Dan and I are back from Oahu

Early Tuesday morning August 26th. Dan and I headed to the airport in separate cars for an early morning departure for Oahu, Hawaaii. The take off was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. and the flight was to take about 4 1/2 hours.We arrive a little before 1 P.M. Hawaii time.

The evening before our flight was the toughest because we had to pack our bags. We both wanted to take a large kite (15/16) in case the wind was marginal and a smaller one (12's) if the wind was good. We both purchased "NSI Pro Golf" bags but because of the new airline regulations we had no idea if they were going to work because of their size. The one thing we knew was they could not weigh over 50 pounds. Mine weighed 47 and Dan's was a little over. He said to the Sky Cap "Please make it work." So the guy leaned it onto the scale and it was just under 50. The guy got a nice tip.

Even though we woke up at 4 A.M. we were happy to be going on this adventure. I had been to Oahu in '05 but this was Dan's first visit.

Part of the package was a rental car. One suggestion make sure that the seats fold down and that it's a 4 door with a little size. This car was just barley adequate. If it was any smaller we would need to upgrade. It was a two door and it sucked for room.

The first thing that Dan did was connect his "nav-monkey" and set it for Mokuleia.

I give the freeways on Oahu two thumbs up. In six days of driving we only ran into traffic once. Most of the time it was like this, wide open. A big caution......watch your speed. The speed limit most of the time was 55 mph, yet everyone drove at about 65 to 70 and we saw radar speed traps too.

This is the view you see when you come up and over this hill and down towards the North Shore area. You could instantly see that there were white caps and you got very excited. We kited Moki all six days.

When you look at it on a map or if you Google this location it's called Mokuleia Beach Park. In reality it's a one way U shaped driveway with a few parking spots, two out houses and a shower. The plus is there is no charge. The minus is it's only open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

There are a few rules that you have to follow....NOT.

Once we parked the car we had to walk down to the beach and check it out. There is no way a picture can capture the feeling you get when you look out on this beach. The first reaction is that the water is so beautiful. It's not blue, not green but a turquoise color. And the water is so clear. From the beach you can see the rocks and the coral. The waves were usually about two to three feet.

The rigging area was tricky. You had to wear your flip-flops because the plants and burrs would go right into your feet. Oh, ouch, uhhh, f__k. Dan was able to self launch his Best, although it sounded like his kite was going over coconuts as it came around. I on the other hand asked a "local" to help me. When he tossed my kite in the air my chicken loop came off the hook and all hell broke loose. The kite bolted left and hit a metal sign. At that moment, as it was still going counter-clock wise, I let go of the bar and it just hovered like a backward bat. I was in panic mode since it was over the drive way so I pulled one of the outside lines and I was able to land it. Man what a scare my first launch and I screwed it up. When I got everything under control, I asked someone else for a launch and I went out. Unfortunately, because it was out first time, we weren't watching very closely and the wind died and the kites went in the water. Fortunately there was a fellow that helped us and we had our first day under our belt. Not great, but it could have been worse.

This was the end of day one of kiting at Moki. It was a great day.

As we headed home after day one we were happy we were here. This was our hotel room. The deal was all we needed to do was listen to their sales pitch. That was a long two hours.

This was the drive that we took from Moki to our hotel, or visa versa. It usually took about 30 minutes or so.

We had a little ritual in the morning; get the ice from the freezer then pack the chest with vitamin drinks and plenty of beer...OK we're out of here. For the first two days our breakfast consisted of 2 egg McMuffin's, a potato thingy each and juice. Who said this was going to be a healthy vacation?????

On day 2 we decided to drive across the island and check out Kailua Beach Park and see how the wind was. NOTHING!!!!! So we went to the Naish shop and bought a chicken loop for my bar and we headed back to Moki to kite. No wind was predicted for Kailua for the entire trip.

This was the worse case scenerio, drive to Kailua, pick up a part at the only two kite shops on the island, then backtrack and drive to Moki. The whole thing took about an hour and a half.

Today was designated as "picture day." This shot was looking East of where we launched.

This is our launch site looking North.

I love this shot of Dan making the transition to port. I guess I could be bias here but what a stud.

Dan found that his jumping going port was very easy. The wind and waves were perfect for this.

I took so many shots of Dan jumping so I had to bring it down to one. I liked this one.

Then I went out and Dan took the pictures.

He caught a good transition....

And a good star jump....thanks Dan.

Two locals that we saw every day was Jane....a kiter about 50 years young and

Top hat...and is Ausi buddy.


It took us until day three to discovered a Safeway store about 20 minutes from the hotel Then we went major shopping. We wanted to have something better than burgers for dinner because the night before I had ordered 8 tacos and we got 4 chicken sandwiches instead. I wanted to go back but Dan said "NO". So Breakfast became one of the big winners. Dan did all the cooking and I did the cleanup. Mmmmm the mornings were great because Dan would wake up early and turn on the coffee and start cooking. My god, the smell...I was in heaven.

