http://www.chrisbryanfilms.com

Matt Meola – $100,000 Innersection edit from ACL Digital Cinema on Vimeo.

Here is Matt Meola’s winning edit from the Innersection contest, filmed & directed by Elliot Leboe of ACL Digital Cinema. For more information on the contest check out www.innersection.tv. We are so grateful to everyone who voted for Matt’s part! Special thanks to Taylor Steele & Nathan Myers of Innersection.

Additional filmers for his part include:
Marlon Lewis
Curt Morgan – Brainfarm
Quincy Dein
Theo Niarchos
Raegan Ritchie

Time to grab your yagi. The “man” is coming for your unused air “waves”. The “tax man” is standing by and the whole system is having technical difficulties. The FCC is directing the show and the advertisers are taking the lead role. What the hell is going on?

Ya know, the squandering of bandwidth here in Hawaii is at least as harmful as the Jones Act is to shipping. Do we really want to pay, to earn the right to pay, so we can use air?

Maybe just watch the video and check out the site. Even if you’re only “aware” of the issue you’ll make the right decisions. Let’s free the airwaves Hawaii.

What would you do with free wi-fi?

For many of us that work half our time online, it could mean greater energy efficiency in our lives. It would also effectively remove the first of five critical success factors for strengthening Hawaii’s digital economies, outlined over here.

Look for smaller chips and sensors to change the way use and reinvent the way we use wi-fi. For example:

An Old Favorite—WiFi— Preps to Disrupt Smart Meter Market
Today at 10:57 AM by Michael Kanellos

Get to know Wi_fi and you’ll be amazed at what it can do:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi

Could this be true?
The quality of your obstacles = the quality of your outcome

or maybe this one?
The difficulty level of your challenges are equal to the momentum of success upon completion.

I know these questions have been addressed before. I’m just thinking that if you watch the video below, you’ll want to go surf as much as I do right now. ;) If you’re a surfer, you’ve probably already heard of Life Rolls On and Jesse Billauer.

More from the Life Rolls On Foundation

In the Summer, the swells beging coming from the South and we’re golden. No other islands in our way. But the Swells out of the South are less frequent and mostly smaller. At least we can get them directly from any South facing shore.

The great part about living on an island is when swells come from multiple directions. There’s literally more waves than surfers. Now if we could just get everyone to spread out on these days, we’d be golden. That’s another story. So are Tsunamis, like the one that came strolling through last night. The tide only rose about 5″ but there were a lot of surfers camping on beaches last night.

Today is one of those days when surfing the Big Island is truly a beautiful thing. The waves are 4-6′ almost everywhere, except here in the middle of the woods, where I wait for a client call.
Here’s some links so you can be your own wave forecaster:

Hawaii Surf News has become somewhat, the local standard: http://www.hawaiisurfnews.com

Stan at Orchidland Surf (Downtown Hilo) is the guy on the radio giving the updates. Here’s the link to his report page:
http://www.surfolhawaii.com/surfreports/index.php Although not as comprehensive as Hawaii Surf News, this is an important report because it’s popular. Because it’s broadcasted on the radio, many people listen. This helps us predict which points will be crowded because if the numbers are too high, everyone will go where Stan says it’s good. By checking multiple sources and following swells more closely (friends on site with cell phones) we can escape to potentially less crowded spots. When Stan’s numbers are too low, like during an approaching swell, we can hit the easy spots before the crowds come. You get the idea.

Check Kona Boys for more accurate numbers on the West Side. Tel: 808.328.1234

The Navy has an old, kinda crummy swell map. Many tech-savvy surfers have used this site for a long time. Other sites now map the same bouy data but I kina like the simple .gifs the Navy outputs. Don’t worry about too much about the security warnings but do read the dates and times: This is the link.

Finally, we’ve got another grouping of surf links at bigislandfun.com (shameless prop). Check us out over there for more than just swell predictions: http://www.bigislandfun.com/surfing/surfing.htm

It’ll take some practice to understand what the predictions, bouy readings and current numbers mean. You’ll also need to understand the various breaks (reefs/river mouths etc) to know where to go. It’s one thing to know there are waves but it’s another science to know where to get in the water. This kind of science only comes with local knowledge, experience and the willingness to venture beyond the parked cars at the beach parks.

On the Big Island you can still sit by yourself in perfect waves in the morning and go ride Mauna Kea on the snowboard with your friends in the afternoon. Lucky we live Hawaii.

