Kage's posts with tag: barrels
|  | I felt naked without my point-and-shoot. I dont have shots of hanging out at night. Or of the awarding ceremonies. Or even of the peeps just crapping on around the island. So I took advantage of the lull between the comp and awarding... as well as dead low tide, to shoot what I could of the kids and what we did during our down time.
OH and on Saturday morning I finally got some water time in at tiny Cloud 9 during nearly dead low tide. Me, the Tins and JJ plus Nina and her friends all
walked out and tried to catch what we could without dinging ourselves on the reef. Haha. So... while it was kind of lame, I can honestly say I have paddled Cloud 9. Hahahahaha.
This fairly random assortment of the final photos taken on our last two days on the island is how we are going to close the Siargao 2007 galleries. Must say, after last year's failure to upload most of my action shots on time, I am quite proud that I got it done this year. (Hee!)
So for 2007, buh-bye Siargao!!! |
| | The last day of competition. I still have to go through the shots from the other CF card but I'll be adding them all to this one album. And until then, I'll hang on to the photos of the finals as well. Para exciting. Hahahaha.
Again if you want any copies - personal or otherwise - please ask for permission first. |
| | The tail end of Round 2 and the start of Round 3. Pati ako nahihilo na sa dami ng photos. I will get around to the rest of this soon, I promise. Until then, enjoy the contact stoke from this daily dose of Siargao's perfect barrels.
Please get in touch with me for hi-res files or if you'd like to use any of them for your personal albums. |
| | Rather than add to the last album, I'm being lazy and just creating a whole 'nother one instead. As Tuesday afternoon got underway, the waves started getting cleaner, glassier and bigger. Deeper barrels, more tricks coming off a hollow tube... sicker and sicker waves.
Again, please ask me if you'd like to right-click on any of these photos or if you want a hi-res version.
Woot, woot!!! |
| | Another work in progress. The Tuesday afternoon heats.
Again, if you want hi-res copies of any of these files, please leave me a message. Or even if you want copies of these low-res versions for that matter. :) Thanks.
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| | Another overcast day in Siargao. So sad cos Siargao is best when the sun is out.
This time I did wake up in time for the morning heats! In this album: Dodo Espejon, Andrew Mooney, Richie Vaculik, Jason Shibata plus some local freesurf action and in-between heat hijinks :)
Please ask for permission before misappropriating any of the images below. |
| | This is a work in progress so keep checking back to see.
As of 6:55pm on Oct 2: Round 1 Heats 6-9 are complete and are posted below. Afternoon heats started at around 4:00pm so the light died fast. Sick, sick, sick waves ridden by sick chargers from around the world.
Please do not take any photos without first asking me for permission. All images were shot with Nikon D-200 and a Tamron 200-400 5.6 lens. (Someone send me a 600mm 2.8!!! Hahaha) |
| | For the first time in history, I didn't wake up for the first round of heats! So these photos start with the opening ceremonies on the beach followed by the luau prepared by the boys at Siargao Inn. They cooked the food in the pit for over six hours, Hawaiian-style. So big ups to the boys who prepared the meal!
Then back to the tower (my home for the next three days) for the afternoon heats. Those photos coming soon. First, some free surfing. :) |
| | This album was supposed to be called "Surf Trumps Lola" for reasons only Vic can truly explain. ;)
Roxy and Tin are introduced to Baler. The swell shifted while we were driving through the Sierra Madres towards Baler. And instead of the green that was waiting for us, we were met by a rather bluer shade of swell. Oh well.
Small but fun sessions at a break that went left on Saturday then right on Sunday. Low tide, current and mini-barrels. Getting used to the 6'0 Xanadu. Eating at GERRY SHAN's!!!
Sorry not a lot of surf shots. I was making the most of whatever waves we could get.
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| | These are only a fraction of the photos Ter snapped during his week with us in Bali. Well done Ter! Couldn't have asked for a better person to be with us on the trip. :) |
| | We were lucky enough to catch the trials for a major event on our second week in Bali. The Rip Curl Cup is entitled "It's On When It's On" because Padang Padang is such a fickle break that the smallest changes in weather can cause the biggest changes in swell size. There is a month long wait period for the comp - one of the longest known in the circuits.
The same break whose inside section we had surfed only two days before was now throwing massive double overhead sets that broke in front of the cliff and wrapped around the cove towards the beach. DAMN!
