PSC Captain's Log

Another Wave

capitao — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:53:22 +0000

I am not even sure if I ever posted this picture before. Many days like this go unridden on this spot, just because P-Pass is a few miles down the road. Picture by Guest Kauai Tom.

New Boat

capitao — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:36:01 +0000

Not really new but every year we fix, power up, remodel. There is always fixing to be done on boats specially when we put so much time on then. Last season on our 150 hp alone we did 500 hours, at around 20 mph, that is 10.000 miles of boat riding!!!

This one is a 30 ft fiberglass boat. Lot's of deck space, sun protection (bimini down on this picture), lot's of dry storage and powered by a 130hp four stroke Honda. Nice ride!

Season 2010/11 Forecast

capitao — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 21:14:06 +0000

A windless Palikir bowl. It does not get much better then this!

How is this season going to be compared to last season?
Some differences are already clear. For sure the El Nino is over (finished May 2010) and the difference can be felt.
Last summer into fall we had more than normal swell activity and no winds. From around March/April 2009 winds died out or switched to south west for a period of 8 month. There were more typhoons swells then I have ever seen since we started. There were also more south swells then I have ever seen here and the winds were absolutely perfect to surf everywhere.
For this summer it took a little bit longer for the winds to die out. As today, early September there are no winds. There has been hardly any significant swell activity from typhoons or south swells and there probably won’t be too much to look for from those directions.
In my opinion this is going to be the year of good north swells starting late September with surf along the north west, north and north east side. With the non existing winds and swells with a touch of east the spots on the north east side will go off as well until around mid/late November.
Not unusual to surf P-Pass in the morning and the east side in the afternoon during this time of the year.
This will be a year of epic Palikir Pass!

Spot Check on Surfine. Palikir Pass. The Best Wave on the Western Pacific.

capitao — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:43:05 +0000

I have wrote a bunch of surf reports for Palikir and Pohnpei in the past years. This one by Surfline is a really good one. Here is the link.

http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/spot-check-p-pass–checking-in-at-micronesias-best-right-tube_46903/

Not a Bad Sunday in Pohnpei

capitao — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 19:49:00 +0000

Well, lets not say a bad day but I had my family with me and they are not exactly the kind of people who want to chase fish all day or stay anchored on a rocking boat for hours waiting while I surf, so I took them to some more user friendly tourist places and we had a great time. I even foung some nice head high waves on a east side corner but they really where not in the mood of looking at me surfing for two hours. This is a beach we stop to picnic. My daughter loved it.

There is a place called Manta Road (for a reasson) 10 minutes away from the Pohnpei Surf Club. This year there have been so many of them. As we stopped there we didnt even need to get of the boat. This picture I shot from the boat. This manta ray is around 5 ft across and 200 lbs! I went snorkeling with them. There were seven of them swimming together and coming right at you in the middle of a big school of fish. It was something out of National Geografic!

This is a school of fish at Manta Road as well. It was more like a bait wall (not ball).

On the way to the beach the girls allowed me to cast ten times! Back in the day I would cast 1000 times and catch nothing. Knowing when to cast makes a world of difference. Sure catch and to the beach.

It wasn't a fishing trip so not ice box for the fish and beer. I had to use my daughters swimming pool to ste the fish. The mother sure didn't like the idea but hey, someone has to feed the family.

No six foot barrels but the girls where happy.

Here is an old picture…and one of my favorites as well.

capitao — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:40:10 +0000

Sorry. Very low res on this one. It is an old scan from a picture shot on a trip I did to Pohnpei in 2003, the year before I started the Pohnpei Surf Club. We have lot's of picture of this day but this one with no one surfing had to be the best one. It was a incredible day and the first day of our trip. This is P-Pass as good as it gets at a solid 5 to 6 feet. That is me and my friend Akos. His brother Bence was at the boat shooting pictures. Looking forward to surf like this again soon.

Almost a Year to the Day.

capitao — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:50:53 +0000

Left ot right? I guess it depends if you are a goofy or regular. I know of no other wave in Pohnpei that you could choose like this.

Almost a year ago I shot that picture with my little pocket camera. It was a solid 6 to 8 ft day (double overhead) and there was not a soul around. A day later Sean from World Surfaris showed up and it was only us. It was overall an epic early (better say pre-early season as there were lot’s of swells during September and October). Can’t wait for those days again. By the way, this is not P-Pass.
The left sling shots so much into the bowl it is a joke.

Not a bad saturday.

capitao — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 19:31:32 +0000

Mid morning glass off.

The surf forecast showed a small 3 ft swell from the south so I went out to check it out. Went almost everywhere. All my usual south spots but not exactly what I was looking for. Never mind the surf. It was a beautiful Saturday mid morning. The sun came out and the conditions where just beautiful. For those of you who have been to Pohnpei and went to Palikir and Ant and think you say it all there is so much more to be seen. What a beautiful place. In a few hours I put 70 miles on the jet ski and went o places hardly seen by tourist and even locals. For those who travel with an open mind and a little but more than just surfing as their travel goal there is so much to be done and seen on these islands. I didn’t find any decent waves to ride Saturday but had a blast.

The women who surf Pohnpei. Pictures by Swilly, Shields, Ian and guests.

capitao — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 16:16:05 +0000

Here is Laura. Such a small girl but has no fear. Here she is going for one of the biggest waves of the day on a serious day at Palikir.

Laura again. Same day, different angle.

They are beautiful and surf better then you. Why are the guys on the other boat not looking at the surf? It's pumping!

Karina Petroni.

Steph Gilmore. Has been to Pohnpei more then any other girl to surf. She loves P-Pass.

Chelsea was 5 month pregnant when this picture was shot.

I think that is Nicole. To many names to remember....

Surf break.

Here is Karina again.

Steph from a different angle again. Rainy and glassy.

Jessy.

World Champ Steph Gilmore again. This picture became the $14.60 stamp for the FSM Postal Service.

Laura. Nice bottom turn mate!

Rochelle Ballard was the first female I saw getting barreled like this at Palikir.

Steph.

Sally Fitzgibbons. Charger.

Sally again.

Models or professional surfers? They could be both but chosse surfing.

More Steph.

I hope you are not getting bored with Steph shots. Here is another one.

You don't have to be in the barrel to enjoy P-Pass. Sponsored by Honda!

Little Laura. Big drops.

Pohnpei Surf Club Camp for kids at Nahlap.

capitao — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 04:04:59 +0000

I guess it does not matter what or how you ride it as far as you are having fun.

Around 50 kids joined us for our Surf Camp at Nahlap on the south side of Pohnpei this year. The surf didn’t help that much so we did a lot of flat water games and getting to know the boards. Later on when the tide came up and the winds came down we hit the reef outside Nahlap for a little white water action.
Thank’s for all the support to Nahlap Island Resort, Ace Hardware and Bill Pendegraf, Jericho Akinaga for the ice cubes, FSM Telecom and the World Teach Volunteers. See you again next year.

If all these kids became real surfers Pohnpei is going to get really crowded in a few years. Not pictured here the Nahlap boats, Andy's boat and Wayne's boat.

As we stopped on the reef I had a hard time holding all the kids in the boat for more then one second. If you just saw how shallow and sharp this reef was you would have second thoughts about putting them there. On the other hand, I knew they would do good. They are from Pohnpei and swimming at an early age or walking on the reef is not a problem for them.