E's Surf Report

E obeys the laws of concision. That will get you an interview on nightline, baby.

Doof, 'stah and I will make the port-a-crowd. Hopefully that is not an issue. Kdalle couldn't make it today.

I snuck in an early morning trail run above Chron. The Potato Patch was going off. Wave after massive wave breaking in the exact same spot. Looked like huge lefts. Aside from that it looked like a war zone out there. Huge. No fog though.

Oh, and we will not be surfing OB by the way.

Please make this veal they serve at chez panisse happy (i.e. me) and send in some fresh, gnaraliscious pics of today's local breaks.

went out on my fish at cabrillo sreet, got a left to fort point, it was dope. i was in the barrel from like the cliff house to baker beach and i snapped the lip so hard when it started wrapping around the corner i got some tourists wet. just kidding.

yeah traut! misery loves company!!

rza
Did you just get back from costa rica?

I posted this last night, but here I go again.. And J, no it's not a gopro, it's an "amphibex" what ever the hell that means. I dunno, it belongs to my friend and I've had it for the past year, so I figured I'd put it to use. Got some point near and orange/red structure this morning. Really fun trying to get out of there on a high tide with this much swell..

here are the shots I took on the 17th. I finally go off my lazy ass and got them developed. They're super small and look shitty.. well worse than they did before, because I don't have any place online to stick them besides some small free pic-hosting place.

a couple more..

Call to Arms - 415 needs help!

Did anyone ck the crowd last night? How is that my break has turned into a Half Moon Bay jetty lerm-to-surf scene? These kooked out cunts posting up on the outer takeoff spot - wedging their sorry asses in between the point and the rugulars. WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU HAVE THE RIGHT!!!? Of the 40 plus "surfers" out there, 30+ were oblivious lame ass retards. WTF is this? Later in the lot at dar some stupid little surf chick in low cut jeans spewing surfer shit said, " I gawt shhow barrelled ondisinshide' Fucking stupid surf twat and her stupid dickweed 6'-3" tall boyfriend who could not surf to save his life - never guess from all his posing and posturing in the lot - paddles out all sly and then on his first wave he gets slammed.
Mark the date.
Last night was the exception - next time all you aliens will be asked to leave. The policy as discussed last night is to
a: drop in on all aliens. b: accidental - woops - board damage.
No more questions asked...

( Locals are encouraged to ride their battle ax boards for above enfrocement of a new set of rules in the abscence of an outright punch in the face.)
YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE,

I guess someone pissed in dick(y)'s cornflakes?

BVB (aka Dickey Mora).

That seems to be slightly better writing than BVB. A tad less cranked out. But maybe.

It's funny, those one of those ranters on every surf forum I've seen. Search for "danroman"'s posts on the surfing santa cruz forum:

http://www.surfingsantacruz.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=1

Unfortunately the moderator deletes all the really good danoman posts, but he keeps replenishing the supply.

Funny that it's of the biggest days this winter/spring and you can't even see the waves due to the fog up and down the coast.

Ya, im sure fort point was off the hook last night!! woo!! Worst wave in California says I

I do agree with Dora regarding the lack of talent out there last night. Sheer kookery all around. It was pathetic and I took a pass because of that very fact.

Dicky, are you talking about the Princeton jetty? That is a well known beginner spot.

Listen to what Dickey is saying because there is some truth. At least the "kookery" part. No first hand knowledge of said date. It was ever apparent under warm sunny skies of recent week though.

I for one am going to sack up and leave town to go surf some warm water reefs with real locals. When I get back I am preying for more fog, more swell and less "kookery". At least if there is enough fog, I won't have to see the "kookery" because they won't be where I am sitting.

I bravely drove past the beach this morning.

extremely crowded in the 415 area esterday.It's a fun wave but with all the bad vibes, doesn't make it a very fun place to surf. Witnessed some very inappropriate behavior...very sad. I'm aware of the two sided argument, (Locals vs non-locals) but there's no excuse for acting like an asshole to someone if their showing respect and are just looking for a few fun rides..

no costa for me. although it sounds nice...

mavericks tow-in madness and helicopters visible via cam. can't wait to see that footage.

time to take a 2 hour lunch and check out the local action. yes!!