And of course, my first order of business was to check the heat schedule and find out who was around. On the menu for the surf aids? Friend Mostafa Jeksen, Tipi Jabrik, and Betet Merta. Rizal Tanjung, Made Widiarta, John John Florence, Kahea Hart, Nathan Hedge, and Koby Abberton! Woot, woot!
We found a spot safe from incoming tide and tried to get comfortable while watching the heats. Unfortunately, my lens couldnt quite cover the distance but I think you'll get a good enough idea of what Padang was like that day.
More Padang pics coming soon. Photos by me, Moro, Phil and Aya. |
| | Some of these photos have been published by Elev8 Magazine. Here's the first day from the snaps that Moro, Benito and I submitted.
Oh and by the way pick up a copy of Elev8! |
| | This is a long ass intro. But I'm going to write it out anyway. ;)
You know how you learn a new skill? And then later on you realize you've lost the touch and you arent as on the money with that skill as you used to be? It could be a grande jete, or a 3 point shot, or an au sem mao... and it frustrates you cos you know you can do it... you've done it before... how come it's so hard to do it now? Well, that's basically how I've been feeling lately with my pop-ups and my walls.
So the mission for the weekend was to relearn those skills, fix the mistakes I am making before they become bad habits. The first morning was frustrating and then after lunch we saw that the beach break was working... and even though Dom and I hadn't slept for over 24 hours, we went out to play. Aya stayed near me to make sure I stayed focused. And I fixed the problems!... the popping up, the turning so you slot yourself into the wall... committing to those drops. All of that. To make it even better, everyone was getting good waves too. Aya's frontside is looking better and better. Dom is dialing into that retro fish so well. Nicola, Tin, Kim, Mons, Aerika and Raf joined us later and made the line-up even more fun. Too bad there are no photos cos the boys were all asleep.
By far, one of the most memorable trips to Baler with the Band of Brothers.
These are just the snapshots taken with the Pentax OptioW30. The action shots taken by Coy and JP will be in another album.
Super highlights?
1. That Saturday afternoon session. I stayed out until it was too dark to see. "Too tired to paddle, too stoked to stop." Nica and Aya win for coming up when the stars were coming out. :)
2. Trying to hang on to six boards on the back on the pick-up with Philip.
3. Raf getting smacked by a center fin... and snapping the center fin clean off the board with his cheek.
4. Dom to Aerika "Paddle!" (Aerika paddles) Dom again "You're not paddling!"
5. Watching Saddam demolish waves AND a bottle of Nutella
6. Vic playing along with "Astro" by Sago on the car horn as we sped through the Sierra Madres
7. The group photo with Gerry Shan the Man!
8. Pop up Close out sessions at "Lubot"
9. Using Pandora again. First time since November.
10. Twenty people for one Baler trip, a record breaking cast. |
| | Nine months later... the photos are uploaded! Hahahaha! I've never been this delayed with photos before. I think the thought of editing 2,000 images got daunting. ;) I guess The non-surf of the past weekend drove me to find my stoke elsewhere.
So, here they are... photos from the Finals of the Nationals. Yok surfed 9 rounds straight to make it from a four-year retirement to a spot in the finals. Made me and Anna want to cry from being so happy. :)
Captions later.
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| | What: Two days in Baler. Epic swell. Epic food. Epic room. Epic-ness all around.
With: The Band of Brothers (Sarmiento and Gamboa), Moro, Raf, Marky and Olracs plus Team Dakine, Papajovs, Annie C, Vince "ST" Liwanag, Lets Get Piskal and Earlmoticon Noche.
What an insanely great weekend. We used the epic shortcut and took two hours off our travel time. We booked the epic room at Bay's Inn. The boys got epic rides at Cemento and then the rest of us got jealous so we left them there so we could surf the beach break and, later on, the rivermouth. (Na linakad namin at binato pa kami ng buhangin nung mga bata!) Di bale na na 36 hours yata akong gising at walang tulog... sobrang worth it yung puyat.
We ended that first day with an epic dinner at Gerry Shan's. Stoke all around I tell you.
