Yes, it was the day that J.F.K. was shot, and many remember it for that reason. That is not my reason. My reason is a selfish one. It was the single BEST day I ever surfed Laniakea. Glassy, a true North Shore fifteen feet in size, with tube rides of hundreds of yards long! It was the only time I ever got my 10' 5'' x 21 1/2'', 38 1/2 pound big wave gun maxed out in speed. The same board that was ridden at Sunset, Velzyland, Waimea, and Pipeline. Only Laniakea ever maxed that board! Both Fred VanDyke, and Buzzy Trent stated that Laniakea was the best big wave on the NS. They were correct, but you only really understood that if you were lucky enough to catch it on a day like that. Big Laniakea is the kind of wave that tests both board AND rider. If you like a fast wave/ride, this is the one to seek out, wish for, and dream about. As I reflect back on my experiences surfing during that period of the mid-50's, through the mid-70's, before the crowds of today, I have an appreciation for it now, that I did not at the time. It has been called ''the golden age of surfing'', and I have to agree. It really was. Yikes!!! I just did the count, 46 years! Seems like yesterday. How'd that happen?
EDIT: Today, Nov. 27, 2016 is now 53 years, since that epic day.Laniakea is my favorite wave on the N Shore. Never ridden it really big though.
Mike
i was let out of school early that day.
i was 6 and attended imperial beach elementry school.
herb
That's a very cool story, Bill. Thanks for sharing it. I was 5 years old and still pickn my nose and eatn it. Didn't know who JFK was or what surfing was, either. We were living in South Central LA. Not a war zone yet. Just a tough, working class neighborhood. I do remember the smoke from the Watt's riot. People were afraid. My big brother and I got lost at a LBJ speach. He must have been all of 6 or 7. He would beat the shit out of me in a heartbeat, but was my protector that day. He wasn't going to let anyone hurt us. Mike
I was in 8th grade English class when we found out. I had met JFK when I was about 8 years old. Had family that was active in MA democratic party. The Senator came to a family cookout at my Irish Catholic uncle’s house.
Reminds me of 9/11. Here in NJ we were having the best day of surf in the past 8 months or more. Offshore wind, not a cloud in the sky and well overhead surf. One of the prettiest dawn patrol mornings I can ever remember. Meanwhile 100 miles up the coast terrorists were flying planes into buildings in what our politicians now want to call a man-made disaster.
I was born when JFK was buried, 46 yrs ago Wednesday, John John's birthday was the same as mine except he was 3 yrs old. He made the cover of Life saluting the casket containing his Father on his 3rd birthday, how sad.
Howzit Bill, Let's see, I was in 10th grade and in Spanish 2 class and it just floored every body in the class. As for big Laniakea, got it at 12' with bigger sets and by all means one of the best big waves when it is on.The funny thing is when it is that big you can hardly see the guys riding due to the inside waves hide the outside and only when a rider gets high on the face can they be seen. Aloha,Kokua
same here. i was walking home from peirpont elementary school-my mom met me half way, crying her eyes out. on the way home she explained whay she was crying. i remeber it as if it was yesterday.
I have an appreciation for it now, that I did not at the time. It has been called ''the golden age of surfing'', and I have to agree. It really was. Yikes!!! I just did the count, 46 years! Seems like yesterday. How'd that happen?
I just watched many classic moments on fuel tv last night. That movie was about a moment in time that was so full of meaning as I too had the North Shore experience during those years. When I see Button's wearing the Blue Quicksilver Boardshort that he got from me in the movie I think about how we surfed V-Land together with only a handful of guys out just perfect barrels.I lived in the White Apartments on the Beach at V-Land my Silding Glass door was like a big screen TV. We had any wave we wanted. Or surfing Pipe early mornings with no one out?
I'm much younger than Bill however I too did not realize how lucky I was at the time. Bill made a good point about appreciation.
November 22, 1963 I was in First Grade and we prayed for our country most likely at the same time you were on a smoking right at Lani's!
Surfding
[quote="$1"]
I have an appreciation for it now, that I did not at the time. It has been called ''the golden age of surfing'', and I have to agree. It really was. Yikes!!! I just did the count, 46 years! Seems like yesterday. How'd that happen?
I just watched many classic moments on fuel tv last night. That movie was about a moment in time that was so full of meaning as I too had the North Shore experience during those years. When I see Button's wearing the Blue Quicksilver Boardshort that he got from me in the movie I think about how we surfed V-Land together with only a handful of guys out just perfect barrels.I lived in the White Apartments on the Beach at V-Land my Silding Glass door was like a big screen TV. We had any wave we wanted. Or surfing Pipe early mornings with no one out?
I'm much younger than Bill however I too did not realize how lucky I was at the time. Bill made a good point about appreciation.
November 22, 1963 I was in First Grade and we prayed for our country most likely at the same time you were on a smoking right at Lani's!
Surfding
[/quote]
Three years old, almost four, no recollection of what I was doing while Thrailkill was screaming down the line on one of those dream walls. My North Shore time was during the mid to late '80's, a time I now refer to as my retirement years. Funny how memories come back with just certain things to jog them. I recall taking off on a wave at Lani's with Big Ben Aipa out front. It wasn't real big, maybe DOH, but as I bottom turned, the back of my head (goofy footer) got hammered by Ben's spray when cranked his bottom turn. Just about knocked me off it hit me so hard! I, of course, straightened off and ate shit, but came up laughing, what else could I do? Not that it's news to anyone, but so much power in that guy's turns!
