Hawaii 2002
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THE
PLAYERS
THE SCENERY
As
the 12 weary travellers awoke on the morning of the 11th November 02,
some were still trying to come to terms with the fact that this hadn’t been
one big bite. 48 hours of
travelling and two long haul flights had resulted in 12 of the RN/RM surf team
ending up on the other side of the planet.
Location; ‘The North Shore of OAHU’. For the less well informed the
island of ‘O’AHU’ is one of the more northerly islands in the Polynesian
group, more commonly known as being one of the tropical destinations of Hawaii.
Colin Pryde (Lt Cdr RN) in his capacity as the President of the RN/RM
surf club had somehow managed to speak to GOD, and in doing this he had
unbelievably managed to arrange accommodation in one of the worlds most renowned
surf spots. We were staying on the
North Shore of OAHU and this in itself was amazing, being less than 200M away
from the famous big wave cathedral of Waimea Bay and running approximately 6
miles in either direction was some of the best surf breaks on the planet.
The water temperature for the trip was going to be a staggering 26
degrees centigrade and all we had to do was turn up, surf our brains out and
make sure we didn’t drown or get eaten. This
may sound pretty straightforward enough, but the power and the creatures of the
Pacific Ocean are something that should not be taken lightly. It is common
knowledge that annually mortal bodies are broken and some never seen again.
It was with this thought in our minds (well mine anyway, I didn’t tell
the lads or some of them would never have got in the water) that we went forward
in an attempt to savour some of the delights that she would throw at us.
There
is something strange in the fact that after talking about a trip for months, the
keenness of people to get there and the getting up at 0530 on day one to check
out the waves, that even a small group of well disciplined individuals can take
almost thirty minutes to strap half a dozen boards to the roof of a car.
After this prolonged fiasco we eventually made our way to the beach to be
greeted by a gentle Pacific swell it was in the region of 3-4 foot, an ideal
size to get the feel of things. While
some of us rushed to get in the water, others gazed a little longer.
The
beaches surfed that morning where Pupukea and Gas Chambers, the first being a
beach break with a mixture of hidden coral heads and ledges.
It provided nice right hand waves, the take off being relatively straight
forward, however, the inside section was a bit more racy and there was some nice
waves had by all. Gas chambers was a bit more crucial than Pupukea, the take
off was not for the faint hearted and as you dropped down the face you could
feel and see the water being sucked off the submerged reef. It was a pretty
insane left hander. Matt Lawless
managed to hit the bottom a few times, luckily it was only his head so no
damage. This was our first surf in
Hawaii and it all went really well. Those individuals that got up at 0530 had
set the scene of the ‘early rise brigade’ for the rest of the trip. It is worth pointing out now that the team was of mixed
abilities/styles with the short board crew pretty intent on surfing the North
shore, whilst the longboarders opted for the more serene/mellow waves of Waikiki
and Makaha. The team had two people
carriers and for the most part they would split themselves into two groups.
They would depart, go do their thing, meet up at the end of the day and
tell tall tales of surfing bravado etc. These
stories would be vetted by our very own surfing GURU and master of all, ‘EL
KEENO’. He constantly shocked us
with his depth of knowledge on all things to do with surfing. In fact ‘EL
KEENO’ was capable of passing advice on any topic and he was without doubt a
wise man. When the bouts of jet lag
and insomnia appeared ‘EL KEENO’ was much in demand.
After a successful first day of surfing the team retired to a nice
restaurant in the small town of Haleiwa, we all ate like horses and reminisced
about the days events. At some
point during the meal ‘EL KEENO’ struck a deathly blow and before anyone was
aware of what was going on, he had gone full steam ahead into the weights and
dynamics of a dry and a saturated wetsuit.
Within minutes the first victim who shall remain nameless fell head first
and fast asleep into his own dinner. It
is at moments like this, that the quick thinking prowess and dynamic reaction of
our trusty Royal Marine friends comes into it’s own, within seconds they had
formulated a plan of action, briefed the troops and orchestrated an immediate
shut down of the offending person. During
the debrief of the aforementioned plan it was decided that the Team were too
tired and vulnerable to continue with the evenings events and it was with this
lucky escape still fresh in our minds that we returned to our house on stilts
for a good nights rest.
Tuesday
12th Nov
Started
again with a 0530 rise, the two groups split with half of the lads going to the
longboard waves of Makaha and the rest remaining to surf the North Shore.
While the North Shore crew pitted their skills against the breaks surfed
previously the West coasters were creating mayhem in the water.
Our very own Newcastle bred Geordie bloke had only gone and let go of his
surfboard in front of what can only be described as the biggest, meanest and
scariest Hawaiian ever to walk the earth. In
letting go of his board George had nearly been responsible for the decapitation
of the monster. The big beast
obviously took serious offence to this trick and proceeded to inform George on
how he was going to rip him limb from limb.
George managed to utilise his Geordie speak and Newcastle charm in a
manner never seen before and before long the situation had calmed itself down.
The big guy started giving him some tips and George taught him some Newcastle
slang. For the rest of the trip
George was IC of international relations, ‘ye naa eesa moust articuulate
blake, leek man’.
ON THE LEFT, OUR VERY OWN GEORDIE BLOKE
The
crew awoke 0530, some light weights remained in their pits trying to catch up on
their beauty sleep (stacks of that would be required).
Waves surfed that morning were the classic Pipeline and Sunset.
Pipe was pretty small at 2-3 feet, but Shay and Matt went out to get a
feel for it. Shaun had gone to
Velzyland and came back with tales of good waves.
SHAUN AT VELZYLAND
MATT/THE SWELL INCREASES IN SIZE
Thursday
14th Nov
The crew do their usual split, Colin, Frenchy and Keeno surf Halieva. They meet Kelly Slater, the waves are in the region of 1-2 feet they have a really cool time and come back with big smiles on their faces and stories of surfing beside the Pros.
