South Swell hits Hawaii in October!

Mother Nature blessed Hawaii with a pretty solid south swell last week.  On Maui, waves were breaking everywhere from Laparouse to Mala Warf. I got a call from little super star Carissa Moore the night before the swell’s arrival. She had heard that Maalaea might wake up from a long slumber. Unfortunately, Maalaea wasn’t quite big enough, but the rest of the south shore was in full effect. After picking up Carissa from the airport the next day, we headed over to Lahaina. Puamana “Pools” was on!  We waxed up and hit the water for 3 hours of non-stop surfing.  Ian Walsh and Dusty Payne joined us and it turned into a display of raw natural talent. Between those 3 surfing, I felt like I was watching a surf movie.  I did get to throw in a turn or two, though.

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The next day the swell was still pumping so we decided to head towards Laparouse. Carissa and Dusty had not yet surfed the legendary Laparouse, so the anticipation level was high! Upon arrival, we met up with my Hookipa boys who had already put in a good long  session. The reports were all good and we were on the pursuit.

The surf was four to six feet and peeling off the “Vodoo reef”. There were only a few guys out, and all of them happen to be my close friends.  Ian was ripping from the start. His first wave was a bomb and he opted to go right… taking a big beautiful drop and pulling right into the barrel.  Right away Ian upped the ante and the battle for best ridden wave was on! Carissa annihilated the inside sweepers, doing ten turns per wave. Dusty was surfing the lefts like it was Indonesia. Big upside-down turns right in the pocket. Once again the line up was like watching a surf movie. We surfed till our eyes couldn’t take the wind and salt.

Carissa also needed to catch a flight home to Kauai. On the drive to the airport, we reflected on the epic surf sessions we had. Laughing that it happen to be in the month of October. Good times…