The thing about Lani's is it doesn't have to be real big to be an unreal wave. I had the pleasure of living on Pohaku Loa Way for a couple of years, with a view of Lani's, Holton's, and Jocko's out the back (front yard as we called it). The house I lived in was a free standing studio with a lanai half way around it. No AC, sleeping on a foldout couch with my wife. Some of the best years of my life!!!
[IMG]http://i497.photobucket.com/albums/rr335/asurfrat/Holtons20studio.jpg[/IMG]
I was working at my first job after graduating Grade 12 in June and when I came home to the boarding house I lived in for lunch my Landlady was glued to the TV and told me what had just happened. Even as a Canadian I was stunned and shocked. Then came Ruby shooting Oswald and the rest is history.
I was 18 and 10 years away from discovering surfing.
Now I'm 20 years past surfing.
Damn!
Take care.
Bill,
brings back memories.
Moved that day from West LA, where I used to surf Bay St. and Sorrento in Santa Monica as a 12 year old, to Canoga Park in the west San Fernando Valley. The move would begin a love affair with Surfrider Beach, Malibu, that continues to this day.
I’m a long time regular, first surfed it probably 1978-79. Thought you might enjoy some views from the action so I picked out a few pocket camera shots I’ve taken over the past few seasons-
and pic me shot by a friend
a short shaky vid on max zoom taken from the road with cars passing in front edited out. great day of waves, arms so jellied I couldn’t paddle any more that I just picked off this on the inisde to go in on
[quote="$1"]
I'm a long time regular, first surfed it probably 1978-79. Thought you might enjoy some views from the action so I picked out a few pocket camera shots I've taken over the past few seasons-
[img]http://www.wavelust.com/bsl/05pics/nov05/112705/112705z.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.wavelust.com/bsl/05pics/nov05/112505/112505y.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.wavelust.com/bsl/05pics/nov05/112505/112505z.jpg[/img]
and pic me shot by a friend
[img]http://www.wavelust.com/bsl/05pics/nov05/112705/112705b.jpg[/img]
[/quote]
I remember the first few times I surfed there (late '84), seeing Glenn Pang, Lance Ho'okano and Michael Ho (amongst others) driving on these impossible sections on waves about the size of Bud's first picture. Pumping like crazy and pulling into the barrel and making it most times. Insane waves and great times.
Bud,
Thank you, those are great photos. The number three frame, from the top, captures that ''Laniakea Look'' of the day I was describing.
Well I wasn't surfing that day. Was in PE. Everyone was in shock. More recently I was listening to "Coast to Coast" last night and completly changed my opinion of the "lone gunman" Warren comission finding. Couple of guys by the names of John Barber and Jim Mahers . I suppose I have opened a "can of worms".
My time at Lani’s was from '73 through '82. Had my share of epic days with small crowds back when we parked on the ocean side of the road. I remember on big days we’d be out where the wave first breaks and you could see all the way down past chuns and piddlies, and see the church tower at Waimea. The waves would have square tubes with extra thick lips, and your bottom turn would take you sooo far. Top turns would be drop knee ala Gary Chapman right under the lip, and just enough to get you going back down. Not the hard cutback into the pit stuff because the wave was hauling ass and if that lip hit you it was going to hurt. The wave would start outside the houses on one side and end outside the houses on the other side. And the swim was a challenge if your board got caught in the rip. Then there’s Himalayas breaking further out and bigger, you really had to have it together to go out there and swim in.
The last time I surfed at Laniakea, Michael Ho dropped in on me and I just rode behind him till the end. Wasn’t a big day, but it was nice. Then being the a hole that he is, he gives me a bunch of crap about being back there behind him. I figure that was it, the black shorts had the other side of the bay, and now they want it all. I stopped going up to the country after that.
I was in the 3rd grade the day JFK was shot. I remember everyone crying and school. When I got home, my mom and sisters were crying also. It was a sad day.
Surfing big Lani's always scared the shit out of me. I fear big Lani's more than I fear big Sunset. From the beach, the large set at Lani's look so perfect that it actually looks like a 5-8 foot face. Only until some one takes off that you can really judge the size of the wave. I have made the mistake of paddling out early in the morning before anyone was out thinking the surf was smaller. Not knowing exactly where to line up, I would see the horizon fill with huge lines when the real sets came in. In my head I am saying"what the heck am I doing out here". My challenge was to find the right wave that wasn't too big to take off on. However, there is nothing like riding one of those Lani's frieght train rights especially for me a goofey footer!
D
[quote="$1"]
In my head I am saying"what the heck am I doing out here?''
D
[/quote]
I thought I was the only only one that had that ''conversation in my head'' on big macking days. I had that thought at Waimea, when 30ft sets were rolling through, and earlier the same morning when Buzzy and I got closed out in the channel at Sunset by 20ft walls of soup! I wonder, today, whatever made me think that surfing those kind of conditions was a good idea. It seemed so at the time, but looking back on it, makes me wonder how any of us survived our zeal for larger and larger waves. By the way, calling Lani's waves ''freight trains'' is the perfect description. Of all the waves I've surfed, the most memorable are big walled up Laniakea, and big walled up point waves at Makaha. I've been lucky enough to experience both.