Kamakura Day 16 June 4, 2008

Day 16 began nice and early. I woke up on the floor of the casa Yamada living room at 4.55 am. In five minutes, I was to get a wake up call to come down with a board to get wet with naomi and matsu. The waves were pretty mellow in the morning. There is a three quarters of a mile strip of various surf points and we were in the spot in between spots. Our location was hassle free and breaking way inside. The pumping spots on either direction of ours were a zoo. The break was steeper and faster, even it's only a few yards apart, is always a fascinating thing. I had a 7'6" Larry Marble shaped G&S. I don't really know what that means except the board was fat in the top half of the board and it was wicked old and yellow. It is fun to go out riding different shapes and sizes. Sometimes the shapes makes sense, sometimes it doesn't. It definately affects a riding position and timing. I enjoy it all though, I don't really discriminate. I like the ocean playing. The waves in the morning at our point was fickle and kinda teaser. Definately not breaking outside where it would lump out but breaking inside where you can ride the foam. A quick down size from the day before and lots of loss in wave power just from changing surf points, even it is only a few yards apart. The bigger fatter fun board was definately a good choice, felt a bit glide for a sluggish wave. At 5 am, it did not matter. I was with friends and we were giggling and stress free. At 7 am, Naomi had to get back to kids and work. Matsu had to get back to jewelry and I went back to get ready for yet another exhibition for later that week. I had one more show I was preparing for which opens on June 5th, thursday. We had to get back up to Tokyo to set up for the show today. At 9 am, one of the show's exhibiting artist, Jonas Kaku of Jonas Glass Vision and I went for round two. This time, the tide was dropping and making the waves a little bit more punchy but still a little mushy. This time we surfed a point in front of Jonas' Spot called Shichirigahama, a few yards from where I surfed in the morning. The tide was dropping and the reef was exposing but the break was making a nice left. Caught a bunch on the fat board and it was fun. Learned from the morning to surf the inside and the waves would come. The unpredictability of surfing and learning patience. It all works out, eventually. The waves here were a little bit more dramatic , but not at all hectic. Fun waves for all!
We got out a couple hours later and we were on the road and at tokyo's Shibuya neighborhood where Uplink, the art gallery spot was located by 3 pm. The show for Uplink was curated by yours truly and the artists represented were, Yuri Shibuya, Jonas Kaku, Kenji Hirata, Chris Mendoza, Aiko Nakagawa and Mike Ming. The choice of putting the artists together and the show title was '!!NEXT!!'. I felt that this group of six artists were all working on different styles and ideas from what would have been considered the evolutionary changing from what was the signature style to the tangent of that particular style or technique or vision. It was a show that captured the next development. We had the show up and ready for the opening day. That night, I was bushed. I had been up since early and was feeling the effects of playing in the ocean. That night, we all went separate ways and prepared for friday's main event.