Don't let go of your board unless it's ripped out of your hands with violent force. even then don't let go, especially in a crowd.

Avoid crowds whenever possible.

You and I are the crowd.

Your painting's almost ready Mr. Mora!

What time, if any, did the fog burn off?

Nice 8-10 wave set just rolled through Maverick's. Saw one tow-in. Looks slighlty overhead.

Kaiser, I agree that there are alot of "Kooks" as you and Mora say. What I want to know is, other than putting on blinders and just ignoring, what the hell are you supposed to do about it? I suppose that brings the argument back to anti-blog, anti all that "promotes" surf, to at least try and lessen the kook factor. And that is a battle that is already lost. I don't know. I just surf and don't worry about it. I do know that I have more fun when I refuse to let it get to me...

Web, I can give you my opinion on this real simple-like. See, I am a kook. So, when I am out surfing and there are worse kooks then me, I know I am going to get waves and I know where to give my respect and how I should get my respect. Similarly, since I am a kook, I surf with people that are not as kooky as me. In this environment, I find it very important to first realize who I need to respect and stay out of their way. Likewise, if I do this, I should be granted a free "get-out-of-being-a-kook" card so that I can sit on the shoulder.

The difference here is that if I do something wrong when I am the kookiest, I should have my "get-out-of-being-a-kook" card revoked. But, when I am the Big Kookuna, I don't sweat it because I have the experience necessary to overcome. If the Kooky-Kook messes with the Big Kookuna in this example, if I feel it my rightful place or if I deem it necessary, I may say something to the Kooky-Kookness to influence a step towards remove the their "get-out-of-being-a-kook" card.

I think we call this example RESPECT!

I am leaving for the north shore in 4 hours. I expect to be the Kooky-Kook if I paddle out at Pipeline. But, I could be the the Big Kookuna if I paddle out to L***o*****, a spot I have a good local knowledge of. May I never have to deal with a Kook there. Because, said kook would likely but their face on the reef trying to find the hole to get out. That would be bad.

and now, let's celebrate the completion of the literary marvel with a picture:

I basically quit surfing two years ago because of the kooky crowd factors at my former favorite spots. Yes, those spots are highly visible, but they're all good for the utility sessions when it's too big or otherwise funkified at other spots. Fortunately, other high speed watersports have filled the space nicely. High entry price and brutal learning curve definitely paid off. From 160-180 surf days per year winnowed down to about 25 days per year. But you know what? Every one of those days has been a high quality session at various hidden spots that aren't good all that often. Turns out that's way more satisfying that 50 good days and 100 utility sessions.

Kaiser, here is the problem with your answer: because you understand respect, you are not really a kook. You are just a surfer that is not as good as others, and everyone falls in that somewhere. The true kook does not fathom the concept of respect- no idea what it even means. Have fun on North Shore.

Web, you have a very good point.....

first trip up the cliff to watch the big parade today. 3 tow in teams and one guy paddling in. one guy was claiming that the faces reached 60ft this morning. gulp. fog was gone at 12.30 - dont know about earlier.

Re: kooks. I must admit my first thought was: what? there was a place kooks could surf and I missed it?!

Suffering from bouts of severe kookishness? Take a few of these and you'll be backdooring throaty barrels in front of Dickey Mora in no time.

Also... for the cancer stick fans among us kooks. try these.

kaiser - have fun, dont forget your zinka

Teahupoo, one of my favorite shots.

Teahupoo, one of my favorite shots.

Teahupoo, one of my favorite shots.

sorry, the post button wasnt working correctly, can you delete the extras?

i like the middle one the best. :)

no way top ones way better

kaiser have fun and can i have your job..

in related news got my ticket to cabo for 350 a month in advance on priceline

the jetty pretty good around 10am this morning. never seen it so large. 6-8ft or so on the larger sets.

bagel...when you headed to cabo? I'm trying to hook up a trip there later this year. have you been before? any advice?

