Hawaii in October?

Blowin, no regrets mentioning it. In fact, beyond the immediate indignance, I came to see it as a somwhat fortunate incident as it made me acutely aware of racial history in Hawaii. I did a lot of reading after it that I may not have otherwise done and I came to understand why the fella would've lashed out. It wasn't about me but something far bigger.

BB - We've been exposed to the will of the USA for 70 odd years now.

In that time we've taken a few for the team : we've partaken in a few regrettable shitfight wars and lost lives and integrity along the way. We've hosted their bases. We sat through 2 broke girls.

In exchange they saved us from an unthinkable future at the hands of the Japanese / Germans / Italians.

I'd call that ledger firmly in the black for Australia.

China ?

Who knows what they intend except to say that Australians are about as important to them as Nigerians.

China has been waylaid for a few centuries , it's not like they've had any power to wield in any manner up till now so recent history is no indication of the future .

Here's a statistic for you BB , after 70 years of US dominance there is 80,000 Americans living in Australia. In the 20 years preceding Chinese dominance, Australia has become home to 1.2 Million people of Chinese descent.

That's the difference. The USA didn't want our country for itself , just the resources.

Unlike the Chinese .I don't trust the bastards as far as I could throw all the bricks in the Great Wall.

PS - That's the ticket Stu.

So What do you reckon Stu , when the Chinese national paddles out at the jetty in 2045 are you just going to shirtfront him ?

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I don't remember the broke girls Blowin but, in my reading, the impetus for Japanese involvement in world war 2 had a lot to do with US trading policies designed to keep them poor. Historically Japan wanted nothing to do with the west and, surprise, surprise, it was the US that sent war ships there to force them to open their markets. Wars start a long time before the bullets are fired Blowin and the US alliance continues to place Australia in much greater danger than would otherwise be the case. Worst of all, given the current balance of power in the western Pacific the only US option if China did attempt an expansionary war would be to use their nuclear weapons. Good night civilisation!

I'm pretty sure it won't matter what cultural heritage future surfers in orstraya claim, they will all drive their friggen trucks up and down every beach they can get their hands on, as well as fanging around on jet skis, wanking off with drones, filming themselves and generally just following the mindless tourist blueprint that present day orstrayian surfers have laid down so well.

Driving up the beach is hell fun.

You're probably correct about the USA and Japan pre WW2 , BB. I'll check it out .

70 years on and they've let us do what we want down here to a degree though. As long as we mirror their laws and social mores of course.

And it's ( mostly ) non violent.

I think, thankfully, you are wrong about both laws and mores Blowin. If you want to scare yourself, read this.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/01/18/daniel-ellsberg-nuclear-worrier/

I have been reading "The world in the curl, an unconventional history of surfing" by Peter Westwick and Peter Neushul. It has quite an academic take on things and has a historians view of the impact of surfing and colonialism in Hawaii.

I just saw an ad for an unforgettable Hawaiian holiday. Probably been a few of them this week!

hell fun

only a couple of trips to hawaii and im sure im not as connected as stu, but i cant help asking wtf were you doing at velzyland, hasnt that been off limits to haoles for decades?

As I watched "Busting Down the Door" recently, it seemed to me as if these pro-surfers from the 70's were all bemused as to why some Hawaiian surfers were angered and outraged at media comments from visiting surfers disparaging the spirit of Aloha. Are people really that ignorant of colonial history and the ongoing reverberations of cultural genocide?

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At that time Halibut we were pretty ignorant. We were taught nothing about the dispossession of indigenous people and were exposed to a social environment in which racism and discrimination were not so much tolerated as encouraged. There are no excuses, but there are reasons. In the context of the events that year it also needs to be said that the behaviour of some on the Hawaiian side was just as bad, or worse.

