Christmas at Pupukea

Here are a few photos of a surf session i shared with Bri, Seth, and little Mikey. Mahalo to Tammy for taking the photos
It wasn't huge but it was still pretty darn challenging and fun! sorta like big blue obx
Aloha, A hui ho!
A.H.

Santas Throwing Shakas

Merry Christmas Friends!

Well I gotta say this is the weirdest christmas I can remember. With the lack of seasonal change out here in Hawaii, it's hard to get the same kind of holiday vibe I remember from home. Some people have up some funny kind of strangeo christmas lights with santas throwing shakas and reindeer pulling santas on surfboards, but these don't really get my spirits up, they just make things weirder. Went out with Adam, Sandy, and his girl Christy for a few drinks last night down in Wak-kiki, there was a man dressed as a woman, hells angel bikers, old crack head troglodyte ladies with little kid, little bear bags, and a sweet, yet strange Ozzy cover band composed of four japanese kids dressed in black. The best part about the band was the set list, the band was called "masters of Oz," but they played everything from "Brown eyed girl," to "Freebird," (at Adams partly drunken request I might add.) Anyway we had a good time, and I have an image blazed into my mind from the night that I just can't let go of.

As we walked home from the bar I looked up at one of the many ridiculous sky scraping apartment buildings and each unit had strung up some Xmas lights in their own unique way. This made me feel good in a way, like those people up there in all those little boxes are real. Because sometimes I feel like they might just be bunch of clones, or androids.

Anyway, yeah been thinking of home a lot. Miss family, miss friends. Looks like there's been some fun waves back there lately, check out this sick pic of my buddy Colin shredding somewhere up in north Jersey, Looks cold, but a little fire makes cold ok right. Colin Rips.

And check this one out from Das Gimp. Looks like 10th st's been firing up some cold wedges. OOOOOOhhh, (sorry for that little sound effect I'm listening to Daft Punk too much.

Anyway Gimper says it was sick out there, he shredded with the one and only Scotty O, "surfed for three hours," he said. Sounds nice.

So here it is. Xmas- eve that is, hoping to dawn patrol six to eight foot sunset in the morning, that will be our Xmas presents, big heavy rights. Nice. Also a sweet box of cookies sent from mom and dad, and a cool turkey and fruit pies and some dry goods sent from sis. Oh and some cool T-shirts, all of which I am going to take pictures and put up when I get home tomorrow night. Good night all, and to all a merry christmas.!

Best damn Pepsi i ever drank.

I don't usually write words on here, and probably for good reason... i don really think that he things i do are all that interesting and i'm not as funny as bri, but i thought id share with y'all somethin that happened to me today.

I've never been a Pepsi kinda guy, always preferred coke. not really sure why exactly but maybe it's something to do with the polar bear commercials around christmas time... though today may have changed that for me. anyway it's not really important

life in Hawaii is actually pretty damn tough, i do love it very much but, its been getting hard on me. I found out today that my loans for school arent really gonna go through like i planned. i may not be able to take classes next semester and i owe about four grand out of my pocket that i cant find a lender to cover. its actually almost comical that i am one of the best students in most of my classes, attending college is all i really want to do right now and yet i cant afford it, cant even get a loan. On top of this is the ever present fact that at the beginning of each month i have 800 dollars in rent to take care of, so i have two jobs along with full time schooling to take care of, which even then barely covers the rent, let alone gas at 3.50 a gallon and food. Im walking home from the news about my loans, im about as stressed as i can be, no money, no car, no girl to hug, rents comin up soon, how am i gonna get my degree, thinking about having to move back home with my tail between my legs and just subjugate myself to a life of working construction... its a bout an hour walk back up the hill to my apartment, no wind, sun glaring on the blacktop makes it feel like 100 degrees out, and the walk is straight up a verticle road... sweating my ass off. I'm just really feeling beat down, just trying to figure out how to get my life together. I come around a bend and to big mokes(fat hawaiian dudes) are taking a break from some mason work. as i walk past them one of them looks at me straight i the eye, " Hey brah! i give you one soda, i know you tired brah and this gonna make you feel mo bettah and give you energy to get up da hill." I'm not sure why but i kinda just looked at him, shocked. he put the Pepsi in my hand, it was ice cold. he smiled and so did i as i said thank you. i could have had a three hour walk after that and would still be in a good mood. I'm saving the can and im just gonna put myself back to work, it's gonna work out, and when i get a little money im gonna buy someone a pepsi.

Aloha! A Hui Ho!
A.H.

