would've made me look like a kook!

what an amazing day. the kids got a whole day planned out for tomorrow for some photo sessions so gotta wake up early. see you all later!!

Day 3 of China's 24th Annual Longboard Surfing Classic

day 3!! woke up this morning and checked out the waves and still super small... contest's on tho, so we walked over there and it was time for me to "work".

like i said, the waves were so small i've decided to take my wide angle lens and take some lifestyle shots in the water.

i had to figure out what kind of shots i can get since there were almost no actions. here's nelson (ahina) paddling to the line up.


here's 4 of 6 girls finalists waiting for their heat. 2nd from the right is ashley asing, keanu asing's sister.


she's always at contests supporting keanu. not only she's always there, she usually comes out in the water to support keanu. here's a photo of her at a bowls contest a month ago.


but today was different. it was her turn to be in the final!

keanu just came back from tahiti this morning but came down to waikiki to support his sister. he borrowed a board and came out in the water too. check out how clear the water is, you can see the shadow on the bottom of the ocean.

how small were the waves?? so small the contest director changed the rule so multiple people can be on one wave without getting interference. here's one of the waves in girls final heat. small...

and of course, here's sister (kelia) giving me her run by peace signs. wait, where was alyssa today?? haven't run into her in a day. i'm starting get worry... ha ha

not so perfect waves but everyone was having a great day in the sun! let's hope we get some waves soon!!

Day 2 of China's 24th Annual Longboard Surfing Classic

i didn't have my computer with me yesterday so here's my blog for yesterday.

day 2 of china's contest! today was all armatures of all ages. waves vanished over night... everyone was having hard time catching anything out there. the weather was perfect tho. i didn't even shoot any surfing today cuz of lack of waves. i busted out my camera for some lifestyle shots today.

rockpiles crew! hanging out waiting for their heats.

so what do we do when we have nothing to do? put He'e Nalu in a surf bag and lock him in there! ha ha

surftech was there with bunch of boards for people to sample and derek and i found a huge softtop SUP. we signed our liability release form and we were off to the water!
this board's so big i could sit on the front on the board while derek was paddling. oh yeah and when dana saw us with this board she grabbed her longboard and paddled out with us. can you see her in the back? ha ha

i wanted to get in the photo too!!

the water was soooo clear, we had to do some underwater shots. here's derek paddling underwater and dana doing ???? i have no idea.... ha ha

it was dana's turn to paddle. come to think of it, i was just sitting there getting rides from them the whole time. ha ha

there were practically no waves but we had so much fun! wait, i think i was supposed to be working... oh well, i'll shoot some surf stuff tomorrow...

geoff, dana, and derek got a room in waikiki for the contest and they invited me over. i get to the room and here they were. i guess the wongs like to wear their sunglasses indoor. ha ha

we were walking in waikiki and ran into these trouble makers cruzing around. i guess everyone was staying in waikiki.

stopped by the ahina's hotel room and here's us in the elevator on our way to the dinner.
great day and great night! super tired tho... day 3 of the contest tomorrow!