A couple of trips to Hawaii back in the 90's, 6 weeks each time. Riding a bodyboard back then withyouth and fearlessness on my side.
Low/highlights:
1) Checking out pipe first time ever and within 10 minutes seeing Kainoa Magee absolutely belt a guy in the line-up - welcome to the North Shore.
2) Being on the North Shore Jan 28 1998 for the "Big Wednesday" outside Log Cabins swell - just unimaginably big. Walked up the hill to watch the waves breaking, looked so perfect and then you saw a tiny little dot winding down the face. An absolute nutter paddled out Waimea and we watched him cop a set on the head - I crapped myself watching from the point.
3) Going backdoor on a day where backdoor was way too big and then getting caught inside - just ragdolled within an inch of my life. Seeing stars and crawling up the beach.
4) Buying some pushies off a junkie who had stolen them and then getting bailed up by a very angry Hawaiian wanting his daughters bike back......
5) Being asked "politely" to drive a little slower through the streets of Velzy Land.
6) Jumping the fence at the Hard Rock Café for the Oakley? Party. We all landed in the middle of the joint and scattered like roaches, soon to be thrown back over the wall.
7) Staying next door to a guy from Kalbarri who was married to the Brazillian Reef Model who's arse was in all the ads, we spent a lot of time hanging in his house.

So many good memories - to be young again!

I agree with you Blindboy. I also grew up in an environment where the empire version of history somehow completely blindsided me to the other side of the story. Not just in school, but in the church as well. But being a geography, history and reading nerd, it was inevitable that I would stumble onto another version of colonial history that completely shocked me. The Hawaiian story even more so because Hawaiian culture gave me so much as a surfer, I just could not comprehend how totally and systematically that culture had been disrespected, vandalised and betrayed time and time again.

Halibut - For a well read nerd such as yourself here's a starting point for you to realise your white mans guilt is nothing but another form of racism:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_conflicts_in_Hawaii

Invasion , subjugation , oppression and war didn't start with the European arrival.

It was just another day at the office in the history of life on Earth.

Racist I may be Blowin, but I still maintain that I was fed a biased if not completely fraudulent version of colonial history both at school and in the church when I was growing up.

Halibut - Everyone is. Don't be too hard on yourself. The victors write the history that suits themselves.

Well they did until recently. Now it's the victims write the history that suits themselves.

PS Great post , Joesydney - you got some more for us ?

Tell us a proper story you bastard !

I'm interested and I reckon you're just as keen to tell it as I am to hear it .

You don't have to of course, it's just that first hand accounts of this surfing life that we all share are my favourite part of surfing that doesn't involve actually being immersed in the brine .

I totally agree Blowin that everyone has some "racist" in their psyche, and I think one of the biggest steps away from inherent racism in ones actions is being able to identify with it and acknowledge it, and also recognise why the racist thoughts are with us. Halibut I would have to disagree with Blowin and acknowledge you for recognising that it is a part of you and that you have the choice to engage with it or choose the other option - compassion.

There is a huge volume of psychological research that demonstrates we are instinctively racist, but much of this can be overcome by contact with people of other races. On the other hand racism can be intensified by identifying other races as out groups, which is why low life creeps like Dutton do so much damage.

Rad count? Fukushima debris? Pu? Anybody out there? Hello??

https://yourradiationthisweek.org/

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Just a update over here at the moment.
Surfed sunset today was about 6-8ft with some bigger bombs was good fun
the problem was its overrun with Brazzos I mean at least 75% really more
and they were snaking in packs and just took over. It reminded me of Bali
last year when they invaded in the 1000s with theyre super cheap airfares.
Also if you plan on picking up a cheap 2nd hand board over here don't bother
the 2nd hand boards that you would ride maybe are around $450_550 US absolutely stupid money and ones you wouldn't ride are $300_400 for old really old rubbish that you would pay maybe $100 in OZ. Aloha

Nice evo it sounds like fun (not the brazilian pack snakers though).
What size board you on at sunset?

Ha yeah - I was staying at Sunset mid this year for a wedding and there was fluke 3ft day at Sunset and there are heaps of Brassos living there now, had the pleasure of surfing Kammies and Sunset with them. I was also staying above Jiu-Jitsu gym across the rd from Sunset where JJF was training and psyching up for his next comp, poked my head into the gym a couple of times and came to the conclusion that aggression was not the best course of action when it came to the brassos.......

I sometimes ride a 6-2in quad stepup in 6-8ft really solid board or a 7ft if solid
8ft and a 7-3in depends really on conditions funny thing is I feel comfortable
on any of these boards out there.
Don't worry I tell my 2 boys no matter what never get in a stink with Brazilians
theyre all trained fighters. But individually some are really cool and decent.