The ramps were good and the crowd was super mellow with the stiff breeze. 30 minutes into the surf Noa boned a pretty big Stalefish. Off target, his fin caught his arm and left him with a nice open gash. He bellied in and I started wondering why the hell he was coming in — best conditions we’d had to land something big.

He shows me his arm…and fark…the wound is open and really crook. Enough to end most surfs. Noa’s bummed but says, “Hey I gotta go back out..sections are crazy, this is what we came here for.”

“Ahhh OK dude, lets tape you up.” Instead of going to get stitched up we used ankle strapping tape we had in the car, taped it up and he was back out there. 5 waves later he stomped a full rotation Slob. It looked cool. It will probably be a keeper for his part in the film.

It’s good to see kids inspired, pushing themselves out to the flats. It takes only a few good sessions to change the tone of surfing today. A minor slice but persist and carry on. —Kai Neville