Was at the zoo at 6:30 and couldn't see out back because of the fog. No one suiting up. Returned at 11:00 for a DOH Doggie Diner burger and the fog was worse. Just checked the Mavs cam and saw one ski. It looks sorta' large (understatement). While I had hoped for some photos of my charging OB charger friends, I'm glad discretion ruled the day. Just kinda' miss seeing all the energy being unloaded by King Nep.

Like Sir Robin, I bravely fled the surf zone.

Kooks are brave souls. Chins up, newbies, you've only got 14 more years of abuse to endure!!

4LoveOfSurfing

jd..hey man

ive never been to cabo..looking forward to it. its more of a bachelor party thing with hopes for good waves really..theres a bunch of heads going so we rented a house which seems like a more economical way to go..planning a more surf concentrated trip for the future though..you going back to the island?

Not knowing seemed to be the key to surviving, ignorance seemed to be bliss! Manoa Drollet came by the house on his ski and asked if I wanted to go tow, I said yes! Bruce Irons was there and thought Manoa was going to ask him, but Manoa wanted to get towed as well. Out we went and checked the line up, for only what turned out to be a few small ones. After towing him in to a few bombs it was my turn. Not really looking at it long enough to know how big it was I was on it, my first wave let me know how serious the water was we were dealing with! Then the clouds came over, giving it a dark loominous feeling. Sitting there waiting, making small talk so we don't think to much about it, knowing your next wave could be your last!

Bam, you come over the first swell of a set and you see what looks like a New York City block moving your way. That's when you know it is going to be a big one, that's what I saw! As I popped up to catch the wave my mind went blank, all motion stopped and it was like I was the only thing moving. It was kind of like the Matrix. The next thing I know I am wondering how the hell my board is still going forward against so much force going the other way. I see the inside bowl and try and go through it knowing it is my only chance of escaping and surviving! As I am coming through the the tube it spits on me and blinds me for what seemed to be an eternity. The last thing I saw was Raimana Van Bolstaler running from my wave toward the beach on the Jet -ski and the Right coming at me as the wave closed out onto dry reef!!!

Then the real ride began under water, with my eyes open the whole time all there was was blackness! It felt like I was the California cheese and the reef was the cheese grader. As the water became lighter it was my only worry that the next wave was going to break on me before I got my next wave. As I came up I was looking toward the beach, I turned around only to see a 24ft. face white water double up closing out on my head, nothing to do but take it so I just turned to the beach standing in waist deep water and took it!!!!!! The next thing I knew I was on the jet ski with Manoa going to the beach and he asked me if I wanted to go back out, I just looked at him and he knew I was done for the day. When I got to the beach all my cuts started to bleed and it looked like I had just been hit by a bunker buster!!!!

- Strider

the after-effects of 4:20 are showing up on the blog now....

;^)

If BVB is not real then he is invented.

It is a fact. The more wilbur people in the lineup the more dangerous it becomes. I am fixing dings from two seperate collisions; the first one a log rider let go of his board at the very last lousy second and I ran over the board - two nice fin gashes for him and a fat scrape for me. The second crash occured during my obstacle course run through the inside - nailed the guys arm as he tried to paddle into me and not away from me?
HANG ON TO YOUR BOARD - DON'T BAIL. Ask E for his personal set of big hairy balls.
For your safety stay away from the corner - it is very dangerous. One set on the head and you'll get the idea...

"If BVB is not real then he is invented"

Genius.

just talked to a guy who surfed fp last night and he was telling tales of a guy on a big red board getting a bunch of waves...haaaay..

jetty:

Checked it for a couple hours as the tide was dropping, a lot of people were marvelling at the beauty of the sets. Saw some amazing point break lines being drawn up on curtains of water.
Heard there were tow teams at Rockview/Little wind an sea and 3rd reef Lane. Ended up doing 1 1/2 hour session, caught 1 wave - one of my best ever, so worth it. Be safe out there.

