Xcel Pro, 1st day!

today was the first day of the Xcel Pro at sunset beach. since i'm working on the production side i had to be there an hour and half before the first heat... shiiiiit, i'm sooo tired.

the waves got lot bigger than yesterday but the condition wasn't the best. since there are no more swells on the forecast they ran the event all day today.

it was just kindda ugly day. vog's covering the sky (in case you don't know what "vog" is, it's like fog but from the vocano on big island) so it was humid and hazy all day.

judges hard at work make sure they score fair for each competitor.

the contest's on tomorrow again so i better try to get some sleep!!

oh yeah and they used my shots from the JrPro contest on Star Bulletin today so check them out!

Billabong Jr Pro at Sunset, Day 2!

today was the day 2 of Billabong Jr Pro at Sunset beach. the waves were super fun looking and all the kids were ripping out there!

here are the finalists!

and the winners!

sorry it's a super short blog but i gotta wake up super early for Xcel Pro tomorrow morning!

Rocky Point!!

i woke up super early to drive up to sunset beach just in case they hold the Xcel Pro. right when i got there, they decided not to hold it today... shiiiiit.

it was overcast and kindda cold but there were some fun size waves coming in. so i decided to drive down to rocky point and shot some photos from the beach.

rocky points a really cool place to shoot from the beach because the waves break really close to the shore and the waves are perfect to do some sick turns and punt airs.

Mikey Bruneau
Flynn Novak
Kalani Chapman

it started raining after a while and i was super tired from not getting much sleep so i decided to head back home.

i think they are going to hold the final day of Billabobg Jr Pro tomorrow at sunset instead of Xcel Pro. that means i need to get my butt up there again in the morning...

hope we get some sunny sky tomorrow!!

Xcel Pro, Maybe Tomorrow!

we had some crazy weather today. it was raining all day pretty much everywhere. well, at least everywhere i went.

it was pain in the ass finish setting up for the xcel pro where i needed to be hanging almost upside down putting banners up and stuff while raining...

we finished everything tho! just need to put out more stuff out on the beach on the days of contest.

so the weather sucked today but waves are here! tomorrow is the first day of the holding period and most likely the event coordinator, reid inouye, will have the day 1 tomorrow! that means i need to be at sunset beach by 630am... shiiiiiit, i better go to sleep soon!

i guess this is the price you pay living in "paradise"

i went to the north shore early in the morning to help setting up everything for the Xcel Pro at sunset beach today. when i got there, i was greeted by this view!
living in hawaii, i see rainbows all the time but something about rainbows make me happy.

i guess the swell didn't show up til late afternoon. on my way back home i checked out some spots and i must say laniakea was the best place. i was so tired from doing labor work all day i didn't even jump in the water.

you know lani's pretty good when the traffic gets bad like this! this is just the beginning. wait till everyone from all over the world gets here, north shore becomes traffic nightmare!!

afternoon surfers waiting patiently to get to their favorite spots to surf.
got back to town and more traffic... shiiiit. i guess this is the price you pay living in "paradise".

we are finishing up all the final touches at sunset beach tomorrow for possible start on sunday. i'll take some photos of the finished contest tower tomorrow!

Small Waves Everywhere

Small waves everywhere today. took care of email, phone calls, and other stuff i don't like doing and went to kewalos to see if i want to surf or not.

i sat there and watched for good 30 minutes and decided not to surf and just relax at the beach.

some kids were out there practicing as always tho.

alisha (gonsalves) after her session.

evening sessions.

derek (wong)


josh (moniz), only the real men use pink deckpads! ha ha

jess came in all sad... one of her fins hit the reef and broke off of her board. i told her to just go rights and not turn! i guess it doesn't work like that... ha ha

super mellow day. i think some swells coming out way tomorrow both town and country!! let's hope we get some fun waves!!

But the Wind Switched...

alyssa called me up this morning cuz she wanted to go shoot. she wanted me to shoot from the land cuz when i'm in the water i guess i make her nervous... ha ha

so off to kewalos. when we got there we saw a set that looked really good. she jumped in the water and i set my camera up BUT the wind switched and waves got junk. the set we saw must've been a freak set cuz we never saw any sets like that all session... shiiiiit.

it's all good. good practice for her and i got to just sit there and be a lazy guy. ha ha

maybe we'll get the shots on the next swell?!?!

hhhmmmm... for some reason when i uploaded the photos online the color came out all f@cked up... oh well. too lazy to try to figure out what's going on.

oh yeah, don't forget to vote for your favorite shot at www.BayVI.com! (for more info, read my previous blog.)

YOU VOTE FOR THE WINNER!

Here's a cool news from BayVI!
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BAYVI Paparazzi Photos: YOU VOTE FOR THE WINNER!



With all the talk of campaigns, elections, debates, and more elections, we decided to keep with the electoral spirit.

