Monday, December 12, 2011

Greetings from the North Shore by Jeff McKee

Greetings. Today I am writing you from the floor of the master suite closet in Body Glove's Sunset Beach palace. This humble 30 square feet has become my own private paradise on my first ever trip to Hawaii. I've got my computer to my left, my clothes to my right, and a makeshift bed in- between. In a New York City I'd be doing well, so in this Hawaiian Island I'm on cloud 9. In the great words of Jeff Spicoli, "All I need is a cool buzz and some tasty waves." Now I know exactly what that guy was talking about...


Now that is a tasty wave...


JOB Waxing up 1 of his 3 sticks for a Pipe session. The first day of the event there were 14 broken boards.


I was happy to be safe in the sand while snapping this pic.


Our backyard. Literally.



The North Shore is actually nothing like I expected. It reminds me of Costa Rica. One grocery store, one gas station, and an overwhelming amount of epic surf. It's the only thing people seem to live for over here, and it's also amazing to me how long they can discuss the topic. I guess there's just so many variables in surfing that the discussion never ends: The wind, the sand, the swell direction, the size of your board, the amount of people out, and also whether or not the Red Bull DJ is pumping the jams off Jamie O'Brien's back porch. This is apparently a new feature on the North Sore, but the concept is genius.

I've learned something about Hawaiian's while I've been here...1 ft. Hawaiin = 2 - 3 ft. mainland, so when they say the swell at Pipe Masters is 12 foot, that actually means 25-30 and completely death defying. I've never seen a barrel that you could drive your car through, so the past week has been pretty unbelievable. Also getting to hang out with my favorite surfers like Alex Gray and Cheyne Magnusson while we sit on JOB's back porch and watch him get a double barrel during the event has all been pretty insane. Alex also owned it at the Surfer Poll awards when he won the best barrel award and followed it up with a kick ass speech, then yesterday Cheyne took us on the car ride of a lifetime (close to 6 hours) as we cruised across the island to check out Waikiki, do airport runs, and blast house music out the windows of the suburban throughout. That guy knows how to keep the vibes rolling strong all day long. We actually longboarded waikiki last night and the swell was about half a foot (Hawaiin scale). I was on a wave at the same time as this 50 something year old mom who told me to "bend your knee's, sweetheart," so apparently i've still got some work to do on my surfing. Guess I better get out there and practice...So Peace out Bloggers, talk to you soon.

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