Sunday Night Monday Morning-Towa Tei - Obrigado - Bebel Gilberto & Arto Lindsay

Little Dragon - Constant Surprises

Little Dragon - Constant Surprises

Little Dragon - Constant Surprises

Back from the mainland

Back from the mainland and home to Hawaii.
Feels good to be back.

Got back Sunday Night.

Monday unpacked and went to our favorite beach and swam.

Tuesday went camping on North Shore with Luke and Sarah.
Surfed a secret spot with Luke.
Over head and glassy.
My first wave I drop in on Sunny Garcia and watched him crank a bottom turn
as I ejected off the top.
A beautiful session till sunset.
Then Poki and rice from Kahuku Superette and a twelve pack of Coronas.

Campfire and a walk under the stars along the beach.

Wednesday morning walk along the beach,
bacon, egg and cheese breakfast at Ted's Bakery
A stop to the NS Skatepark for a 45minute session
then straight to Puena Point.
Waves were 10-12ft, so Puena was the safe spot.
then Margaritas and dinner at Cholos
then home.

Thursday skate?
Friday- Sold shades in chinatown First Friday

Saturday woke, cleaned the house Skated and Surfed Diamond Head
Sunday went to Baby Makapuu and hung with Hayden and Surfed.
then watched the sunset at Kaimana Beach.
Now home for Dinner.

Monday- time to apply for jobs and work on art.

One thing I've been thinking;
As an artist, you make a statement and put yourself up for criticism.
You put in your ideas to the pot to inspire the community.
whether good or bad.

The Dream / Roll Skateboards

Roll Skateboards Sidewalk Surf.mov

Saturday one on one

My favorite surf break gives it up to a lot of dudes
including me.
But this saturday I had her all to myself
and she got friskier than I expected.
No one was around to see, but me.
She layed it all out and let me do whatever I want.
I am happy to say that I got to smack the lip.
and I surfed without a leash...
feel more free.
I was stoked
Surfed till I was worn out.
But the waves kept coming.
I had to eventually paddle in to my wife and kid.
Good times.

Roll Skateboards / How to do a hand plant.mov

How to skate a Driveway 1.mov

Skate.MOV

Wednesday Dawn Patrol Report

This morning went for usual Wednesday early surf sesh.

6am pulled up to Diamond Head.

Not many people out... Maybe 4 guys.

Kinda shitty conditions.

Was about to go home and get creative, but Uncle Eddie

pulled up. I said I'll paddle out if you paddle out.

He said I'm going just for an hour.

I gotta try my new board.

We paddled out to Light House.

It was just him and I.

No one came out... from beginning to end.

We caught some fun ones.

I caught a good one and screamed like a girl.

It was worth it....

We talked about having a wife and family...

He's been married for 25 years and has 3 kids.

a 25 year old, 19, and 17.

He said he gave his wife plenty of reasons to leave him, but

"She believed in me"

Every time I see Eddie, he's got a new board and is trying to sell one...

I just noticed that.

Last Week Recap

Haven't written in a long time.

Last week was a big South Swell.

Surfed twice last Sunday.

Surfed Sleepy Hallows with friend Aaron that morning.

He set up for a barrel into a huge close out.

I was on the inside,

and saw him, then looked up and the wave was three times as tall as he was.

I was like "HOLY FU#%!"

He realized it was just a huge close out.

then dove of his board and the lip came crashing down on his head and shoulder.

I thought we were gonna paddle in after that one.

I screamed WOOOOH! when I saw his face.

He smiled and screamed back.

and turned around immediately to paddle for more.

He's rad. He drops in deep a lot.

Far enough where it looks like he's not gonna make it...

and usually makes it every time. Gnarly.

We caught a bunch of waves.

mostly close-outs but a some make-able.

I went over the falls twice on 15ft faces (6ft Hawaiiian scale)

but somehow the South side swells are a little more forgiving than North Shore... or South shore spots like Browns...

My last wave I caught from Sleepy's all the way to 25 yards away from the reef pole at the end of Suicides.

When the waves get big, distances shrink it seems.

rips pull you all over the place.

I saw Aaron so far away, I paddled hard toward him and all of a sudden I was like 5ft away

from him.

Later in the day we surfed closer to Waikiki where the waves were holding up better.

Rice Bowls to past Publics were holding up real good.

I paddled out with Aaron, Luke and Scratch from Kaimana beach to Rice Bowls. Pretty far paddle.

Aaron got the barrel of his life at Rice Bowls, so he said.

I believe him. I got the wave right after him and pulled up seconds after his ride,

and he sounded like a different person.

He was all, "Fuck Manny!" in a deep unfamiliar voice!

I said "what happened?"

I just got the BARREL OF MY LIFE.

The lip at Rice Bowls throws far when it gets 4-6ft and bigger.

You can totally stand up inside and spread your arms out like wings

and still be inside the barrel.

He dropped into a 6 footer (Hawaiian Scale)... 15ft plus- face.

I didn't get tubed that time, but almost.

An intense moment went like this...

I dropped into a set wave. Around a 15ft face too....

as I was dropping in, one of the dudes paddling back

yells at me "JUST WAIT BRO! JUST WAIT!

The wave started dieing out, so I cut back into the soup.

then all of a sudden the wave double up...

the whole flat front of the wave came sucking in.