Oh and Olracs got barrelled at Cemento but we have no photos cos that's when I was back at the beach break. There are, however, many eyewitnesses. So big ups to baby boy Olracs. ;)
Next up: Sunday photos and the nominations for the Epic Swell Awards. ;) |
| | So we set the alarm for 5am... we eventually wake up at 5:30am... Olracs and Vic had a look and came back into the epic room to say it was hella raining and we could afford to sleep for another hour. By 8pm we were all mostly awake. Earl was already out there, the only longboard on a glassy (albeit rainy) morning. And Jovin paddled out to enjoy the inside section.
The Cemento Crew headed off for another epic session while Aston, Raf, JB and I decided to risk hypothermia and surf the beach break first. THATS WHY THERE ARE NO PHOTOS OF THE MORNING. WE WERE SURFING. ALL OF US. And despite the dumpy conditions later in the morning, stoked pa rin kaming lahat. No one though could possibly have been more stoked than Jovin.
Four hours later, it was time for lunch... and then a quick pack up and check out so we could go back to Cemento for one last shoot and surf session. Super high tide (Aston and I should've brought our boards). Super drop in sessions. Super super stoked.
Ahon nung madilim na with matching walk through the mangroves and almost getting lost. Dinner at Gerry Shan's with matching internet checking the forecast for next weekend. Back in Manila by 2am.
And now for the nominees of the EPIC SWELL AWARDS:
Best Wipeout
Vic Gamboa with "Duck Dive Wipeout"
Vic Gamboa with "Brokeback Wipeout
Paolo Soler with "Tombstone on a Sunday"
Hawaiian Jim with "The Aerial" (see photo)
Best Drop In
Carlo Cruz drops in on Jeff dela Torre
Menage a trois drop in starring Moro, Vic and Abdel
Lui drops in on Jim
Jim drops in on Lui (aka "payback")
Best Fake Swell Report
Vic Gamboa with "Head High Lang Sa Cemento!"
Allan Derecho with "High tide na, mahina na yung wipeout"
Best Stoked na Stoked Story
Carlo Cruz gets his first barrel
JP gets barrelled twice on a Sunday
Annie, Kage, Jovin & Aston catch the tiny long walls on the beach break
Raf goes on his second surf trip!
Best Cemento-related Injury
Buji Libarnes with "Nasaan Na Ang Kuko Ko?"
JP Sarmiento with "Butas Na Shorts Ko"
Carlo Cruz with "Hazing sa Cemento"
Fred's G Pang Board with "I Need Rhinoplasty"
Best Ulam at Gerry Shan's
Sweet and Sour Fish
Century Eggs
Fish Tofu
Buttered Chicken
Best Post-Sesh Snack
Onion Rings sa Bay's Inn
Sisig sa Bahia de Baler
Avocado shakes sa Gerry Shan's
Piazza sa Bay's Inn
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| | I know I havent posted the action shots yet. Bite me. Hehe. But here are the snapshots (at least) of our wild two week Siargao trip. This first half is from the Nationals when we were all still on the island.
The complete cast: me, Moro, Chris, Paolo, Carlo, Corey, Rey, Aya, Lui, Carla, Philip, Django, Jeff, Smith, Bad Boy, Kaw Kaw, Poks, Kali, Tim, Zeny and Olin. (Whew, ang dami!)
Highlights: Lui's budget accomodations, the Ocean 101 birthday party, the Pao vs Lui dance off at the bikini open, shiny silver banana hammocks, and watching the boys at the monster secret spot. |
| | Four days in beautiful Baler.
After a year away, I make it back through the mystic Sierra Madres to the place where I first really learned to stand on a board, where I got my first seriously scary wipe-out and first took Pandora, my 7'6 hybrid.
Highlights from the weekend: Philip's super yeah yeah ride (Noey and I saw him take this one... first he was going left, then he stalled, and then turned and went right), my first time to chase the inside section on a small right-hander at the beach break, Moro getting tubed at Cementos on a Sunday afternoon, chicken ala pobre, taking Manang Mia and Phil to see Cemento, and the Villareal leche flan.
A shortlist of photos from the competition to follow soon. |
| | I will keep adding to this album as I wade through more of the photos from the last national competition held at Cloud 9.
Freesurfing, lazy afternoons, pressed coffee, buffet dinners at Cabuntog, hangin' with the LU and Baler boys, reconnecting with the Siargao crew, habal-habal rides and quenching the desire for a mango shake. |
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