Pipe Masters

Well, while Adam was struggling through his day yesterday I was having a good time up in the country. I left early enough to catch Slaters heat against Ace Buckaan (I don't know how to spell that and I don't feel like looking it up, although in the time it's taking to explain that I could have easily looked it up.) Anyway the heat was sick, I guess I was standing next to Ace's coach, or friend or whatever, he seemed like an industry kook to me, with all the so-cal mannerisms such as, "sooo good!," and, "ya, ok!" and whatever you know how those guys talk, but anyway when Slater broke his board the guy was like, "money!" and I didn't like that, who wants to win like that anyway, but then Ace broke his board right afterwards and the guy was freaking out running and getting the pieces and feeling very important and I coughed, "mhhoney!" and it was all very exciting and I filmed this clip of Slater switching boards with my phone cause my cameras are all broke.

Anyway, Slater went on to win the heat and Parko got the triple crown title, and then I watched a few more heats including the one when Dane did that huge air like right in front of where I was standing, it was sick and Sethy was in the water shooting with a black helmet on, and I called Miller while Slater and Jeremy were battling and Miller said rockys was good, so after the Slater Jeremy heat, which by the way was one of the craziest heats I'v ever seen, I decided not to stay for the Flores, Peirrow final and went and surfed yards which was a couple feet over-head with no one out and like a skate park. All in all though, I have to say that the best part of my day was the text I got from slug while I was sitting on the beach at pipe about to surf perfect uncrowded waves.

Quite a contrast huh, and look at that Slug, he's so cute, like a little happy snow man. Thanks for the clip Slug.

Some G Love Blues

Just came across this while waiting for adam to get home from work so we can go body surfing. Garrett's so talented, and he's such a nice guy. Nice.

So Sick

Our World Underwater 2009 Video General Category - 1st Place from DivePhotoGuide.com on Vimeo.

This is an amazing little movie, some crazy stuff.  Sorry I"m not writing more, things are really weird right now, just trying to live it out.

b

JH 870-45... I want that!

Looks like Mr. Jaime Hunter, leader of the infamous Jaime Hunter Gang, is outsourcing his skills for some extra income during these difficult economic times.

Damn I miss Carolina sometimes.

Pirate Jewel Water

The Pacific, as it meets the shores of the Hawaiian islands, can take on a variety of colors.  From the impressive dark almost purple-blue of the outer depths, to the dream-like sapphire of the outer reefs, and then in further where near shore shimmers of emerald and aqua blue contrast sharply against the dark black and red of the volcanic rock-reefs.  And while these spaces of color all catch my eye as I look out over the glimmering ocean I have come to know and love, I think it's the sandy spots I love most.  For it is in these spots where the real nature of the water-colors can shine and blend and shimmer and glitter into a medium that is quite dreamy, and moving, and desirable as a place for a swim.

So here's a new clip of Adam and I doing just that, unfortunately I can't seem to figure out how to compress the clip for maximum quality, but I think it's good enough to get a feel for what we've been up to.  

Enjoy...

In Search of Treasure from Brian Herron on Vimeo.

R.I.P. Andy Irons

I'm not feeling too right to bring this onto the blog, I mean, I don't know it's not like I ever knew Andy Irons, but I have found myself to be really bummed about his passing. It seems like every one who rides waves feels the same way. The world can be so tragic sometimes, it's hard to learn that aspect of life, it's hard to come to terms with it.

I have to admit I have always secretly been a big fan of A.I.'s-- his style was so unique looking to me, I was instantly addicted to it when I first saw it in the 5'5 19' 1/4 movie. Especially the Waimea shore-break part. From then on out I always kind of quietly observed and became inspired by the genius of his surfing, it's spontaneousness, it's punk rock look, and it's Hawaiian bravado. I'm sad I never got to meet him, or surf with him. I'm sad for his friends. I'm sad for his family.

I'm going surfing tomorrow.

Greene's Dreams Come True

Well, it looks like Greene's dreams are about to materialize. It seems that out here in Hawaii one truly does have to be careful what they wish for. You see, this past couple of weeks the surf's been pretty small kine up in the country. And Adam and I both have been kinda restless, kinda short, and kinda grumpy with each other and others. We both agreed that we wanted some big days, maybe just to sort of get it out of the way cause we have all these big wave guns lying around our house and they're making us nervous (especially the red 9'8 Brewer), or maybe just cause we are craving the thrill of a big wave. Either way, the forecast for tuesday is going to have us getting up very early, or sleeping in very late.

