Sorry, it has been a while since my last blog. Ironically not much has changed since the title of my last entry which said "Victory @ Sea and Magic Moments" While there were epic waves, I cannot say there were epic days, just magic moments. If any of you had a chance to watch the Volcom Pipe pro, you would have had a pretty good insight into what the last two months have been like. The contest started out real stormy and wild and then got good off and on at certain times in certain heats throughout the day. One good thing about this winter is that we have had a lot of big swells. Unfortunately most of them were verging on too big for Pipe and too small for Waimea. The last Pipe swell was a good size for Pipe but the direction was too north which pushed sand in the channel so when todays more westerly swell came through most of the waves were closing out and slamming into the sandbars. The blustery trades were probably as strong as I have seen them all year which did not help conditions either. It has been a bit disappointing to have so many solid swells for the last two months without a few epic days. I am still calling it the best winter since the last El Nino though (which was 2010 I think)

Looks like the crazy crowded contest season is finally winding down, or is it? Last month we had back to back contests including the Backdoor Shootout, Volcom Pipe Pro, Jr.ʻs event at Sunset and recently a SUP contest at Sunset. The IBA Go Pro Pipe championships will start on February 19th and that will be followed by another Jr.ʻs contest at Pipe around March 10th. So looks like we will have contests all the way until the end again, but at least maybe not two or three running back to back and all at once like it has been lately.

The Bodyboarding event almost did not run. Apparently, they cancelled the event due to one of the sponsors backing out until other sponsors filled in and they were able to reinstate the event. I have not heard if there will be any womenʻs Pipe contest this year, but there will probably be womenʻs heats in the jrs event.

There still seems to be lots of tourists on the Northshore. It is like a mini version of the holiday crowds. Some people like it because it is good for business or it is more exciting, but as for me I am looking forward to one of those mornings when I can take a deep breath without guys running by me in the dark to beat everyone out to the surf and tourists coming up to me asking me questions about my surfboard. When I paddled out V-Land the other day, I was pretty excited just to surf with people I know who actually live here. Donʻt get me wrong, I love and enjoy my foreign friends who I see in each pack of competitors every year, but it is just hard when you never get a break from groups and groups of people who are surfing specifically with the goal to win a contest every day. It is just a different vibe than surfing with people who just want to catch some good waves and enjoy watching their friends get a couple too. I miss the days when foreign guys and gals came just to surf the big waves and the Northshore without any pursuit of winning a contest. Those were the days that I often here guys refer to as the "wild wild west".

The service for Henry Preece was held at Lili‘uokalani Protestant church on the Northshore a couple weeks ago. He was 83, and honored as one of surfingʻs pioneers.

Wanderlust, the Northshoreʻs first yoga and music festival will be held at Turtle Bay Resort from February 28- March 3rd. Surfers such as Gerry Lopez and Rochelle Ballard will be participating alongside other instructors from the mainland. Artists such as John Cruz, ALO and DJ Drez are part of the music line up throughout the event. Check it out at www.wanderlustfestival.com