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MY NORTH SHORE DOUBLE DIP DAY by Olaf Mitchell

original oil by Karen Lang

I posted the painting image because it just about, sorta, kinda, expresses what my two sessions felt like that day.
It was actually real fun. The waves were substantial and somewhere about head and a half to double over head plus.
Only a few of the many waves that I dropped in on held up. The ones that did were monumental.
The right handers that I got that day were spectacular. They were big, steep, fast and so long that the paddle back to the lineup seemed to take forever.
At the end of those rights there wasn’t anything that even resembled a channel or weakness to punch back out. If I tried to go directly back out it would be unrelenting duck diving and turtle rolling and using all my energy to get nowhere. So I would just ride the wave to the end and the take a long leisurely paddle on the inside all the way around to the left channel which was completely open.
The current in left channel was ripping. It was like getting an escalator ride back to the line up at the peak.
After a few of the long rights I started going left. This would deposit me directly into the channel and give me effortless access back to the peak.
Trevor had to work that night so we shared a wave that took us most of the ¼ mile back to the beach at about noon. I dropped him off at his little beach house in Kuau and then cruised home for lunch and a bit of relaxation.
After about a two hour break drove back to Kanaha and paddled the ¼ mile back out to the lineup. The evening crowd hadn’t assembled yet so I snagged some great lefts and one of them was just amazing. It was the third wave of a set of three. The first two waves of this “macker” set had me paddling up dead vertical faces and each time barely making it over the top without being sucked back over the falls. I was a bit further out than the rest of pack so every one behind me was wiped out buy those two set waves. The third wave was just as big and I was in good position to take off on it. I paddled real hard and as soon as I felt the wave take me I popped up and grabbed the rail and pulled in and stayed low. This immediately accelerated my Walden “Magic Model” enough to clear the close out section. The rest of this long left was pure bliss! I bottom turned and climbed back to the lip. I dropped in again and bottom turned. I climbed back up to the top and moved forwards and took a low, aggressive stance near the nose to get some speed up,till, I started out running the wave. Then stepped back on the tail and cut back right until I hit the edge of the bubbles. I carved off the lip and transitioned back left in a long smooth bottom turn! I then moved into a low stance close to the nose and pumped every last bit of juice out of that wave before I kicked out breathless and hooting with my arms raised!
That was my wave of the day.
When I got back out to the lineup I received a thumbs up and a couple of head nods. It feels good to every now and again receive acknowledgment from people that I respect.
I took off on many more waves but I just couldn’t clear that initial close out section,as hard as I tried.
I would be in a good position drop in and grab the rail but only to get closed out after a giant exciting drop and stay in front of the white water all the way to the channel.
The paddle back out was easy and I was totally entertained.
It is really cool when you know most of the people in the pack and they are people that you have surfed with over the years.

Oh, Urgh!

Riding a Bar of Soap