Andrew Greene

I've been out of touch. Every one is mad at me. If your mad at me, please call me and leave me a message. I will text you my new number, I have a new number. I just set up my new voice mail. Just been sort of occupied with the moment lately. Sorry. I'll be in touch soon.

Anyway here's a shot of Greene. Greene and I get along well. Greene is big, and I'm kind of the opposite I guess. I guess we sort of have that in common, were opposites. Greene is stoked on life and he like's a good time and to celebrate everything. Thats whats fun about him, he's fun to be around, and he has good jokes, but sometimes he's too big like a big dog that you like a lot but that eats all your cheese burgers and knocks over everything and sleeps on the couch when you want to watch Indiana Jones.

Anyway, Green is in a healing process now. You see Greene's been doing some landscaping. Working for El Cazador (Jaime) and the matador(Taylor). Well anyway, Greene gets tired a lot. He gets tired cause he's real big and needs huge amounts of energy, like enough to run a small city, or to power a small town fair for like three days. Well so what I'm getting at is that Greene falls asleep all over the place, even sometimes on the job, he just can't help it. And well to just get to the point already, Greene fell asleep on the job while he was weed eating in front of Taylor on Ricky (the big mower) and Taylor ran him over and almost cut his leg off.

More Pictures of Green...

Greene Sleeping at lunch (Looks like Jersey Mikes.)

Greene sleeping on the couch (he's so tired.)

Green sleeping in the car on the way from one job to another (Taylor stoked that Greenes asleep cause he likes to nuzzle his head onto Greens shoulder and use it as a pillow, Greene only lets Taylor do this when he's asleep.)

Greene and Taylor asleep in some grass (I hope they haven't cut it yet cause if they did it looks like someone missed that crack weed, I would not tolerate that kind of incompetence.)

Greene slumbering on the couch again (his eye itches probably from some dust.)

Greene and Taylor in the car again (Greene forgave Taylor for running him over with Ricky immediately after it happened.)

Greene asleep on the floor.

Greene sleeping on some paper. (Probably dreaming about getting tubed at ten foot sunset (Greene has been in the barrel at ten foot sunset, so it's quite possible that this is what he's dreaming about.)

Polli.

Full House

Well, I guess I should say some stuff. Hawaii is sweet, no it's cool, nah, no, it's nice, yeah thats it; Hawaii is nice. And it's nice because right now we have a full house, Gabi, Sandy, and Christy, and of course Adam and I, were like a family. Any way it's kind of like, well just watch this short video and you will understand how things work around here...

So I cannot figure out how to embed this thing so if you want you can click on the link and see a funny video... http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/3xnyKPw2qbMnunD0

more words soon

bh

five sailing pictures

transitions

still transitioning into life on the rock

things are quite weird right now, only been a few moments of peace, not much surf, town is a hard place to break down--I need a fat slippery square piece of foam to slide on, to make these waves more interesting, when the transitions complete perhaps I will build one.

Adam points at a very large urchin in a cave at sharks cove.

Don't Panic from Brian Herron on Vimeo.

Sept. 27, Sunset beach HI

Coffee With Dad

Pretty much all my life my old mans been playin the guitar. He's got about 20 of 'em and they're all over the house, I guess so if he feels like throwing something down he can just grab one and go. Most times I'll be chillin reading or watching some movies or what not and here comes my Dad wearing nothing but a pair of board shorts and an acoustic guitar strapped to his neck saying, "hey Brian listen to this."

Yesterday I caught a clip of his wandering jamming over a hot cupa and a fresh sunday times...

King Stanley from Brian Herron on Vimeo.

Da New Cave

Cavebrother has done it, he's found our new cave. Located on the top of a volcanic ridge, apparently the cave is nice, free of bats and bears, and has an abundance good rocks around it which could be used to smash things.

Please enjoy a virtual tour of das cave presented to us here by the one and only Adam Ayers, who thinks he is funny when quite obviously he is not...

(cavebrother stands in the main entrance of our new home)

This photo demonstrates that there actually was a time when Adam was literally my "little" brother, and although that time seems to have come and gone (maybe not I think I'm just going to get my growth spurt a little late) this does not mean I will not be the one in charge of things around the house, for I am older and therefore wiser, also I am the natural alpha male mainly because of my sheer strength and power.

In any case I'm stoked, as the Herron brothers will be united again, and you can expect big things from us this winter as we are already planning many adventures and expeditions to some of the most beautiful, and most dangerous places on Oahu as well as new board designs including winged alaia's, rocket tow boards (for doing airs at phantoms), and body surfing expeditions all along the north shore. Banzai!

