Blog

Mugicha: Japan’s Favorite Drink That You’ve Probably Never Heard Of One of the most exhilarating parts of visiting and living in other countries and cultures is the opportunity to explore their unique food and drinks. Growing up in Okinawa, I was exposed to all sorts of interesting dishes and beverages, but perhaps the one that I recall the most vividly, at least during the summer months, is mugicha. Mugicha is tea made from roasted barley and is a staple of the Japanese diet during summer. It is extremely cool and tasty, and a great way to refresh yourself during a...

Over the past few decades, we’ve become pretty accustomed to a predictable world tour scene. Since 1992 there have been 26 world titles—and 21 of them have been won by five people. Between Kelly Slater’s 11 wins, Mick Fanning and Andy Irons taking three apiece, and John John Florence and Gabriel Medina dominating the past five years with two world titles each, there really hasn’t been room for anyone else at the top of the heap. And while that might be a testament to how dominant these surfers are, a predictable world tour doesn’t really make things very interesting for...

In case you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t noticed, Town has been pumping over the past few days. The summer’s first real south swell filled in this weekend, and it was a doozy. Actually a series of overlapping swells, this run of waves started Saturday with head-high sets at Town standouts like Ala Moana Bowls, and then built as the weekend continued. Sunday evening saw sets pushing five foot, and Monday morning saw the peak of the swell with the largest waves pushing into the double overhead range. The amazing thing about this swell is that it wasn’t...

The Big Wave Awards are always controversial, and this year was no exception. In the weeks running up to the award ceremony, a number of people spoke out about what they felt were overlooked rides that should have received nominations but didn’t. Some feel this is political, while others simply believe that certain names bring more hype to the sport, and that is why they tend to get the nod when it comes to subjective awards such as ride of the year. There were a few conspicuously absent names this year, including Albee Layer (who paddled a crazy barrel at...

It’s been a rough 12 months for Hawaii’s favorite surfer. After putting in a groundbreaking performance at last year’s Margaret River Pro, John John looked set to win his third world title in a row. But then a knee injury sustained in Bali before the Keramas event sidelined him, ending his title campaign and putting him out of the water for nearly a year. Well John John is back in the water and back in the competitor’s jersey—and as of a few days ago, he’s back in the driver’s seat of the world tour. After a third place result on...

I’m Going to Fall off This Ship! When I finished high school, I was ready for some adventure. College just didn’t seem to be the answer, so I started looking around for other options. My dad was a master gunnery sergeant in the Marines and was very traditional. He had made it clear that I’ll be on my own when I turn 18, so when college didn’t work out and I decided to do something else, I hit the road. I headed for Reno, Nevada, where my aunt lived, and started working odd jobs. That got old pretty quick, so...

Member of the Month is our VIP member, Kyle Lee This month’s Member of the Month is our VIP member, Kyle Lee. He comes into the shop full of positive energy you all can feel, it’s contagious and we love it! In the past few months, he’s picked up a few Thunderbolt Technology boards. He’s given us several video reviews that we’ve posted on Social media. It’s awesome because after seeing the reviews, others picked up the board and are stoked because of Kyle’s review. When and why did you initially get into surfing? As far as I can remember,...

The battle for the world title and Olympic qualification continues this week as the world tour moves to Bells Beach, in Victoria, Australia. Bells has been the setting for some of surfing’s most pivotal performances. It is the longest running world tour-level event, having run consecutively for over 50 years, and helped reveal the thruster to the world in 1981 when Simon Anderson took the win in maxed out Bells Bowl. Always run over Easter weekend, the event draws thousands of surf fans, and has been won by some of surfing’s greats, including Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning, and Andy Irons....

Kelly Slater is the undisputed greatest surfer of all time, particularly when it comes to competitive surfing. But even the GOAT gets old eventually, and at 46 Slater’s career is nearing it’s end. He still amazes us now and then, and is still a contender in big, barreling waves, but he’s starting to struggle to keep up with the youngsters on tour—which is understandable, since he’s now competed against four separate generations of world tour surfers. The 2019 world tour kicked off last week on the Gold Coast, with Slater coming up short in his round one heat. He was...

NOW IN THE NEW MODEL PUDDLE JUMBER HIGH PERFORMANCE!  It's the WORLDS MOST Environmentally Friendly Surfboard Made in the USA. "If you are one of the thousands of surfers that enjoyed the Puddle Jumper Series, the PJHP allows you to take your small wave surfing to the next level."- Matt Biolos NEW LIBTECH PUDDLE JUMPER HP  A mainstay of the …Lost quiver, the Puddle Jumper HP is a revved up, slimmed down variation on the classic Puddle Jumper, designed for high performance surfing. The pulled-in nose and moved-back wide point allow the board to shred like a normal shortboard,...

Oahu is the center of the surfing universe, and most pros stop through the island at some point in their careers (if not every season). But for every visiting professional surfer there is an Oahu local who shines just as bright—whether you are talking about longboarding, barrel riding, high-performance surfing, or big wave charging. Trevor Carlson is part of that last category—a world-class big wave expert who holds it down for Hawaii season after season. Because he doesn’t have any major sponsors, Trevor isn’t as well known as some of the other local big wave guys—but that’s also part of...

While big wave surfing as a whole has been progressing by leaps and bounds, competitive big wave surfing has sort of been stagnating over the past few years. It all started with the abysmal call at Nazare last season, when the world title was decided in waves that were barely big enough for a step-up, let alone a gun. Then this 2018/19 season continued with woeful calls, as both the men’s and women’s events at Jaws were plagued with questionable judging, with many people agreeing that Kai Lenny and Emi Erickson both got robbed. To make matters worse, it has...

RADIO TAISO AND A SURF AT KEWALOS David Kelly | Owner, Hawaiian South Shore The other morning when I was getting ready to surf, I heard some music playing. I looked around, and realized the music was coming from the docks. I could see a group of people doing calisthenics, and it appeared that they were doing it in time to the radio music! This reminded me of when I was growing up in Okinawa. Every morning during summer break at 6:30a.m., we  would all  line up at the community center (“kominkan”) and do something called radio taiso (“radio exercise”)....

 NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2019 MT. FUJI David Kelly | Owner, Hawaiian South Shore Everyone can use a little luck in their lives, and my wife has her own fun way of finding it.  For the past few years, we have done trips back to Japan each January, and legend has it that it is good luck to bring in the new year by gazing upon Mt. Fuji. So every time we book our trips, my wife always makes sure that she will get a chance to see Mt. Fuji. Sometimes that might mean staying in a ryokan that has a good...

With all of the heavy-water antics that the best in the world are doing these days, and the non-stop media coverage documenting every monumental ride, it is easy to become desensitized to big wave surfing. These days it can often seem like if you aren’t charging 50-foot Peahi, then you aren’t charging at all. But the reality is that we all surf at different levels, and that big waves and the fear that comes with them are largely relative. While it might take a massive Mavs bomb to get Aaron Gold’s blood pumping, for the beginner surfer who has only...