T.W. Good to hear from someone down south. I checked the Lane cam and it looked like the sets were breaking way behind seal rock. Since I sorta' have dual citizenship I've made a lot of friends from SF to SC. Sorry to say you're all the same. Pretty nice guys with a shared appreciation for something really epic.

Damn, bud. That photo is a keeper. Granada head high plus is a fantastic wave. Haven't seen it that way since El Nino.

Trippin' to Kaw'ai - anybody got any tips on the "insternessnet.comshurfffffspots?" Forget 'Spread It' Beach, plus da B-Hamilister lost her arm there. Man. Sheeit. Never forget that day her running up the beach all bloody - no arm ...I remember the day not THAT long ago when we useta dive there in '75'6'7801' 012345678XXXXX0000000014158089808213350310. 666 CALI 666 CALI 666 CALI 666
Any advice on hot to access The Ranch? Big Sur? Directions? Anybody...? Priceline.commiefriscotransplantfuckface.
I quit surfing to write prose and paint. It's hard here where I am. All alone wondering when life is going to change for me...
I watched all the surfers suiting up and became aroused at their manhood, their coolness. The vibe permeated into my car and I have to admit I had a surfers' erection.
Had to get out and see the ocean.
The smell of sea salt and pussy this morning - then the burnt bagel ham and egg sandwich and more pussy. Fuck dude - my balls were huge and I thought,
' fuckall this hot pussy shit. I'm cuttin' a mullett and heading for the Jetty after a fat burrito in El Grande - yeah'. Fuck. Life is good. I watch my hero's charging charging charges chargers masturbating Mav's and I want to paddle out but I can't. Too scared. And, let it be known here, I admit, ... kind of a wimp, There goes the ghost of Matt Wasburn, Doc. Wowwwww . Fleame! I must be dead.
No wait! DEADMAN'S. The Fort. In my dream I ruled it FRONTSIDE - dropping in next to E and he's all smiling and giving me the shaka. Yeah brah... right'on,- cool baby - Gimmie all your buds dude!
There we were at San Gregoria, his wife and me all snuggling and shit. Now she IS MY LADY. All pussy and shit.

There are those living... who remember the time when almost the entire population of a village would at certain hours resort to the sea-side to indulge in, or to witness, this magnificent accomplishment. We cannot but mourn its decline. But this too has felt the touch of civilization, and today it is hard to find a surfboard outside of our museums and private collections." -- Nathaniel Emerson, 1892

As hard as it may be to imagine, today, surfing as a sport, lifestyle and culture declined from its Hawaiian "golden age" of the pre-European period to a near-fatal extinction in the mid-to-late 1800s. Once an integral part of Polynesian life, by the end of the 1800s, surfing as a practice was all but forgotten by the beginning of the Twentieth Century.

This turn of events was in stark contrast to the state of Hawaiian surfing at the beginning of the Nineteenth Century. For example, in Polynesian Researches, published in 1831, William Ellis described how, in the late 1700s and beginning 1800s, whole villages would drop everything to surf. Yet, by 1844, in a work entitled Scenes and Scenery in the Sandwich Islands, James Jarves noted that surfing at Lahaina, on the island of Maui, was already a rare sight. Lahaina, in fact, was one of the few places where, "surfers still rode with the enthusiasm of former days." By 1876, Hilo, on the island of Hawai`i, was one of surfing's last strongholds. At Hilo, waves were still ridden, but the surfers were primarily from the older generation and they were no longer riding the bigger boards like the olo and kiko`o.