As you can see from this little text video I received from das Cavebrother yesterday titled, "Aloha From Pipe" he's already been making moves in da waves...

Parting shot: The virtual tour guide, Adam Ayers and his beautiful lady Katie Brown glowing at tongs.

b.

Catching eels

Been a heck of a transition from life-guarding to painting, went from having beautiful women offer me gifts of gold and jewels, to straight--dirtbag. Yesterday someone told me I look like I catch eels for a living.

Lying Down in the Tube

The hunt for Eye Gore swell went well, it was a fast paced trip to the south, packed with good friends, good close out tubes, and good southern food, plus a bonus magical mase session that I will never forget. All in all, me and the old man scored. Expect a short reel soon, but for now check out this sick boogie woogie vid I discovered on the inter net webbing-- boogers always catch a lot of slack for riding waves the way they do, but man if you really sit back and look at it for a second, boogie riding is rad!--how much fun does it look to just fly through tubes lying down like super man, it's really just body surfing with a little help. Here's to boogers!

Fit Full Rest

I'm not sleeping well. The transition from one life-style to another is always demanding on my brains and gray matter. Dreams of strange faces--bulging eye balls and turned down lips--wake me up every hour, on the hour. Worries about money, jobs, family, and friends have me sweating at two in the morning, kicking my feet, and twisting till I fall back into that strange place we all go in the night.

Lately all I've wanted to do is find surf. My brains need a shower.

Check em photos of Das Gimp absolutely charging Avalon on da Earl swell.

Gimp charging--Cave watching--screaming, "noooo, don't pull in!"

Gimp pulls in to an Avalon sand slab.

Das Gimp Rips.

We ended up scoring pretty good with Earl in-spite of missing some big surf down south, and aside from picking up a staffy looking infection in my leg in Cape May, I felt great satisfaction having hunted Earl with a good friend--feasting on the marrow of his barrel bones.

Now it's time to put the safari cap back on, I'm heading south with the old man to rendezvous with some Carolina boys to hunt for Igor, an overgrown Atlantic cyclops pronounced, --eye-gore-- by Doug Deegan. Check back for updates and happy hunting to all.

BH

Summer?

Summer is over. Where did it go? It left without saying goodbye, no? In any case the summer was a good one, a new one, for me. A summer spent outside the comfort zone of my usual doings--my usual wanderings--a summer spent in the sun, reading the Atlantic like a book and people-watching a people from another time and another place.

And I regret not meeting those people, not knowing those who came to graze in the little summer waves with their suspenders, cigars, cigarettes, aqua socks, sun-blocks, beach balls, and boogie woogie boards. How peculiar these people became to me as I watched them day after hot summer day, occasionally jumping down and running out into the water to pull one of their little ones out of a rip by the scruff of their neck, all the while their parents, back-beach, obliviously smoked cigarettes and ate ham sandwiches--ham sandwiches--baking themselves like chocolate chip cookies these people approached the water with a style so bizarre to me that I became fascinated with it.

I was amazed, and eventually envious at how much joy they could find in the smallest pulse of a wave as they would hop on with their boogie woogie board stretched way out in front of them always dragging their bodies like anchors end up on the sand in front of the stand like a shiny seals smiling and laughing and using archaic expressions like, "yahoo," or ,"by golly that was a hoot!" They had so much fun, these people from a different land, almost as if they were from a different time, from a time when people would wear britches in the water and use cameras that popped and shot smoke to make photos.

But now its over, what an experience, I feel like I've learned a lot, but what I value most from this life-guarding experience is the sense of having accomplished something I set out to do, the challenge I did not back away from, and the friends I made along the way. I know that sounds sentimental and perhaps a little fluffy, but I met some really cool people up there on that stand.

Ok so now I'm off too HI, but not before one last east coast adventure, I have a meeting this friday somewhere south of here with a new client named Igor... Stay tuned for an Igor hunting road trip video. After that It's off to Oahu where Cavebrother is holding it down, studying hard, surfing when he can, and occasionally spending some time with his newest passion, the guitar.

Check em one new movie, Adam on da guitar while I catch a wave at leftovers last spring...

Enjoy

HI from Brian Herron on Vimeo.

A meeting of the souls.

Adam and Dad at sharks cove. The fishes represent some deeper meaning I can't quite put into words at this time, thank you.

It's that time of the year--the basin is finally looking good--lets cross our fingers everyone.

photos in nc by sethy