How can you keep a place low key if you’re going to post flyers around town announcing another Thanksgiving Day Surf Contest? True, it won’t be a huge turnout. It’s a hike to get to without a 4×4. Even with a 4×4 it’s still in Kau. So it’s pretty far away from any population centers. It’s remote, it’s isolated and there’s no lua.

So now a hundred people are gonna go down there again and leave dumps, leave trash and tell their friends how great it was. That’s what they do. Even if it wasn’t.

Catching it on the right swell is difficult. Isolation is one of it’s best traits. But it was gorgeous Saturday and with the South Swell passing by, there were plenty barrels at day break. But I just don’t understand posting flyers and holding a contest. Why make the place any more popular than it already is? Do you want more people there?

If you can’t find it yourself, if you haven’t done the research and exploring, if you haven’t been taken there by a local, if you don’t live in Kau maybe it sholdn’t come as easily as reading about on a flyer.

“Secrets” isn’t a secret any more and Kau is still Kapu.

A late night of laughs got us to shacks late, around 9am. Pros were still dominating the lineup when we got there and the tubes were car-sized. Instantly a feeling of fear and elation coursed my veins as I nervously pulled my board out and hurried out into the lineup. Arn was out there (aloha Arn). Ben was out there (aloha Ben) and it was obvious I’d have to step things up a bit.

Earning a spot in the lineup is in some ways easier when the waves are firing. In other ways, it’s much more dangerous as skill levels mix. After a few hours of killer drops my luck finally ran out and I got pitched. I hurt something inside me (no, not my pride). I think it had to do with the side-belly-flop I did and it was time to refuel anyway. The wind shifted, I went in and caught up with my friend.

The hour-long ride back to mountain view happens in seconds when you’re riding through the morning waves in your mind.

My friend just called and it looks like Bayfront is a possibility for the morning. I guess I’ll be sleeping in the truck downtown.

Tonight check out Nichols Pub. It’s a beautiful night for a revolution.

As usual, the weather in Kopoho / Pohoiki was Hawaiian style. With warm breezes and big patches of clear sky, it looked like the mission was a go. I was psyched because I hadn’t been surfing the Southeast side in about a month. The surf report was predicting 4-6′ and the moon was predicting fun. But when I got down near shacks, the scene quickly changed.

It was party time. About a hundred of shacks biggest fans were having a great time when I came down the road. One guy thought I was five-0. Yeah, I kinda look like it too. But I came to surf and was welcomed so I parked in the party and started checking out the scene in the water. I felt like the only person that came alone and didn’t come to party but when I launched into the water, I quickly drew attention. It was unavoidable but only a few people saw me go in. That changed also.

As I paddled, yelps ensued and after finally getting outside, headlights came on from shore randomly. It was pretty scary being out there but my thoughts were solely focused on catching a wave. Making bold moves is fine but you have to deliver. Riding a wave wasn’t only necessary but now it was a must. Returning to shore without at least solid ride would have meant “lickins” back on shore. At least that’s what I’m thinking out there.

I had a bit of a challenge lining up but as the clouds moved away, the moon lit the place up and I found my spot next to the bowl. It seemed like forever before a set came through that I was lined up to take and I was sure at this point that everyone on shore was losing hope in my venture. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Around that time, I got my first wave. It was a slabber, overhead, about 5′ with a big section closing out in front of me at take-off. A little offshore breeze would have meant a barrel. I worked around the section and caught a nice ride making the most of a second setup. I’m thinking, ok, at least I won’t get beat when I get to shore. Like I said, I was wrong in my thinking.

Paddling back out I heard voices. It turns out that while I’m worried about what other people are thinking on shore, those same people are now paddling out too. Surfers and bodyboarders started finding pseudo-peaks all around “bowls”. I caught a couple more waves, one inside on my way back in.

I must have also been the first back on shore because there were still people waiting to ask who I was. The real joy was after I grabbed a beer and sat down again to watch the ocean. I could hear kids in the water going off. They we yelling and screaming loud enough for the ragers on shore to hear them. The screams went back from the land to the sea and over the next hour I had the privilege of sharing aloha with a few braddahs and sistahs as they came out of the water, fully stoked from a moonlight ride.

The next morning, the bay was doing it’s thing and everyone in the water was charging, smiling and filling the bay with spray.