During the Nineteenth Century, an entire spectrum of ancient Hawaiian customs and lifestyle components declined dramatically or disappeared altogether as a result of the cultural, political and religious imperialism forced upon the Hawaiians by Europeans. The subsequent upheaval these pressures caused damaged the entire traditional Hawaiian social fabric to such a degree that even today much remains to restore. "Sports, games, Kapa-making, ritual dancing, canoe-building -- all were to disappear," wrote Finney and Houston in Surfing, The Sport of Hawaiian Kings, "just as the Hawaiian's smooth dark skin disappeared under gaudy gingham from the holds of early trading ships."

What happened to the many hundreds if not thousands of olo, alaia, kiko`o and paipo surfboards that existed prior to the White Man's arrival? "What caused the Hawaiians," asked Finney and Houston, "to abandon the sport they alone had developed to such a high peak through so many generations?"      First Writings & Drawings of Surfing

One of the first European accounts of Hawaiian surfing appears in the official journals of the Cook expeditions. In A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, Volume III, Lieutenant James King devoted two pages to writing about the Hawaiian surfers he saw. He noted that, "swimming is not only a necessary art, in which their men and women are more expert than any people we had hitherto seen, but a favorite diversion among them." Surfing to the British crew, though, "appeared to us most perilous and extraordinary."  

In describing surfing techniques and preferred wave conditions he observed at Karakakooa Bay (Ke-ala-ke-kua Bay, southwest coast of Hawai`i), King wrote that, "The surf, which breaks on the coast around the bay, extends to the distance of about one hundred and fifty yards from the shore, within which space, the surges of the sea, accumulating from the shallowness of the water, are dashed against the beach with prodigious violence. Whenever, from stormy weather, or any extraordinary swell at sea, the impetuosity of the surf is increased to its utmost height, they choose that time for this amusement which is performed in the following manner: twenty or thirty of the natives, taking each a long narrow board, rounded at the ends, set out together from shore. The first wave they meet, they plunge under, and suffering to roll over them, rise again beyond it, and make the best of their way by swimming out to sea. The second wave is encountered in the same manner with the first: the great difficulty consisting in seizing the proper moment of diving under it, which, if missed, the person is caught by the surf, and driven back again with great violence; and all his dexterity is then required to prevent himself from being dashed against the rocks. As soon as they have gained, by these repeated efforts, the smooth water beyond the surf, they lay themselves at length upon their boards, and prepare for their return. As the surf consists of a number of waves, of which every third is remarked to be always larger than the others, and to flow higher on the shore, the rest breaking in the immediate space, their first object is to place themselves on the summit of the largest surge, by which they are driven along with amazing rapidity toward the shore. The boldness and address, with which we saw them perform these difficult and dangerous maneuvers, was altogether astonishing, and is scarce to be credited."

1. Foreign Landings

Prior to the European arrival, the Hawaiian Islands had been visited to a much lesser degree by at least two other races of foreigners before the British landings in 1778.

According to Desmond Muirhead, in his Surfing in Hawaii, there are tales of Asian arrivals who were absorbed into the race without leaving a trace. Along the same lines, the noted archaeologist Kenneth Emory, an authority on Polynesian customs, advanced the theory that Hawaiians learned gambling from contact with Japanese fishermen who were known to have reached the Islands by shipwreck.

Evidence of Japanese vessels being blown off course over large stretches of the Pacific Ocean is documented such books as Kaigai Ibun (A Strange Tale From Overseas), originally written in 1844:

"During Japan's centuries of relative seclusion... Japanese fishing craft, coasting freighters, and transport ferries... were blown out to sea. While most of these were probably lost, some survivors were rescued from disabled hulks or from barren islands, and others drifted to Kamchatka, China, the Phillipine Islands, Hawaii, and even the coast and offshore islands of North America."

In addition to Japanese, the Hawaiian Islands had also been visited by the Spanish. In a well-documented event, the Spaniard Juan Gaetano, while sailing en route between New Spain (Mexico) and the Spice Islands (Phillipines), landed in the Islands in 1555. It is entirely probable that other Spaniards passed by or through the Hawaiian archipelago on their way to or from Manila. In fact, accounts handed down and repeated to the early British explorers of the late 1770s claimed that more than one Spaniard had been shipwrecked upon and later lived in the Islands. One account even tells of a "white woman," wrote Muirhead, "possibly Spanish, who came with several men. Other Spanish adventurers reported the finding of the islands but did not chart the location correctly, so that the islands were lost..."