As if the wave was sucking in its gut.

The flatness sucked up into a heaving wall and all

of a sudden I'm going mach speed down the line into an eventual close out.

but the seeing the wave do what it did blew my mind when it happened.

My face turned all mean with a hint of smile at the site... as I screamed WOOOOHOLY #$%#$!

I dove through the face and made it through without going over the falls which was

good.

Then we paddled back over towards Kaimana and caught a few more waves at Old Mans.

It was good to surf all together with Luke, Scratch (Mathias), and Aaron at Old Mans.

the small crowd at Rice Bowls was intense. Old Man's was a lot more mellow.

But the sets were coming in well over head... and lining up.

My last wave, I caught from Old Mans past the wind-sock into the inside reef at Castles.

It connected. I was done riding as I past the wind-sock but the wave just kept on going.

So I was like.... "OK"

There was a heavy rip that was going towards Publics.

and the paddle back towards the wind-sock and channel seemed endless.

Apparently the life guards were pulling people out of there non-stop with the wave-runners.

I made it back more tired than I ever was.

All I kept thinking was a Beer and a Burger awaits me...

A Beer and a Burger... and a hot dog.

and a Beer.

I never wanted a Beer and Burger so much since getting out of a wood shop with Jimmy Lynch

on a Friday in Brooklyn after a long saw dusty week when we invented the "Brooklyn All-Star" rum drink at some bar that doesn't exist anymore on Bedford Ave.

But that's another story I must tell another time.

Signing off.

Manny Skate da Surfa Artist.

Honolulu Tsunami

False alarm. Went to the grocery store at 6am and spent $160+ on water and supplies....

Gonna return the water and canned supplies to get some of my money back.

The sirens put a serious vibe in the air.

I was prepared after being in NYC for 911 and the Black Out.

Had 6 friends come over.

We walked over to a neighboring building rooftop to see the tsunami hit,

but nothing ever came.

then we came back to my house to BBQ and drink beers.

Then went to Diamond Head to surf.

Caught some fun waves.

The Chile earthquake brought some juice.

Hope there's still waves tomorrow.

-Manny

Realization

Ok lets say you are the best skater in the world and get a million dollars a year to skate...

what are you gonna do when you get that million?

Help others and what?

Skate. Don't abandon the thing that got you to where you are.

tales of a Honolulu Homeboy

drinking beers and skating is alot more crucial than drinking beers and surfing.

in the former, you are paying with blood or broken bones.

Tales of a Honolulu Homeboy

It was a combination of no wind, a setting sun, over 10 years of surf and skate experience, and a little bit of magic that made Johnny surf the most stylish line he had ever drawn in his entire life. The fact that his friends were watching as they paddled back to the line-up didn't hurt. Johnny loved witnessing his homies catch good waves. But this time it was his time to shine. And shine he did. With his friends in the corner of his eye he caught the next wave and dropped in with a smile. He did the tic-tac shuffle across the wave and danced into a cutback to set himself up for another round with the lip. At first sight, it looked like Johnny was break-dancing on water.

All of his positive energy culminated on that one ride.It would be tough to get in any more turns on such a modest yet gorgeous wave...
He surfed with ease, speed, and grace... Aloha.

Dynamic Movement

The key to a youthful and alert spirit is dynamic movement
in both the Body and MInd. In the Body, movement beyond up and down and side to side, but all the diagonals to upside down.
In the mind... feeding it concepts
and filling it with humor and connecting thoughts from past, present moment, future, and
unknown.

Dynamic Movement will keep you healthy all around.
There are vehicles and tools for easy access to Dynamic Movement.
A skateboard put you in millions of spaces in one linear back to back moment.
Good rhythmic music is a great guide for the body to bounce to
for your body to dance
and great lyrics activate the mind even more
make your mind dance.

Dynamic Movement by any means necessary.

Dawn Patrol Drama

Wednesday Dawn Patrol Drama: Smacking Reef

Today I did my usual Wednesday Dawn Patrol"
Woke at 5:turtles.
left for North Shore at 6.
arrived 6:45.
Paddled out with John Esguerra.
Waves were beautiful yet kinda shitty.
caught two good waves.
It was like getting 6 seconds with a naked hot chick...
(I know that's some incriminating shit, especially cuz I'm married, but hey, I'm theoretically speaking)
Besides those two waves, I waited a lot.
I decided to sit inside closer to the impact zone and got caught inside a few times.
had to abandon ship and dive deep to avoid mini freak sets and heavy lips to the head.
not too big... but a little big for a townie.

Paddled back out a few more times.
and waited longer.
Until I decided to drop in no matter what on the next set.
I dropped into pretty much a close out and pearled (nose dived) and went flying to the bottom
of the transition and got sucked up and back over, then
got drilled straight to the bottom and smacked my knee on the reef.
I think it helped that I practiced holding my breath for almost a minute on the drive up.
Warmed up my lungs with hot tea and helped them stretch bigger for deeper breaths.

I wasn't sure if my knee exploded. It stung.
when I came up. I only saw a little blood thankfully,
blood next to the almost healed wound from the last time I hit reef on the same knee.
very minor scrape, but painful for this Filipino Pretty Boy.
Let's see if I can draw an accurate cartoon of my wipeout tonight.
til then.
-Mandog