Everybody wants to know whose winning shot will get featured as the double-page ad spread. But since there are too many good ones, we've decided to let you decide:

YOU VOTE FOR THE WINNER. Winning shot gets a double-page AD in the next issue of Heavywater Magazine!



Go to www.bayvi.com check out the photos and send an email to: vote@bayvi.com

In the subject line, write the name of the surfer you think deserves the winning shot. One vote per person. Voting ends this Friday 12PM Hawaii Standard Time.

Thanks to Local Motion, Surf News Network, Heavywater Magazine, and of course our tireless photographers Kaz Sano, Nicole Shun, and Bayly Buck!
Aloha
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So go check out the shots at www.bayvi.com and VOTE because on this contest, every vote DOES matter!!!

Anyone and everyone can vote so even if you weren't there, go vote for the shot you like!

That's right, it's not like the presidential election where not every popular vote counts thanks to a messed up system of electoral votes! shiiiiiiit. Yes, i am still bitter about Gore not winning back in the day. Gore had more popular votes (more American individuals voted for Gore than for Bush) but Bush was elected as the president because of that stupid electoral votes system. ok, i stop bitching now...

so yeah, go to www.bayvi.com and vote!!

I Love Monday!

i know lot of people hate monday cuz it's back to work or school but i love monday! don't have to wake up early for contest and usually the beach is not crowded.

i took care of returning email, took care of some paperwork and i just went surfing today. the waves got lot smaller since saturday but it was still good fun!

awesome weather today! hanging out in my trunks all day and surf without wetsuit! gotta love this place!!

Oakley's Big Day Out at Bowls

today (10-18-08) was Oakley's Big Day Out contest at ala moana bowls. ok, it's october but the waves were amazing at bowls! everyone was ripping out there.

the weather wasn't the best, over cast all day, but it was a great day hanging out with friends! i mean "working" all day... ha ha

cheering or checking out the competitions???

eala (stewart) was on fire! and the crazy thing is, he was riding someone else's board the whole contest.


isaiah (moniz) was ripping too!

geoff (wong) was surfing solid.

ha'a (aikau) doing his crazy fins out turn.

yes, the guys were ripping out there but i was most impressed by this person today, alessa (quizon)! she was surfing so well, she might have beat the guys if she surfed against them.


after the contest i went over to Hawaiian South Shore to check out Globe's Fiji Pro dvd release. it was really cool cuz they had it outside projecting the dvd on a wall. i brought my cooler of beers and a chair so i just kicked back and enjoyed the dvd!

HSS is planning on doing this every 2nd saturday so everyone should stop by and check it out!

WTF?? TGIF!!

so i was walking to my car today and this car was parked behind me. WTF?!?! i guess this guy must be a really bad driver or something!

bright red garden hoses screwed into his front bumper to protect the bumper...

i just had to check out the back of this car and this is what i saw! more garden hoses (at least this guys tried to match the color on the back...) and bunch of poles everywhere so he/she knows where the end of the back bumper is.

i guess all the stuff he/she put on the car ain't working that well, notice how the bumpers all f@cked up? ha ha

i hope this guy didn't hit my car parking behind me. shiiiiiiit!!

TGIF everyone! thanks to Hilton Hawaiian Village, we get to check out some nice fireworks every friday at bowls parking lot!

Tiny Waves... Shiiiiiiit...

off to the north shore again with alyssa today. i knew the waves are going to be smaller but i thought they'll be at least 2-3ft hawaiian scale.

when we pulled up to Ehukai beach park and what we saw were tiny waves... it was more like 0-1ft with occasional 2ft and they were all breaking right on the shore. on top of that, it was overcast and looked like it was going to rain.

kids were out there TRYING to have fun tho. i think the Kuakini brothers (brandon and cassidy) were out there the longest trying to make something out of tiny waves.

i guess that's how you get better at surfing!

here's brandon, it's kindda nuts cuz there's pretty much no water where he was landing... ha ha


here's cassidy. i have no idea how these guys were getting speed on those waves...

at least it didn't start raining... ha ha

a HUGE news about me! it's official now, i am the new Hawaii Regional Manager for BayVI!! i'm super stoked cuz i love BayVI.
in case you are wondering, it is "VI" is roman numeral "6" so it's pronounce "Bay Six".

now go check them out at www.bayvi.com to find out what they are all about!

Off to the North Shore!

off to the north shore today! picked up alyssa and bobby to save on some gas money and we were off! we stopped at 7-11 to get some drinks on the way. gotta make sure we are well hydrated!


the waves had size but little unorganized and lot of close outs but there were some fun waves to be had!

originally i was going to go in the water and shoot but the condition wasn't good for that so i grabbed my land lens and stood in the heat and took some photos for a while.

here's micah moniz's back size attack.

cassidy kuakini's surfing improved so much this year!

i think the north shore season has officaily began! i love hawaii!!

btw, i've heard being white is in so i've decided to turn myself into a white guy! ha ha