 2. The Landings of Cook, 1768-79  

Without question, though, it was the contact with the British and later the North Americans that was to reshape Hawaiian society and deal a near-death blow to surfing and other aspects of Hawaiian culture.

The British first came to Hawai`i during the Cook Expeditions of 1768-79. British navigator and explorer Captain James Cook (1728-1779) began his first voyage to the Pacific in late May of 1768, returning to England in 1771. Thereafter, Cook made several more voyages; the second (1772-75) when he landed at Tahiti; and the fateful third (1776-1779), when he and his crew came upon the Hawaiian Islands. It was January 18, 1778 that the British ships Resolution and Discovery entered Hawaiian waters and the island of O`ahu was spied.

One of the ironies of Cook's "discovery" of the "Sandwich Islands," wrote surfing historian Craig Stecyk, was that he "never recognized that he had encountered a seafaring people whose formidible voyaging accomplishments far surpassed his own. The widespread migration of the Polynesians via their canoes was the greatest dispersal of any nautically based culture ever. Cook never deduced this essential fact and remained relatively clueless..."

Twentieth Century pilot, surfer and sailor Woody Brown put it another way, addressing the general European tendency towards superiority complexes and Cook's specific failure to understand the Polynesian outrigger canoe:  

"Captain Cook said, 'Well, they're nice canoes, but they're all bent out of shape. They don't know how to make 'em straight. They're all bent crooked.' He just didn't understand it was an asymmetric hull. They made them that way on purpose! So, the Polynesians understood hydrodynamics, which we'd never heard of! Captain Cook never heard of that. The Polynesians were so far ahead of Captain Cook and yet he just said, 'They're dumb, they don't know anything.' We're so arrogant and conceited, aren't we?"  

After an initial fear of the unknown, the "floating islands" (British ships) were welcomed by the kanaka maoli (indigenous people) and the visitors moved from one island to the next. "Chiefs and commoners saw the wonderful sight and marvelled at it," wrote the Hawaiian historian Samuel Manaiakalani Kamakau. Eventually, Hawaiians paddled out to meet the ships and what many considered to be the "gods" on board. Their means of transportation were outrigger canoes and surfboards.

3. Writings & Drawings of Surfing

One of the first European accounts of Hawaiian surfing appears in the official journals of the Cook expeditions. In A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, Volume III, Lieutenant James King devoted two pages to writing about the Hawaiian surfers he saw. He noted that, "swimming is not only a necessary art, in which their men and women are more expert than any people we had hitherto seen, but a favorite diversion among them." Surfing to the British crew, though, "appeared to us most perilous and extraordinary."  

In describing surfing techniques and preferred wave conditions he observed at Karakakooa Bay (Ke-ala-ke-kua Bay, southwest coast of Hawai`i), King wrote that, "The surf, which breaks on the coast around the bay, extends to the distance of about one hundred and fifty yards from the shore, within which space, the surges of the sea, accumulating from the shallowness of the water, are dashed against the beach with prodigious violence. Whenever, from stormy weather, or any extraordinary swell at sea, the impetuosity of the surf is increased to its utmost height, they choose that time for this amusement which is performed in the following manner: twenty or thirty of the natives, taking each a long narrow board, rounded at the ends, set out together from shore. The first wave they meet, they plunge under, and suffering to roll over them, rise again beyond it, and make the best of their way by swimming out to sea. The second wave is encountered in the same manner with the first: the great difficulty consisting in seizing the proper moment of diving under it, which, if missed, the person is caught by the surf, and driven back again with great violence; and all his dexterity is then required to prevent himself from being dashed against the rocks. As soon as they have gained, by these repeated efforts, the smooth water beyond the surf, they lay themselves at length upon their boards, and prepare for their return. As the surf consists of a number of waves, of which every third is remarked to be always larger than the others, and to flow higher on the shore, the rest breaking in the immediate space, their first object is to place themselves on the summit of the largest surge, by which they are driven along with amazing rapidity toward the shore. The boldness and address, with which we saw them perform these difficult and dangerous maneuvers, was altogether astonishing, and is scarce to be credited."

