"Ohana"

Del Mar, CA-- We're laughin'at some 16 year old joke. We are 16 years old. It's summertime, my hair is dirty blonde, salty, still dripping wet--and my skin is dark and tanned. I look To my left and I see my buddy Jonnie, I look to my right and I see my buddy Rick-- (at one point the #1 amateur surfer in the United States of America.) All three of us can rip on our shortboards, but today that doesn't seem to matter, today is different.

It's the Del Mar Longboard Contest, one of our favorite times of the year. On the day of the longoboard contest, the beach is transformed to another era -- it's not 1983, the beach becomes 1953-- longboards line the beach, makeshift huts of palms prepare the surfers for a long day of classic hang tens, lots of "hey bros", and "whoa dudes, that was rad!".

With all the beer flowing, if you're not careful, someone might just sneak up behind you and pull your trunks down. Or in jonnie's case, he might just raise his arms in the air and HOPE someone pulls his trunks down!!!(Some strange, nudist obsession that was started when he was 6 months old and would bury his swimsuit in the sand while his mother Lilian would dig unsuccessfully to retrieve it!) but as i said earlier, today is different, the longboard competition is different.

This is the day where you bring your "soul." Yes, it's a competition, but a competition of style-- which surfer holds there hand with just the right flair, and arches their back with the coolest groove while wiggling all 10 toes off the front of a 9'6" Donald Takayama triple-stringer, single fin!. Yes, it is a competition, but today is different--it's not really about winning or losing, but about the day itself. We support the surf community, hangin' out w. the bro's,and celebrate the beauty of family.

"OHANA"
This is one thing i remember most about the Del Mar Longboard contest --I used to love to see the families of the "old guys."--they'd have their kids, their wife, their longboard, and their "Ohana"-- in hawaiian "Ohana" means family.

We used to sit and dig our toes into the hot summer sand, watch the crystal blue surf tumble in, admire a soul arch, and soak in the vibe of "Ohana"-- the community, the friendships. Sitting on the beach back in 1983, I remember thinking to myself, "i wonder if i'll ever have a kid? A wife, a family? Where will i go? What waves will I surf?"

After laying on the beach for a few hours, it's time to surf. We paddle out on our longboards at 15th street, we all three catch the same slow, and beautiful crumbling wave, we laugh the whole way in. Today it's not really about competition--
it's about "Ohana," the family of surfing.

Jump Cut. 2006. I now live in Brisbane, Australia. An hour from the Gold Coast, back in '83, the Gold Coast used to be one of my dream spots, a surfing mecca, the holy land of cutbacks, barrels and off-the-lips...and now...voila! here i am!

But it's not me,anymore, it's we! The answer to a 16 year old Del Mar surfer's questions are "Yes, you do have a wife, her name is Kathryn,and yes, you do have a kid, his name is Kai -- it means "Ocean" in hawaiian -- (that's him laughing and soaking up the vibe ofthe FIRST TIME HE HAS EVER DUG HIS TOES INTO THE SAND!)

It's 2006, this is Currumbin, not Del Mar, and this day is different, some things have changed:
1) the dirty blonde hair has been replaced by a pale bald head!
2) there's no Del Mar Longboard contest!
3) Jonnie's in San Franciso, and Rick's in New Zealand!

Yes, some things have changed, but some things are the same and even immensely better! The family has grown with friends being made in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, New York, Vevey--Switzerland, Hossegor--France, Vancouver--Canada, and now in Australia.

I now have my own family, a beautiful wife and a son-- and as we hold Kai at the water's edge and he shrieks with joy, I wonder the same questions:
"Where will he go? What waves will he surf? Will he have a wife? Will he have a son?"

I look to my left and I see my wife, i look to my right and i see my son, we all wiggle our toes in the sand, and watch the waves tumble in. We're all in Currumbin, but we're all in Del Mar, and we're still riding waves, and we're still lauging.
Today there is no competition...
there is only "Ohana."