I am calling it the best Spring since 2008. There were 10 foot plus days on April 1st, 5th and 8th and then we had several 3-5 foot plus swells through the end of April. I marked April 28th the best small day of the year. It was 3-5 plus with nice WNW swell and epic conditions. Those conditions prevailed with small surf through most of May until last weekend when the winds turned north again. It was so beautiful that I found myself surfing 1-2 foot waves for hours just because I was enjoying the warm, sunny conditions and clear, green glowing reef that was like an aquarium between sets. One day I realized that we have not had those real warm, still days in a few years (not with any consistency) I remember being cold throughout most of the summer for the last couple years so it was really enjoyable and all the locals were having fun. The uncrowded, clean, fun days made up for the overcrowded, cold and stormy winter most of experienced. All an all I think it turned out to be a pretty fun winter especially since we had a good early and late season.

Looks like the waves will continue from an epic spring into an exciting summer. We have all been watching the exciting waves at Teahupo‘o on our Facebook pages and are super anxious to see what exactly will make it here to our town shores. Whatever it is, the forecast suggests that it will last for one week straight so I hope you all got your chores done.

Make sure to check out Kamehameha Schoolʻs big sample sale tomorrow. It is an important fundraiser that helps their surf team raise funds to travel to the NSSA Nationals in California. The sale is held at Kamehameha School on Kōnia Field. This sample sale is always a blast. You see a lot of people you know. They have music, food and killer deals from brands such as Billabong, Adidas, FCS, Skull Candy, Nixon, Lost, Pualani Swim and many more. The event runs from 10am-2pm with a $3 entry fee. Itʻs like a shopping pā‘ina! Have fun!

Small swells have keep us in the water all week. Todayʻs swell was a bit of a disappointment, but the beautiful conditions made up for it. We had such a cold winter that nice weather seems like a treat right now even though it is still kind of cold.

Make sure to check out Storm Surfers 3D which opens tomorrow, Friday April 26th at Ward Theaters in Honolulu and at Ka‘ahumanu 6 on Maui. Surfing legends Tom Carroll and Ross Clark Jones will be in Honolulu at the 7pm screening to kick off the film.

We went to check it out last week and were amazed at the 3D footage since it was the first 3D surf movie we have ever seen. The documentary follows Tom Carroll and Ross Clark Jones on their big wave adventures throughout the Australian surf season with a fresh new outlook that values friendship and family. It is an exciting film for surfers of all ages!

This month provided 3 back to back Pipe swells that were as good as anything we had all winter. The conditions varied from too big, too small, too windy, too low tide and wrong swell direction, but there were definitely some special moments. The last swell on Monday April 8th was probably one of the best all year because the more westerly direction finally moved that sand which had been stuck in the channel for so long. Most of this season has been a sort of weeding through close outs to find a diamond in the rough, so it was nice to get a session where almost every wave was makeable. Tamayo Perry got a sweet one and Mike Ho was charging the biggest sets all day long. It was a more local crowd than we have had in a while after one of the most crowded surf seasons ever so that was a nice little treat. In between those big days have been some fun small days. Yesterday another little 3-4 foot swell pulsed in and it peaked early this morning with a couple freak 6 footers. Unfortunately it blew out by 9am as the storm came in. Looks like there are a few more fun sized swells coming so it is not over yet, but May is on the way so I guess we better start stocking up on surf.

An interesting article in The Age Business Magazine confronts Billabongʻs financial slump suggesting that the company is "perilously close to a wipeout". It is a pretty harrowing article which challenges the companies business choices and even their street creditability. Simultaneously Quiksilver has downsized itʻs staff and team reportedly letting go of leading Hawaiian surfers Freddy P and Reef McIntosh. You can read about it in Stab Magazine. What can we say, these companies are no longer niche lifestyle brands and therefore they have lost a lot of their core market in order to appeal to the masses. We will have to wait and see how that works out for them in the future.

Ocean Vodka is hosting itʻs grand opening on Saturday April 27th in Maui. It is an organic sugar cane farm and solar powered distillery. For more information go to www.oceanvodka.com

Kamehameha schools will be holding their bi-annual sample sale on Saturday May 11th from 10am-2pm at Konia Field . Our support helps the surf team travel to the mainland for NSSA Nationals this June.

Tom Carroll and Ross Clark Jones will be in town this week for the first screening of their new flick, Storm Surfers 3D. The official movie release is coming soon so we will keep you posted.

