Howzit North Shore! The wave-making machine has been working pretty well lately, and it pumped out a lot of good surf right on through the month of February and on into March of 2004! Although there have been no really big swells in the 20 foot plus category since mid-January (at least at the time of this Surf Newz deadline), there have been a steady amount of High Surf Advisories in effect.There have been lots of good days of sizeable surf with pretty darn perfect conditions! It’s been enough to make this surfer happy most of the time! Heck, it’s been hard to get much else done but surf lately! Bummers!

After a lot of stops and starts, the Ezekiel Faith Riding Pro finished up at Sunset Beach in some good sized surf in late January. Pancho Sullivan took 1st place showing that local knowledge at Sunset pays off. Kelly Slater got some good tube rides and showed that world travel also pays off by taking 2nd place. The Sunset Pro event is a great annual contest for local and international surfing talent. Like the XCEL Pro, it is held in the challenging waves of Sunset Beach… and therefore it is a major show-case for new contenders and particularly for the local up and coming new surfing talent. It is also a great start off event for the annual Hawaii Pro-Am Circuit.

The Pipeline BodySurfing Classic was held on Monday, February 2nd in clean and contestable Pipeline surf. The surf was on the decline throughout the day, but the barrels stayed long and lined up. Everyone was getting nice tube rides, but Mike Stewart kept pulling that patented maneuver of his that guaranteed him his win in this event. Stewart has been a formidable competitor for many years on the world bodyboarding circuit, garnering countless world titles. As a result, he translates his bodyboarding maneuvers to bodysurfing for this event! The one move in particular that no-one else does (or thinks of doing) is the one that wins it for him every-time. As the tube begins to close-out at the end of the wave, he loves to throw himself up off the lip and over the falls. Landing in a belly-down and face-forward position in front of the wave or in the whitewater… he then proceeds to pop out in front of the whitewater and therefore “makes the close-out”… with style! You would swear that he has an “invisible bodyboard” sewed to his chest. This particular move, along with a seasoned knowledge of Pipeline has assured him the Pipeline BodySurfing Classic title for over 5 years in a row now. Many-time winner of the event and 20 year Pipeline lifeguard Mark Cunningham took 2nd place. Steve Kapela of Hawaii was in 3rd. James Duca of Hawaii was 4th. Chris Moore of Hawaii was 5th. Rogerio Schefler of Brazil took 6th place. Many thanks to all the sponsors. Contest Director, Alan Lennard did a great job as usual. Skill Johnson did some hilarious announcing on the microphone as he continues to train me as his Jr. Surf Contest Announcer Protégé. If Skill taught Jack Johnson how to play guitar in the beginning, then I couldn’t have a better teacher and mentor than old SkillBilly in the world of surf contest announcing tactics!

The “Hui O Hee Nalu BackDoor ShootOut” also got the right surf conditions at Pipeline and BackDoor Pipeline, and the event finished up right after the Pipeline BodySurfing Classic. In this event, with its novel format… the best of the best got to “shoot it out” with teams from QuikSilver, Volcom, Billabong, Independent, Hurley 1 and 2, Red Bull, Da Hui and Da Boyz. In this 5th Annual BackDoor ShootOut there were no elimination, barrel rides only counted and you had to come out, the heats were 5-man with a 6-8 wave max depending on the consistency of the surf and 10 teams maximum were allowed with 4 surfers per team and 1 alternate. There were many more and different rules making this a truly unique surf contest event every year! When the seaspray cleared, Pancho Sullivan took top honors winning some $40,000 and leading “Da Boyz” team to victory in the event!

Regrets go out to the family and friends of Pro Surfer “Mochi” Watanabe, 23, from Japan… who sustained a massive head wound when he hit the bottom at Pipeline in January. According to Australian surfer Josh Fuller, who managed to get him to shore with brave and quick thinking… the surfer was underwater for several minutes before he could be reached. He died in the hospital 11 days later. Pipeline is an extremely dangerous wave and it unfortunately claims lives on a regular basis.

Happy Birthday on Feb. 5th to the late, great Surfing Legend Mark Foo. We will remember you! Garrett McNamara and the Boys from the “If it can’t Kill you, it ain’t Extreme” tour had a “Judgement Night” recently at Haleiwa Joe’s to self-judge the photos and videos from their recent Cortes Bank Big Wave Mission. “MacDaddy” award for the Biggest Wave went to Brazil’s Carlos Burle w/ tow-partner Eraldo Gueiros. “Pull Inside” award went to Scott Chandler of So-Cal with his partner Chuck Patterson. “Air Guy” went to “Flea” Virotsko of Norcal. He was pulled in by Shawn Barron. “Mad Dog” award, “guy who goes harder than everyone” went to Ikaika Kalama who also pulled in Garrett to a wave that got McNamara the “100% Nuts” award for the meanest wipe-out (which left him with a bloody face). Another great innovative contest concept in which each tow-team throws $1000 into the “pot” and splits it up on the various prizes… the “Extreme” tour is planning it’s next event on the North Shore! Stay Tuned!

The Grand Opening of the “Water Goddess” Brazilian Bikini and Fashion store was on Saturday, Feb. 28th from 2PM-8PM. There was a live band, a Brazilian Bikini and Fashion Show and lots of other fun happenings! Also, don’t forget to check the raunchy surf reports on 99.5 Bob-FM at 3:45PM weekdays. Talk about politically incorrect banter and outrageous humour… Yikes! Aloha… Ace Cool!