West Side Story

Seemed like a good day to make the trek to the west side and check out what was going on at Makaha.  I'd never been there before but grew up hearing about and looking at photos in surf mags of contests held there in the 60's, so this was a surf pilgrimage for me.

Didn't know it at the time but the 34th Annual Buffalo's Big Board Contest was being held there today (all week long actually).  Organized by Buffalo Keaulana, this contest is all about "old school" maneuvers like the "dead cockroach", the "coffin", the "allen wrench" and "scooter boy".  Big  boards only; the bigger the better.  We arrived in time for the legends heat in which Buffalo himself was a contestant.

The waves were pretty small so the famous Makaha "launch" on the inside was sort of tame; but you could see how it could get pretty radical with some size.  In between heats there was an event that I have never witnessed, tandem boogie boarding!  Looked like an oversized boogie board and two riders doing tricks and everything.  Was very hot so we didn't linger but headed up the coast to the end of the road, ate our peanut butter and j sandwiches and headed back to Kailua.  

Fun day and great to see the west side and Makaha.

Aloha

Gary