Today was all about fun. This is Dan taking a picture of a can. Don't ask me why.

This was day three in paradise. More fun and more wave riding.

After a great day of kiting Dan BBQ'd tuna steaks. Mmmm.

Then it was off to the hot tub and a few beers before bed. Oh, life is good.

Day four was about catching Dan jumping. I think I caught a few.

This is one of the highest Dan pulled off. I'm guessing it was over 20 feet, maybe over 25 feet. It's hard to tell.

So is this one.

Friday was our longest session. From about 1 o'clock until sunset. We kited for about 6 hours. Life does'nt get any better.

When we got back to the room Dan decided to cook a chicken. What was great was he basted the chicken and then placed it on the basting bottle. How clever. Then we went down to the hot tub and cooked ourselves and then came home and ate the chicken.

Back at Moki Dan decided to chase one of the wild chickens. I have no idea what he was going to do with it if he caught it.

All day long there were gliders taking off and...

para-gliders jumping out of planes. We had forgotten it was Saturday and everyone wanted to have fun.

When we were heading back to the hotel we had to get gas. While I was pumping the gas Dan walked over to a pizza place and came back and asked "What about pizza tonight?" I said "Sure." After I finished filling I drove over a few feet and parked as we waited for the pizza. We decided to have a beer while we were waiting. Finally the pizza guy walked out with the pizza and we were almost ready to go. We just needed to finish our beers.

As we were driving down the street, going back to the hotel, a woman made a signal like roll down your window. Then she said "I think your pizza flew off your roof into the street." "What????" Dan jumped out of the car and started running back to where we had just come. I jumped behind the wheel and pulled an illegal U-turn to get back to him.

I pulled up after a block or so and Dan jumped into the car. I drove down the street and then I saw the pizza box in the street. I pulled another U-turn and cut in front of the oncoming traffic to stop them from going any further. I pulled up to the box, Dan jumped out and brought it back to the car. Then we proceeded back to the hotel. As we drove along he opened the box and guess what, nothing happened. Nothing was wrong. No car had driven over it so we proceeded to eat it. Mmmmm. What a lucky moment, we just saved 20 bucks.

As you can see this was our last morning in the hotel. We had to checkout by 10 a.m. so we had to have everything packed and ready to go. The day before Dan's harness ripped so we knew we had to drive over to Kailua again to buy a new harness. He tried to sew it but that didn't work, so he had to bite the bullet.

I looked at it as another opportunity to have our picture taken. Ok, so we are in front of a kite shop, we knew we were on our last day in paradise.

As we packed the car for the last time Dan gave a sign that he had enjoyed himself, A WHOLE LOT. OK maybe he didn't think I would use the picture but to me it was that little moment between father and son that meant more to me.

I thought it was very symbolic that there was a rainbow that was saying "Goodbye from Ohau" as we drove to the airport. But no one wanted to have this movie come to an end.

We raced to the airport but forgot to get gas for the rental car so we drove around and finally filled it up. We got to the airport checked in the car, raced to the baggage check in and waited and waited to check our bags. We finally got to the restaurant and had a bite to eat and then rushed once again to the plane. As we approached the terminal there was a woman holding the door and called out "Are you Corbett?" Dan answered huffing and puffing "YES!!!!" Then she said "Please hurry the plane is ready to take off." "Oh crap." We ran down the ramp and onto the plane, and saw 200 people looking straight at us. We were the last ones on the plane. Then I couldn't get my carry on in the overhead bin after trying three times. Then I had to walk it up to first class and then with my tail between my legs had to walk back and look at all of these people in the face again as I went back to my seat. That was not a pretty moment. Then we took off.

I don't know how she did it but Ruth picked us up at the airport at 4 a.m. and then drove us home. All three of us took a nap until after noon. The rest of Monday day was a blur.

Today is Tuesday September 2nd and according to "Bongo" and Klaus there hasn't been any wind for a over a week. "OK wind we're home now."

Dan had to work but Mike Noel was there.

And so was Klaus. No one wanted to miss a wind today.

Klaus, Mike, Luca, Sonny and I had a great time. I rode two surfboards in memory of Oahu and a twin tip just so I could jump. "There is no place like home." but I think I'm moving to Oahu.

Ruth came down to visit us and swim.

I think she thinks she's a female Arnold Schwarzenegger. What do you think?? Check out those arms traps and shoulders. I've got to get her away from that power drink. It maybe harmful to her health but I'm afraid to say anything.

When all is said and done Belmont Shore is a great place to kite and everyone knows the spot.

See you on the beach.........