Aloha. Happy Australia Day for yesterday. Looks a tad wet back home, and next week, wow, even wetter. Something broken with this summer!
Back here on ‘The Rock’ we’ve had a bit swell arrive. Not huge, not good enough for them to run the Volcom Pipe Pro – but in my book, pretty darn good…look at these pics and tell me if you’d paddle out.
Scrambled random bits from Hawaii:
Will you get a wave at Pipe? I’d say Pipe is the busiest surf break in the world. There are people on it from sun up to sun down (even in the dark)– minimum 40 out, mostly 60 – 70 crew out. You’ll get a wave if you paddle inside Sunny Garcia and fade Jon Jon. If you got 1 wave per 2 hours, you’d be stoked. This morning Sunny got 3 waves in 1 hr. No one paddles for his waves…Are there other places to surf? Oh boy, there is plenty – but yes, the crowds are big and every pro, upcoming pro, pro jnr or veteran world champion is out there with you. I just can’t believe the talent here. Out of the past 21 days on the North Shore – it hasn’t got below 3 foot – so there are plenty of waves to go around and the etiquette is high. I have only seen 1 big biff at Pipe with a 120kg Hawaiian sending someone in. Good coffee? If you like instant powdered coffee you’ll love it. Oh, and everything has sugar in it…the bread, the baby food, the water. You’ll be a diabetic in no time living here. If you’re a bloke, you drive a pickup or ute here. Biggest one you can afford. Some so big they don’t even fit in the carbays. Oh and you must have an 8.0 litre V8 under the donk. Gas is cheap, 98 cents a litre (go figure). The water temp is 26. Perfect. Same as the land! Boardies all day long. Nightlife? Yep in Waikiki but not on the North Shore – Keep the Country – Country. All the girls surf here – all of them (in thongs)…quite distracting. They tend to be the ones doing all the droppin’ in with a sparkling smile and brilliant tan. You see the girls here paddle out on mals in 8 foot solid. Respect. Tattoos, wow…they’re big here too. If you are a tattoo artist you’d kill it here. Tattoos are a part of the Hawaiian culture. It’s 3hrs ahead and 1 day behind in time here. A mac daddy 12 foot + swell is due on the weekend – yew. That means the Volcom Pipe Pro will run. Frothing. As soon as Pipe gets big I hear 4-5 ambulances a day race past my shack – 1 guy got resuscitated in the water yesterday. 2 weeks ago I shot Pipe from the water and on the way in the current dragged me 400 metres down the beach. It’s mental how much water is moving here. Jamie O’Brien was riding a foamie at 6 foot Pipe switching to a mini board mid barrel. No joke.
Ok, Nuff ramble :: uge
JOB on that same board http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/jamie-obriens-board-transfer-at-backdoor_66170/
Yep, it’s in the copy above too!
… this is darn crazy!! Here in my place, we surf the soft tops when the swell is darn small, very very small… Jamie, just do the same once Pipe is around 2 meters barreling…
Uge, just looking forward to see the next days pics… amazing job!
Darn – new word in my vocabulary :), thanks
Hello,
I was just wondering what camera and/or casing you use for your underwater shot?
Big fan of your work.
Caz.D
Hey Uge, How about some shots of you in one of those barrels?
Hey Caspar, kinda hard when I take the pics. Got my 10 month old baby on a strict photography training program, but he’s not ready to shoot yet…having trouble lifting the camera. Gettin’ some good waves thru.
You ever coming back …or have we lost you… :o)
Coming back…but love it here!
Brilliant, great reading. Bring on more editorial like this!
Can Eugene surf? Yes he can
Can he charge 10ft pipe? Probably not, not many people can
Caspar and the likes with the Hawaii surf comments, get over it
He is a photographer and a surfer. Eat the chip on your shoulder
Whoa Ben chill… take your hand off Uge’s d**k for a minute. am sure he can fight his own battles if there even was one to fight… ever heard of banter?
Hey Uge, no worries just a tease. My barrel count has declined since the birth of my two kids. Keep up the good work. By the way, loving your book…….and Ben, no chips on my shoulder!
Dear Uge, I am so loving your stuff from the North Shore that I have to tell you…DON’T come back!! You are way inspiring from there! Keep it up, I love it.
Ps. If at Waimea say a big Aloha to my cousin Kamaki Worthington, he lives on the point.
“To be a surfer you don’t need to be a photographer… to be a good surfing photographer, you must be a photographer and at least a surfer to do reasonable pics”… and the pics I’m seeing here are far to be reasonable!
This is not the facebook and there is chips no where!!!… just amazing worldwide photographs.
“slow wide turns!”
– Portugal –
Uge, FYI,a donk is the engine.Great shots.
mofo, you are living the dream! 🙂 good read – epic pics!