Ho'olaulea 2005

Well this weekend, July 16th and 17th, was Lawndale's Ho'olaulea. I was fortunate to be able to attend this years events. For those of you who do not know what Ho'olaulea is, it's a Hawaiian word for celebration. In this instance is a two day event there there's dance shows vendors and most of all food.

On Saturday I cruised there to check out what they had in store for everyone. There was a range of foods to choose from: Pipi kaula, teri-beef, malasadas, shave-ice, kaula pig, poi, etc... I grubbed on some Kalua pig and poi... mmm poi! Grabbed some food, sat on one of the knowles there in the park and took in some of the performances. Not too shabby. I didn't end up staying too long, just long enough to enjoy the food and performances.

The next day, Sunday morning, I got up at the butt-crack of dawn to meet up with friends at San Onofre. I met up with Kanakaka his friend Caesar, and 'Uhane. Arrived at Trail 6 around 6am, suited up and got down to the beach. It was a good day of surf. 'Uhane was telling me, it was a good time to surf because of waves coming from a storm somewhere near Antartica that sent a lot of swells our way.

While out there we were greeted with a couple of dolphins. I was startled at first becasue I saw the fin but the immediately after I heard the sound of air being released through their breath hole, and sure enough there was a second one. Me being a beginner, I'm still trying to get my feet under me in every sense of the way. Learning how to get up and learning all kinds of differnt things. But as each time I go out passes, I continually build on that experience to make an experienced wave rider.

Towards the end of our session, I decided to get back out there, and try one or two more times to catch a nice wave. So I start paddling out. Not too bad so far.. the waves died down a bit so I can make some head way past the breaking point. But as luck would have it, the waves started picking up. I was turtle diving some of the waves and was doing okay. So then this one wave comes up and it forms some distance ahead of me. Startled, the one thing that came to my mind right then was a line my friends like to quote from the ill-begotten movie "North Shore": [finger pointing to the top of a wave] If the wave is here, [then the finger pointing to the bottom of the wave] you don't want to be here. And sure enough this new beheamoth friend that was suddenly looming over me came down. BAM!!! SWOOSH!!! You know sometimes there are moments in life that just seems to move in slow motion, no how matter how fleeting that moment is. Not that I was near death or anything, but as my new friend the wave was passing over me, I felt a calm sense of peace wash over me. Like everything was going to be okay, as if the universe had an unfollding effect on me. I know it's hard to describe, but never the less it was a unique feeling that came over me at that moment. Then with a jarring motion, I was quickly at the surface, swimming in the froth of the now dissipated wave. Gathering my thoughts I grabbed my board and made for the shore.


Getting to the shore was something new that day. The current was strong that day, and if you were on shore looking out at all the surfers paddling out, you could see how much the current was pushing them up the beach. Well I was no different, after having that "friend" swirl me around, i was pushed quite a ways up the beach, in front of some fishermen. So as I caught some of th white water in, I came closer to the fishermen. I motioned to them "which way are you lines". And one of them motioned back "to the left of me". So with much strain I'm peering where I think I should be seeing a fishing line. Because the last thing I want happen now is either 1.) get caught be this guy's hook or 2.) get clothes lined by his fishing line. At the last second I see his line, the fisherman grabs his pole and lifts it up for me to pass under, and huli-ed on out of the water. I ran back to where our stuff was and took a breather. ALl in all it was a good morning of surf...

After having a great time suring at San O's, I headed back to Ho'olaulea to meet up with Kanakakai and his wife, Alanapualani. Before they showed up, i took the time to walk over to a booth called "Kau Inoa". You can get a brief synopsis what Kau Inoa is by clicking here. At the same booth I was also able to sign up with OHA, Office of Hawaiian Affairs. Both of which is geard toward native hawaiians. These are measures to help native hawaiians with their dwindling numbers in the world.

After my friends showed up, we headed over to the food booths and grabbed ourselves some food and pigged out. It was cool, through out the day we saw multiple friends from our halau. After which, we walked around and saw what the vendors had to offer, from jewelry to t-shirts to ipu hekes to whatevers. We found our way over to Kamuela's booth and saw Auntie Kekoa, visited for a while with her and some other friend. Auntie told me that one of the booths were selling Kulolo, and I got excited, I hadn't had Kulolo for a long time. Kulolo is like a poi pudding, with a thicker consistency, and I love it. But of course the words echoing from the days of the poi shortage in hawaii, "Ahhh sorry... all out today.." came from the lips of Auntie... DAMNIT!

We did more shopping, visiting with friends and what not... One note of wisdom... Kahiko is not spelled like this: Ka'hiko. Some one needs to tell the shirt company, Island Tribes they need to consult someone who spells hawaiian.

All in all, it was an interesting day...

Pictured from left to right: Auntie Kekoa, Kama, Alanapualani, Kanakakai