Although no formal drawings of surfing were made during the Cook landings, the commissioned artist, John Webber included a surfer when he did one of his most famous scenic studies. Titled "A View of Karakakooa, in Owyhee," a lone surfer can be seen in the foreground, paddling a blunt-nosed surfboard alongside a group of outrigger canoes going out to greet the British ships Resolution and Discovery. Except for petroglyphs, the Webber drawing is the first known illustration of a surfboard.

Prior to witnessing stand-up surfing in Hawai`i, Captain James Cook and his colleagues, while anchored at Tahiti's Matavai Point, December 1777, observed the wonders of canoe surfing. Besides describing the endeavor, Cook commented on the therapeutic and aesthetic effects of wave riding. In writing of the Tahitians, Cook noted: "Neither are they strangers to the soothing effects produced by particular sorts of motion, which in some cases seem to allay any perturbation of mind with as much success as music."

Cook described how one local rode the waves at Matavai Point, nearly oblivious to the presence of his large European vessels. "I could not help concluding that this man felt the most supreme pleasure while he was driven on so fast and so smoothly by the sea; especially as, though the tents and ships were so near, he did not seem in the least to envy or even to take any notice of the crowds of his countrymen collected to view them as objects which were rare and curious. During my stay, two or three of the natives came up, who seemed to share his felicity, and always called out when there was an appearance of a favourable swell, as he sometimes missed it by his back being turned, and looking about for it."

British Captain James Cook's life ended abruptly on February 14, 1779, during a return voyage to the Hawaiian Islands. A group of angry locals attacked and killed Cook and four of his men in the shallows of Kealakekua Bay on Hawai`i's Kona Coast.

The writings of the Cook voyages were completed by Lieutenant James King. He was joined by Cook historian William Ellis, who was another of the first Europeans to describe surfing. Ellis described late 1700s Hawaiian surfing in his writings published in 1831: "Native men, and women alike, enjoyed it. In Kealakakua Bay the waves broke out about one hundred and fifty yards. Twenty or thirty natives, each with a narrow board with rounded ends, would start out together from the shore and battle the breaking waves to a point out beyond. The surfers would then lay themselves full length upon the boards and prepare for the swift return to shore. They would throw themselves in the crest of the largest wave, and be driven towards shore with amazing rapidity. The riders must ride through jagged opening in the rocks, and, in case of failure, be dashed against them."

"The higher the sea and the larger the waves, in their opinion the better the sport," Ellis wrote of wave riding circa 1820. "They use a board, which they call papa he naru (wave sliding-board), generally five or six feet long, and rather more than a foot wide, sometimes flat, but more frequently slightly convex on both sides. It is usually made from the wood of the erythina, stained quite black, and preserved with great care. After using, it is placed in the sun until perfectly dry, when it is rubbed over with coconut oil, frequently wrapped with cloth and suspended in some part of their dwelling house.

"They generally prefer a place where the deep water reaches to the beach, but prefer a part where the rocks are ten to twenty feet under water, and extend to a distance from shore, as the surf breaks more violently there. When playing in these places, each individual takes his board and pushing it before him, swims perhaps a quarter of a mile or more out to sea. They do not attempt to go over the billows which roll towards the shore, but watch their approach, and dive under water, allowing the billow to pass over their heads.