Carissa Moore is on a role. After winning the WQS at Margarets last month, she recently captured the title at Bells Beach. Koko Ho took 2nd place at the TSB Bank NZ Surf Festival. She returned home just in time to score some late season Backdoor barrels with her Dad.

It has been a pretty exciting March. Last Thursdayʻs swell (March 21st) was probably the best waves we have seen since Christmas day. Although Pipe has been somewhat plagued from all the sand deposited by all the past north winds and swells, that day offered a few open tubes. Randall Paulson took off on a second reefer and pulled into what looked like a complete sandbar pinching closeout, but somehow managed to hang on and magically reappear in the foam. Some are claiming his ride was the wave of the winter or at least one of them which is pretty good for late March. Surfline awarded Richard Dos Santos the $25,000 cash prize for their Wave of the Winter contest which wrapped up on February 28th. I have to say, it has been a lot less crowded since February 28th so thank God that is over and we got some late season swell for ourselves.

Pipe never really got that epic this year. Sure there were some great waves, but not many if any perfect days. In my opinion Pipe has not shown its classic form since that El Nino winter in 2010. One method of separating the new school surfers from the old school diehards is the way they talk about waves. In our time, it was not cool to say the surf was bigger or better than it was; the older guys would look down on you or even scold you for doing that. Nowdays, it is trendy to hype everything up as we experience so readily through the commentators who host the big surf contests on channel 250. Unfortunately this irritating method of getting people to watch what is on TV has made its way to our youth and produced a form of egomania which sort of suggests that each surfer should promote themselves through hyping up the size and surf conditions in their sessions.

The Womenʻs Pipe Pro wrapped up on March 12th and 14th with 3-4 occasional 5 foot surf. Dax McGill won the Womenʻs open, Tatiana Webb took the Jrs division, Izumi Baldwin claimed the Longboard title and Karla Costa Taylor was the bodyboarding champion. The event also included a celebration of female surf artists at Wyland Galleries this year. San Lorenzo Bikinis and Surf n Sea in Haleiwa were the proud sponsors of this one of a kind womenʻs event. For the past two years, the womenʻs event has combined with the Jr Mens series. The Jr men were probably in for a shock when the predicted medium sized swell showed up with a couple freak 10 foot plus sets early that morning before their heats. I do not know if they were scared, but I was frightened for them. As I sat in the line up that morning watching barely 4 foot tall boys paddle past me with chunky Pipe waves behind them, I remember thinking something is wrong with this picture, but somehow they all managed to survive in what is now being called the most dangerous Jrs event in history. whew! The older teens were ready and rearing to surf Pipe all to themselves. Micah and Seth Moniz were charging some serious waves that morning before the contest, but dedicated Pipe soldier Kalani David claimed the Jr title with Koa Smith in second, and Nathan Flourence in 3rd place. Mini Makana Pang was another standout grom that day who won the heart of the crowds with his confidence and aloha spirit.

Looks like Red Bull is running a full feature on big wave rider Jamie Stearling. You can check it out on the Red Bull video series website.

Garrett McNamara goes on a wild ride with Anderson Cooper in a very interesting segment on 60 minutes. Anderson is an animal in this classic clip, you just gotta check it out. It seems like they set it up after Garrettʻs CNN interview about his recent hundred foot wave. Garrett goes big in the surf and the media. Rumor has it that he barred the XXL awards because they are sponsored by a beer company which is a bad example for the kids. Ah, who needs XXL, when you have Anderson Cooper on the back of your ski?

Bethany Hamilton with be teaming up with Chrissie Beavis for the all-womens off road rally raid. Looks like it will be an exciting adventure for our local surf star. You can tune into Rallye Aicha des Gazelles for more information on the event. Carissa Moore and Dusty Payne shared the stage at the Margret River Drug Aware Pro claiming the menʻs and womenʻs title. Airwalk recently signed 6 time NSSA champion and Maui local Granger Larsen to join the team alongside homegrown surfer Anastasia Ashley.

Yesterday we had another underpredicted swell. It was suppose to be a mere 3-5 feet, but managed to produce 6-8 foot surf throughout the day with a freak 12 foot set right before dark last night. It was really backwashy and weird in the morning, but by yesterday afternoon some of the sand had moved and guys were scoring some sick rides. There were still a couple 8 foot sets early morning in the dark, but it had dropped back to 6 ft by first light and continued dropping throughout the day. There is still another solid swell predicted for this weekend, but the direction may be a little too north for Pipe and conditions look pretty shaky. We canʻt complain, it seems like whatever we get from now on is just a bonus round. Photo: Dan Campbell-Lloyd.