FITTED HAWAII

Got taxed by the man in the grey suit on Friday outside Yoks.

An extra big congratulatory SHAKA goes out to our very own Zeke Lau who took out many a competitor including one Kelly Slater during his ride to victory yesterday at Sunset Beach. With the weather being less then stable I chose to watch the comp live online from the comfort of my house. Chicken skin moment when Zeke pulled into the best barrel of the final heat to secure the trophy and 40k!! Yeah Boy… not a bad days work. – RM

There is nothing more beautiful than a Hawaiian sunset with the exception of a Hawaiian sunrise… haven’t seen one? A must do for any respectable bucket list. With Thanksgiving a couple days away I took some PTO on Tuesday to see if we could pick up some pupus for the big meal. The morning blessed us with a unreal sunrise which looked like Ra himself was straddling the Waianae mountain range… good stuff. After wrestling the elements for a few hours we finally bumped into the fish… plenty to enjoy. Oh that (The West Side) tank top… call the shop they can hook you up. – RM

The last weeks holiday financial juggle had me stressed. But with light winds I didn’t stay stressed for long. Decided a lunchtime paddle on the scupper would remedy any angst. The ocean always calms. Headed to the spot with a new pink papio feather dragging behind the kayak. Nothing for an hour so switched it out to the old faithful while still in the shallows…and as the line was still going out hooked up to a very muscular awa awa. These guys can scrap and this one put on quite an aerial show followed by multiple runs each time I got him close. Ended up bringing him back to the warehouse and throwing him on the grill with hawaiian salt and liberal dousing of ponzu sauce… mean afternoon snack. – RM

Important Notice!!! Bananas are considered bad luck on boats all over the world, leave them at home!!! On the Capri M. it is not just bananas but all fruits that I consider bad luck. So when my first mate Sky offered me some fresh red grapes (that he had smuggled on board in his lunch pack) after three hours of uneventful trolling I had him immediately toss them overboard. Proof is in the pudding because less than thirty minutes later we had a fish in the box, and another one, and another one, and another one. Yeah they aren’t massive but as Capri likes to say and I quote…”you get what you get and you don’t get upset”. Who could possibly be upset spending Aloha Friday catching dinner on water like this? Not me. – RM

Everyone knows I am always on the pursuit of simple leisure. They also know that I frequent Kaimanas quite a bit on the weekends. Saturday had us once again posted up in the keiki corner for more of what we do best… chillaxin. The wife happened to be off this weekend and was pleased to be able to join us on our usual outing. Funny thing was that the leather skinned senior citizens that are normally baking to a crisp in the area had somehow been replaced by a constant stream of highly intoxicated, thonged, fit twenty somethings parading in and out of the water to cool down before they overheated from too many disco biscuits. Some kind of rave going on in the park across the street apparently. What luck. After catching my wandering eyes one too many times Kristen sarcastically says “no wonder you come here all the time”. Of course I complimented her and told her she was my favorite twenty something, which undoubtedly she is. – RM

Fresh off our trip to South Kona last month Capri and I got a last minute invite to North Kona with Kema and the gang, more specifically to Jeff and Lissa’s compound in Kiholo. Since I had been there only once before and the Big island seems to have really gotten in my blood lately I thought it a wise decision to except the invite. Kristen’s work schedule can be quite demanding at times and she was unable to get the weekend off so it would be Capri and I alone on this one. No problemo as you know already Capri is plenty fine rolling hard with the boys and I always love investing in her adventure education. After enjoying a few pre-flight cocktails at the HNL airport before boarding time it came to my attention that this trip was put together to celebrate Kema’s birthday… oh boy. So while most people on Oahu were stuck in Friday traffic we were jetting out to the Kona Coast to rough it for a few days, rough being a loose term of course. Arriving at the house in the dark had me counting the hours until dawn, I couldn’t wait to show Capri the natural beauty or wait for her to feel the solace that Kiholo is known for. First light did not disappoint.

The boys came packing some serious dive gear, Kamea’s spear gun looked deadly and I think the two fat Uhus he shot will concur. While Jeff and the boys took to the water Lissa took to Capri like only a true Auntie would. You see Lissa’s family has owned this property since before she was born and she has been spending many of her favorite times here since then. Lissa shared her childhood fishing hole which just happens to be in the backyard with Capri and treated her to a gyotaku of the catch… memories I tell ya. The house itself is nestled in between a historic fishpond and a beautiful blue lagoon and local legend says that King Kamehameha’s bones are resting in a secret underwater cave somewhere in the area… kinda heavy.

With no electricity available it kept everyone off their instabrags and in the moment, good thing to because there are plenty of amazing sights to enjoy in Kiholo. Each day brought us crispy glassy mornings, lazy afternoons and balmy nights mix in a constant supply of ice chilled coconuts and cuzzo lights and I ask… do you need more? It is easy to become dull from routine and getting off the grid for a moment no matter how short it may be seems to be what keeps me sharp and I think all in attendance will agree with that sentiment. Happy Birthday Kema until the next one. – RM

Oh yeah almost forgot… this hat Capri is wearing, Kema made it… he is native like that.

There are no persons more superstitious than gamblers with the exception of fishermen. Fishermen are extremely weary of anything that may jinx the trip and I myself am no different. I guess you could say each trip is a gamble… any of you willing to bet a few hundred bucks of gas, ice, snacks and beverages as well as the better half of your nights sleep that you will catch a fish in the deep blue sea?. No… I didn’t think so. My Uncle just happens to be the kind of man who is willing to make that bet every weekend, weather and family obligations permitting and I have found myself becoming more and more the like. So when ideal weather and a free window from my usual parental duties presented itself I was stoked to join in on this weekends bet. Things started off different from the get go…I woke up late due to sharing one to many cuzzo lights with the team at the warehouse the night before, I know shocking isn’t it! So when Uncle texts me at 5am “WTFAU” I knew it was going to be an interesting day.

I met Uncle and his trusty first mate Simi at the harbor and we get underway around 6am. Head straight out and find what we think is an Aku pile which turned out to be a school of baby Mahi. Caught a few looked them over and let them go, CNR. We keep pushing out and find the treaded pilot whales who always let you know who is boss by their bullyish swimming style. So we motor on looking always looking when we get a Ono strike in the blind, decide to double back and see if any more are around when we spot a school of bull Mahi feeding. We get hit 3 times but only land 2 due to Uncle’s botched gaff job on one of the smaller ones. A few other boats show up and the bite stops just as fast as it started but it doesn’t matter though because our gamble had paid off, but we had no idea how much it was going to pay off until high noon.

As we head due north on what has undoubtedly got to be one of the most glassy days on the water in my recent memory we hook up with every big game fisherman’s dream the majestic PBM. Nothing strikes like these big pelagic fish and at 12 o’clock we engaged in what was to become a 1 1/2 hour battle that tested our wit and strength to the fullest. As Simi and I traded turns on the Penn 80 Uncle sat high in his new Captain’s chair heckling us in between strict directions, “none of that two hand bullshit!” he said as I tried my best to keep tension on the line while working the reel handle with two hands. This was my strongest fish to date and I have caught a few big fish in my short gambling career. Needless to say Captain’s direction and teamwork paid off big time this trip. – RM