Surf's Up!

     Up until this weekend, we on the Kona coast had been enjoying a prolonged period of relatively calm surf conditions.  Sure, there were days when the surf might have been too high for us old folks

Shooting the Curl

to chance a lava rock entry at City of Refuge.  But as we get older and a teensy bit less agile, it doesn't take all that much to dissuade us from entering the ocean off the rocks.  Or, for that matter, even climbing on the rocks. 

    This relatively long surf free period has a lot to do with the island of Maui and the direction from which the surf is coming.  This is to say that the swell usually comes from the north and, as Maui lies just northwest of our enchanted isle, it absorbs that swell, sparing us from big surf conditions.  The more west that is in the swell, the more likely the Kona coast will receive high surf.  With all the buoys out in the ocean transmitting information to NOAA, these conditions can be predicted with some accuracy.

    On Friday I was cooling my heels for half an hour in the TV lobby of the King Kamehameha Hotel while my sweetie conducted her ladylike affairs elsewhere in our thriving metropolis.  I was at the King Kam as the library was closed for the Martin Luther King holiday.  You may say, "But Jeffrey, the MLK holiday will be celebrated tomorrow, Monday!"  Well, Monday is the libraries normal day

off and, although their phone announcement suggested they would take an extra day of rest on the following Tuesday, it seems like they took Friday as well.

      At any rate, there I was sitting in the back lobby of the King Kam and some surfer types, who apparently worked there, were congregating for a break and discussing up coming surf conditions at Pine Trees.  Pine Trees, perhaps the best surfing beach here in Kona, is located about halfway between the village and the airport.  In the past it has been accessed by a long 4 wheel drive road.  The off road stretch of the access has been cut in half by the addition of a beachfront luxury resort just south of the surfer's hangout.  You can now drive about half a mile to the coast on a very nice road and turn right through a hand operated barb wire gate to get on the sandy road to Pine Trees.  Or, if you don't have a 4 wheel drive vehicle, you could park there and walk about half a
mile along the sandy road, hard by the ocean.  If you attempt to turn left, the nice guard for the gazillionaires, kindly, but firmly, tells you that your kind ain't welcome in there. 

Perhaps this gazillionaire will take his board out in high surf!

    So another mile or so of beachfront lava has fallen to the developers and signs have sprouted up around Kailua imploring you to "Save Pine Trees!"  I must at this point add that there are no pine trees per se.  A few scraggly shrubs grow near the surfing beach and those were designated "pine trees" by some wave addled dudes in the hazy Hawaiian past. 

    Saturday morning after breakfast Sandra and I went down to White Sands Beach.  You may recall that a week or so ago, I went snorkeling at this beach on a calm day, remarking that it was extraordinary for the "magic" sand to still cover the beach in January.   Call it Magic Sands, White Sands or Disappearing Sands, I'm still amazed that I was able to go snorkeling there this late in the winter.

    Despite the big surf, there was still some sand on the beach.  But the waves were big and even at 9 AM there were a fair number of guys out there riding the waves on boogie boards.  Off to the left there were both surfers and boogie boarders riding the intermittent big waves.

   Those of you who live here know that the big waves come in sets.  Occasionally it seems like most of the waves are big, but most of the time a set of three large waves comes in.  When you are out in the break zone, with or without a board, your eye is constantly looking seaward, searching for the next big set.  In the hour or so we were at White Sands, there was a big set about every five minutes. 

   Here I'm talking about waves with ten foot faces or greater; the sort of waves that, if you don't know what you are doing might break your neck.  Seriously.  If you have a board, you ride the

A Wall of Water

waves.  If you don't, you can body surf them, which is probably safer but more difficult.  If you just want to play in them, you watch for the big waves and dive under them just before they break;  head all the way to the bottom and let the monster pass over you.  Obviously if you come up and see another monster, you are diving again right away.   Being at the bottom of a ten foot face just before it breaks is a remarkable experience.  The water looks like a skyscraper and, just like running with the bulls, there is no doubt that there is true danger in the air.

   Just being on the beach, you can feel the tension when a big set comes in.  The beach quiets down and when the big waves have expended themselves, your hear a directed chatter, people looking for their friends and loved ones out in the foamy flat water.

    I used to play in such waves at this beach, but that avenue of risk taking came to an end about ten years ago.  I attempted to enter the water on such a day at White Sands and the lifeguard talked me

Looking Seaward, White Sands Beach

out of it.  He didn't like the cut of my jib and no amount of disagreement on my part could persuade him.  I could go in, he said, but when I came out...if I came out...the police would be waiting.  Boy was I mad, but that day spelled the end to me diving under the big waves.  In the words of the immortal Kurt Vonnegut, "So it goes."

      Yesterday was just like that, sunny, a light breeze and monster sets.  There was a girl sitting near us who had arrived with a guy who was out in the waves.  At one point I asked if her boyfriend was still out there and she corrected me, saying it was her brother.  Looking at her more carefully, I decided that she was probably younger than I had thought, maybe sixteen or seventeen.

    A bit later, a couple kids went by.  They were in their early teens, carrying boards, and one of them had red ointment smeared on both cheeks.  I asked him if he was having fun and he allowed as how he had been bounced pretty hard a couple times.

   A few minutes later I saw the group gathering to go back.  I got over to the wall in time to get them to pose for a picture.  I then took a series of shots as they made their way down the lava and entered the foamy water.

On the Wall

    Sandra was watching the same group from up the beach and nabbed the picture you see here.  I'm calling it Jumping In and I believe we have to give the Redoubtable SKG credit for getting the shot.  
  
    As I made my way back to the chairs, I ran across an older guy and a couple younger fellows with a remarkable dog.  He had a huge head and a smooth bluish gray coat.  I asked about the pooch and they said he was a cross between a blue mastiff and a a blue point pit bull.  Sometimes I'm a little
leery of asking for pictures among the folks, and I didn't in this case.  That's somebody else's blue mastiff you see pictured here.  We talked about what a nice dog he was and while we did, he rolled over on his side and fell asleep.  The older guy said that all that dog was doing now was breeding.  I supposed that the alternative was to be staked out in front of the house, or whatever, on guard duty.  Regardless,  the implication being that he liked breeding a lot.

A Blue Mastiff

    I turned to go, but I could not resist, so I returned to tell them the story of how the Indian boy got
his name.  The old guy smiled indulgently but the young man who was the owner of the magnificent beast issued a great belly laugh.

 
  I got back to Sandra and she showed me the wonderful picture she had captured.  And then it was time to go.  As I knocked the sand from the feet of my beach chair, the sixteen year old girl lit a cigarette.  As we turned to walk back to the car, I spied the older guy with the dog rolling a joint.  And that's the way we roll at White Sands Beach.

jeff

Jumping In         Photo by the Redoubtable SKG

One morning an Indian boy asked his father how he got his name.
The father replied, "My son, in our tribe, the morning a child is born, the father walks out of his tepee and the first thing he sees becomes the name of his newborn child.
"That is why your sister is known as Beautiful Sunrise.  And it is why your brother is called Running Deer.
"And that, my son, is why you are known as Two Dogs Fucking."