Well, I made it to the North Shore!

Day one on Oahu is nearly over. I arrived yesterday and the swell wasn’t up to much, but through the night the swell picked up a bit as the internet had predicted.

I’m staying in a house very close to Sunset Beach. Sunset is one of those places that has a reputation that preceeds it, and this morning when we walked around the corner to approach the beach, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Signs such as these pepper the North Shore regularly

I was greeted with a rippy lagoon with a large looking right hander breaking out the back. After paddling out and sitting quietly on the edge of the pack for forty minutes or so, I found myself in light conversation with a couple of people out there. Everyone was on a pintail and with my borrowed 7’10 Dick Brewer gun, I was somewhere in the shorter board length demographic.

Unknown surfer makes a nice bottom turn at Sunset

The reason you need such a long gun at Sunset is because the wave is hard to catch and there’s a lot of paddling involved. By using the rips, you may never have to duck dive your entire session so the extra board is never a compromise. If you do get caught in the line of fire, just turtle roll the board or slip off and let the leash to the dirty work – but look behind you first!

Classic looking "fun sized" Sunset

I caught four waves this morning and I couldn’t have been happier, definitely one of my most cherished session of all time. I went out again after lunch and got caught in the lip a couple of times, took a left, and made one more big drop.

A local getting tubed off of his nut!

Before I get too ahead of myself, today was what they call 6ft Hawaiian, baby Sunset. Still, it deals out a heavy, rolling, long wipeout and there’s plenty going on to keep you on your toes. More swell is forecast for the week, hopefully I’ll get my hands on an even bigger board and will be getting amonst it again.

But what a magic way to kick off ten days on the North Shore, who knows what’s coming next, but whatever, today’s fun certainly paid for the airfare!