He'e nalu

In the interest of creating my own Hawaiian traditions, I went surfing, he'e nalu, on my last whole day, for the time being at least, in Hawaii. Two of the students came along, Katie who played the beach bum part and John, who played the surf bum part. We rented boards (long boards, 9 ft) and were in the water pretty much all morning. The long board was about a million times more maneuverable than the short board I used last year and although the bottom at Kahalu'u Beach Park, where we spent the day, was no less rocky than at Pine Trees, where Nona and I went surfing last year, it didn't really matter, because I didn't keep falling off the board. Very nice.

After a while of sitting on the boards and watching the locals ride one small wave after the other in to shore John and I decided we had to do something. He already knows how to do this stuff but I needed some assistance, especially since I was having a hard time paddling fast enough to catch the waves. So, John gave me a push and that way I was able to stand up on my board for the first time and ride like... half a second, maybe, before splashing into the water, and... wow, what a thrill! The next time I caught a wave I actually managed to stand an itty bit longer and might even have ridden the wave even further if this thing called the shore hadn't been in my way. Yes, I rode straight into the rocks on the shore and almost into a small church! The result: Numerous small scratches on my legs and arms, plus a 2-inch cut on my right foot. Haha, I'm a genius!

Anyway, here are some pictures that John and Katie took of me on the beach today:

Before:


After: