We may not get fall foliage, but Indian summer for Hawaii surfers has arrived, with that sense of the natural world holding its breath on the cusp of change. When the tradewinds relent in late September and October, we get windless, glassy, peeling waves. And sometimes, when it’s small and inconsistent, Suis is actually uncrowded.
One morning last week, during the normal morning rush hours, there were only four of us out beneath a pale, rainwashed dome of sky. The waves were small but well-formed. The water was so transparent it looked shallower than it really was. Beneath my board, a big yellow manini drifted in and out of a hole in the reef.
“Long waits,” someone remarked.
“But good, the sets,” someone else commented.
We looked all around us at the calm, uncluttered ocean stretching from the Waianaes to Portlock Point and, although we were strangers — except for Boogie Pete, who knows everybody — we looked in one another’s eyes and smiled.
A surfer who introduced himself as Kevin said, “The great thing is, when people drive by to check, they don’t see anything, yeah? Because of these lulls.”
Of course, surfers, like New Yorkers, always have to find something to complain about.
After the next little flurry of waves, Kevin and another middle-aged guy groaned and commiserated about the difficulty of popping up to their feet once they caught a wave.
“I started surfing on short boards in the ’60s,” Kevin said. “Now I gotta use longer and longer boards to give me time to pop up.”
Pete laughed.
“Hey, whatever it takes.”
I put in my two bits.
“Sometimes it’s actually harder in glassy conditions because it throws my timing off, not having to paddle like a maniac against the wind.”
Kevin nodded.
“How true.”
My composure got a jolt when I saw Baby Bonnet Man paddling out in his customary floppy sun hat cinched under his chin. He’s one of those slight, sinewy rippers who sits deep and goes for everything.
I paddled outside of the others and waited for bigger waves, which proved a rewarding strategy. Bonnet Man and the others were caught inside.
A while later, he paddled up to me with a smile.
“Hey, so there are some nice sets and you’ve been on ’em!”
I shrugged, interpreting his compliment as a tactic to distract and knock me off my stride.
But he persisted.
“You’re shredding today. Good for you!”
Although this made me wince — I found it patronizing — I had to hand Bonnet Man a pass because, of late, I’ve seen him trying to teach his little girl to surf in the gentle in-shore waters off Makalei Beach. It’s a sweet sight, both of them in their bonnets.
And his hopes for his girl reminded me of how my original surf coaches and fellow teens, Donny Mailer and Tomi Winkler, entered me in a junior tournament at Queen’s Surf. Just my luck, my heat included the Sunn sisters, Martha and Rell, who paddled around me, laughing.
I swore off surf meets.
“Hey, at least you didn’t come in last,” Tomi said.
LAST SEPTEMBER, I finally entered another meet — and this time, I did come in last. This was in the Point Panic Experience bodysurfing contest, in which I had to compete against the men.
They added women’s and youngsters’ divisions this year, but I was out of town.
“We had eight wahines and 12 keikis participate,” said event organizer Kanekoa Crabbe, sending pics.
Oh, so glassy.
At such times, the ocean is a liquid mirror reflecting our dreams.
“In the Lineup” features Hawaii’s oceangoers and their regular hangouts, from the beach to the deep blue sea. Reach Mindy Pennybacker at mpennybacker@staradvertiser.com or call 529-4772.