"When they reach the outside of the rocks, where the waves first break, they adjust themselves on one end of the board, lying flat on their faces, and watch the approach of the largest billow; they then poise themselves on its highest edge, and paddling as it were with their hands and feet, ride on the crest of the wave in the midst of the spray and foam, until within a yard or two of the rocks or the shore; and when the observers would expect to see them dashed to pieces, they steer with great address between the rocks, or slide off their board in a moment, grasp it by the middle, and dive under water, while the wave rolls on, and breaks among the rocks with a roaring noise, the effect of which is greatly heightened by the shouts and laughter of the natives in the water.

"Those who are expert frequently change their position on the board, sometimes sitting and sometimes standing erect in the midst of the foam. The greatest address is necessary in order to keep on the edge of the wave: for if they get too forward, they are sure to be overturned; and if they fall back, they are buried beneath the succeeding billow."

"There are few children who are not taken into the sea by their mothers the second or third day after their birth," added Ellis, "and many can swim as soon as they can walk."

In the mid-1800s, David Malo became one of the most respected authorities on early Hawaiiana. This native Hawaiian historian was translated by Emerson and wrote a short chapter on surfriding as it existed in the Hawai`i of the first half of the 1800s:

"Surfriding was a national sport of the Hawaiians," Malo wrote, "at which they were very fond of betting, each man staking his property on the one he thought to be the most skillful.

"With the bets all put up, the surfriders, taking their boards with them, swam out through the surf till they had reached the waters outside the surf.

"The surfboards were broad and flat, generally hewn out of koa. A narrower board was made from the wood of the wili wili. One board would be one fathom in length; one, two fathoms; and another, four fathoms or even longer.

"The surfriders having reached the belt of water outside the surf, the region where the rollers begin to make head, awaited the incoming wave in preparation for which they got their boards under way by paddling with their hands until such time as the swelling wave began to lift and urge them forward.

"Then they speeded for the shore until they came opposite to where was moored a buoy, which was called a pau. If the combatants crossed the line of this buoy together, it was a dead heat, but if one went by in advance of the others, he was the victor. 4. Cultural & Political Imperialism

Following Cook's landings in the Hawaiian and Society Islands (Tahitian chain), other Europeans followed. They came first came as explorers and traders and then, later, as missionaries and settlers. Gradually, the Western infiltration made its mark on Hawaiian culture and politics. The fascinating features of the European-based culture eventually overwhelmed Hawaiian traditional life to such an extensive degree that the old ways rapidly fell by the wayside.

Politically, the arrival of the foreigners contributed to the first unification of all the Hawaiian Islands under Kamehameha I, in 1795. However, the new Caucasian arrivals were ambitious. Those who first became advisors to the throne were soon presiding as important ministers in the government. By the late 19th century Caucasians had grown politically so powerful that they were able to force Queen Lili`uokalani from the throne and establish their own government over the island chain, paving the way for its incorporation into the United States. Economically, the development of barter, trade, and industry undermined the traditional subsistence-based Hawaiian economy, replacing the one with the other.

wow dude your like warhol with a pen

but did you just say mullet?

Here goes a regular surf post. Checked out this spot a couple of days ago so thought I had the paddle and lineup pretty okay. Wrong. Couldn't see nada. At least I talked a bud into going out with me. After a couple of ass-handed-to-us rejections, paddled around the other way and (finally!) made it out. No names, but it's been years since I've seen it well o-head like today. So much water coursing through - my board felt like a potato chip at times. Disappointed the long period swell wasn't a little (LOT) cleaner. Mostly closeouts with spring warble. Found a few shoulders, but finally started taking off on the walls. Paddled over to another peak, got caught inside on another relentless set (where were the long-period lulls?). Fog had lifted, pounded back outside then got caught inside by another set. Glad to be there. Glad I wasn't anywhere near much heavier closeouts (like those 40+ footers at Mavs). Hitting the sack early tonight. Hope nobody drowned.

I just got back from SC and it was crazy, on the way down I saw some disturbing sites, but Pidgeon POINT WAS A 20FT POINT BREAK, AND MAKEABLE with a ski! There was fun long waves to be had, surfed mucho and only grabbed a couple pics. I think I'm still feeling a little ill, I may have to call in tomorrow