Last night in Hawaii - One more old school catch up

We spent our last night in Hawaii having a BBQ Ben Severson's house. It was the full 'old school' get together and if I hadn't had to get up early in the morning to fly home I could have spent all night talking stories with everyone. It was a pretty rare group for the night. Tom Rigby was also there, I'm not sure if he comprehended how incredible it was to have all of these legends in one place at one time, I know I felt like a super stoked grommet though!

Clockwise from the left: Keith Saskaki, Ben Severson, Bullet, Pat Caldwell, Mike Stewart (and his kids), (one of Ben's friends), me, Tom Rigby, Kavan Okamura and Danny Kim.

Old school rivals Ben & Mike

Caven and Bullet

Final day of the Pipeline Pro

Congrats to my mate Hubb who won the Pipe contest today, taking it out in the last few minutes of the heat. I'm so stoked to be here again after 11 years and what a spectacular contest to watch first hand. Thanks to the IBA for bringing me back over here, it's been awesome to catch up with so many old friends and be a part of the pipe contest again. If this contest is anything to go by, the Grand Slam Series is going to be huge and the most positive thing to happen to bodyboarding in years.

Bodyboardshop.com team rider Drew Innocend

And Cade Sharp

Murray Bell and Ben Player

They say dogs look like their owners, what do you think?

The Aussie boys

Tom put up a good fight for the Aussies

Super stoked for Hubb - congrats mate

Masters Final

The 'Masters' final was held today and I was honored to surf pipe for 30 minutes with 4 of my own personal idols. The atmosphere in the water was pretty mellow, we were all just stoked to be out there. Congrats to Bullet who came first, pipping me at the post in the last 2 minutes.

Pictured: Pat “Noodle” Caldwell (Inventor of the el-rollo), Hauoli “Martian” Reeves (Vibrant Hawaiian character), Ben “ Tube troll” Seversen (Winner 1986), me and Steve “Bullet” MacKenzie (Winner 1996)

This was actually the first heat I've ever had with Pat.

Bullet being interviewed after he deservedly won the masters heat.

Chatting with current world champion Amaury Lavernhe. I'm having an unreal time over here catching up with old friends and also getting to know the new legends of the sport.

Contest launch at Ala Moana Shopping Center & catch up dinner afterwards

To launch the start of the pipe contest there was a huge promo at the Ala Moana Shopping Center. Haven't done this in a while!

Afterward at a dinner put on by the IBA for everyone to catch up before the contest starts. Here with my mate Kainoa McGee who I hadn't seen in 10 years

Bullet, Pat Caldwell and me

It's been a while since this crew caught up. Left to right; Steve 'Bullet' McKenzie, Stephanie Peterson, Jeff Hubbard, me, Pat Caldwell, Ben Severson, Guilherme Tâmega, Mike Stewart and Claudia Ferrari

No waves but happy to be here on the North Shore

Whales passing by right out the front of where we're staying on the North Shore

Bodysurfing out the front of where we're staying

Off the beach and straight into our house

What a way to end the day (the fashion mags are Krista's by the way)

Bumping into old friends...

After getting off the plane in Sydney to jump on another one to head over to Hawaii, I bumped into bodyboarding legend and life long mate Chris Stroh. For those of you who don't know much about the history of the sport, Chris was actually one of the first photographers to shoot professional bodyboarding photos in Australia. He has made over 15 bodyboarding movies including my Eppo's Freak Show and the famous Underground Tapes. He also produced Rush Bodyboarding Magazine and the Rush DVD Series. He launched No Friends Clothing here in Australia and contributed to many many more important aspects of the growth of the sport. He now runs security at Sydney Airport and recently launched www.bodyboardmuseum.com.au.

'Strohy' as he is known best within the industry, is one of the biggest legends and significant identities in the history of bodyboarding. I don't get to catch up with him too often these days so was pretty stoked to bump into him on my way to Hawaii. 

Here we go again...

It's been 11 years since I was last in Hawaii. When I got the call late last year to say that the IBA wanted to get all the past world champions back together in 2011 for a Masters comp at Pipe I was pretty bloody stoked. It wasn't long before a semi kind of panic set in though, realizing I'm not exactly in fine tune fitness wise like I was 11 years ago.

With a little under 2 months to get back in shape, it's not been easy with no surf here on the Sunshine Coast and working full time at the bodyboardshop. Life has changed a lot since competing competitively on the World Tour so I'm pretty excited to go back to Hawaii which was pretty much a second home for so many years. I thought I might as well keep track of this new journey, you never know what might happen next...

"This years event has a special twist with a Masters final featuring Ben Severson, Steve Bullet Mackenzie, EPPO and Kavan Okamura" - www.fluidzone.com