Monster Pro, beach access and Turtle Bay
Friday - February 08, 2008
| Share
Del.icio.us
|
Aloha, surfers and free beach accessors,
Wow, what poor weather, wind and waves we had earlier this week. The dirty water runoff kept many ocean-going folks out for the count, especially for Kauai and Hawaii. The waves weren’t worth the risk. Choppy trade swells topped the heights at 5 feet. The Monster Energy Pipeline Pro had to go in un-Pipe-like conditions. So did the Honolua Surf Co. Pipeline Body Surfing Champs. Oh well, at least now things have turned for the better (read bigger).
If you are picking this up around Thursday or Friday, you’ll see great waves at advisory levels for our North Shore. This one drops out through Saturday, but not to worry ... there is tons of heavy water on the way warming up Sunday and heavier Tuesday (read outer reefs). The Jet Stream, or large, upper air current, has better odds of steering storms closer to the Islands - this means bigger waves from Feb. 12 and beyond. We’ll soon forget our lackluster moments (read selective memory). Such below-average periods for the Aloha State remind us how most others around the globe live out their surf lives. In Hawaii, surfers simply ride out those times like a short chop on the wave face. We get over it.
One thing surfers can’t get over is paying for what has been free parking forever at Bowls, Kaisers and other free beach accesses across the state. The other thing is over-development at Turtle Bay ... or any rural stretch of Hawaiian country. The rallies on Jan. 25 and Feb. 2 pumped up by Melissa of Common Ground Hawaii (great name) were huge successes in that so many participated. As many already know, “One fish alone and separated from its school is easily overwhelmed (and eaten), but together the group can (survive) and make a difference.” (common-groundhawaii.net) Very true ... yet, this also reminds me of another saying: “Wisdom is the knowledge of what is right, virtue is acting on it.”
It looks as though our governor has both. Linda Lingle has proposed the purchase of the 850-acre Turtle Bay Resort in order to “Keep the Country, Country.” Sure it’s ambitious (some estimate near a billion bucks) and a far distance from “here” to “there” ... but she’s right! This is our chance of a generation to preserve a lifestyle and natural resource. Let me say, if traffic and crowds get any worse up there, locals and visitors will eventually ... leave! So will the turtles. This would come back to bite our fiscal behinds, to put it mildly.
Again, wisdom tells us to keep the things that make our home ... well, a home - the kind of home others like to visit and return to. Virtue is doing something about it ... to protect and preserve this Island home. That’s our governor. Surfers, as well, are protecting their precious territory - and why not? It is our free blessings of nature. They don’t want it compromised for cash. They don’t like selling out long-term preservation for short-term profits.
Well, that’s going to wrap up my ramble for this week. Mahalo for being right here. I look forward to seeing you in the lineup and in MidWeek!
For results of the Billabong/Monster Energy Pipeline Pro and Honolua Surf Company Pipeline Body surfing Classic, log on to SURFNEWSNETWORK.COM.
GQ, dropping in 4 U!
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS Comments (0) |
Most Recent Comment(s):
