E Malama I Ka
Ha Hawai'i
"To
Perpetuate
The Spirit of
Hawai'i"
Hawaiian Surf Club of San Onofre
Stories, Page 1)
"Talk Story" is as much a part of Hawaiian culture as the hula and surfing are. Taking time to share a part of your life and a little laughter helps keep everything in perspective. We hope you enjoy our stories.
How do you say mahalo (thank you) to a friend for extending their "kokua" (help) with a household project? Simple, you buy them something they really want.
Following a major act of "kokua" by club officer, Ed Escandon, for his buddy, Loren Grier, club recreation director, Loren asked Linda, Ed's wife, what he needed most.
Hot Pants Ed and buddy, Loren
Ed
wouldn't accept any monetary payment. Linda
suggested a winter wetsuit since his old one had
definitely seen brighter days.
A short time later Loren surprised Ed with a
beautiful new titanium full-length, long sleeved
black beauty from O'Neill. That evening in his
garage while admiring his new gift and enjoying
several Coors Light cold ones, Ed pulled out his
old faithful and hung it next to his new sleek
titanium beauty. The old standby had served him
well, but the legs had seen better days for sure.
Between sips he decided to customize "old
faithful" by cutting the worn out legs off.
The result would give him a long-sleeved spring
suit for those in-between days.
"Yeah," he thought. "That's a
great idea." He pulled the scissors out of
the drawer, downed another swig, and emptied the
can. Since the scissors were close to the cooler,
he decided to have one last one for the night.
Following one long satisfying gulp, he walked
over to the wetsuit, picked a mid-thigh point on
the suit, and cut off one leg. Nice clean cut he
mused to himself.
One more long draw on the Coors Light and with a
quick glance at the remaining leg, he asked
himself..."Wait a minute. There's no way I
could have cut the wrong suit, could I?"
Without hesitating, he grabbed the other wetsuit
to find "old faithful" with both
full-length legs in his hands.
Ed still wears old faithful in the winter when
the water cools down. The legs on his new O'Neill
were cut closer to the crotch than planned. Ed
wears it sparingly, usually for a late surf on
weeknights in the Springtime when few people are
around. Hot pants are just not in style anymore.
The verbal abuse is harsh.
The moral of this story is, "Sometimes it's
just better to keep things to yourself!" Courtesy
of Loren Grier
…How do you
deal with kelp in the surfing lanes?
One cold Sunday morning
at Sano with gray skies and intermittent
waist-high sets, the bleak conditions didn’t
exactly cause anyone to break ranks to rush into
the lineup. In fact, it was a morning designed
more for socializing than surfing. After an hour
of coffee, pastries and one too many surf
stories, Ed Escandon smacked his lips with
determination and said, “I’m going for
it!” He grabbed his wetsuit and ambled off
to the dressing room across the way.
Mouse Richey, seizing the opportunity,
immediately turned Ed’s board over on the
beach and started loosening the stainless steel
screw in his removable fin. With the screw out,
he quickly removed the fin from the box, reversed
it, reset the screw and turned the board back
over.
Ed returned, placed his clothes on the front seat
of his pickup, and went on with another tale.
Sunday mornings at Sano are like fireside chats
without the fire if you know what I mean.
With Ed in full story, Keith Ketcheson walked up
and noticed that Ed’s fin was reversed.
Puzzled he said, “Wow, that’s a pretty
big kelp cutter you’ve got there, Ed!”
Fortunately, Ed was at the punch line and never
heard Keith or even broke rhythm. Now
everyone’s aware of “Ed’s magic
kelp cutter” and barely able to keep a
straight face.
Ed agrees, “It’s now or never.” He
picked his immaculate, custom 10'6"
3-stringer Jacobs with the skeg backwards and
pointing towards the nose, hoisted it up over his
head and headed proudly down the beach. Near
mass-hysteria and laughter broke up the entire
group. Ed then paddled out to the lineup and
waited.
After a 10-minute lull that seemed more like 30,
Ed finally stroked into his first wave while
everyone on the beach held their breath,
anticipating an immediate face plant from kelp
tangling around Ed’s fin. But, no… Ed
glided smoothly across the wave, pulled out
gracefully and headed back out for another ride.
It was like watching Scott Hamilton complete a
triple lutz in the Olympics!
Did Ed face plant on his next wave? No, oh no! In
fact, he surfed for over two hours before coming
in! Kevin Deary did admit later though that he
witnessed Ed take three nasty, involuntary
half-gainers in complete surprise. Kevin said he
laughed so hard when Ed fell that he thought he
had a double hernia! When Ed turned his board
over to walk up the beach he saw the fin reversed
and realized someone had pulled a rotten trick on
him. He did find out it was Mouse. People have
said they never heard more different ways to
describe a Mouse than from Ed that day.
Now both Ed and Mouse are constantly looking over
their shoulder, and at their fin boxes, too. But,
you know something… There sure seems to be a
lot more loose kelp floating into shore at Sano
these days.
The
Story of How Buffalo Saved a Life at Makaha Beach,
Page Two-->
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