Since my last post, we finally got to Tahiti, and got out on the water. The pictures in the post below were from Monday morning, with the wave setting up around 8-10′.

Teaupoo is deceiving because if everything goes according to plan, it looks soooo easy. Drop in, turn left, get the biggest barrel of your life and pop out the other side.

We got out on the water around 7 this morning. The focus of the morning was to get some barrel shots with the new rig, then worry about getting some free surfing shots.

The wave was setting up around 4-6′ with a few stand out sets rolling through. Raimana volunteered to go first, whipped in, and was looking golden until the opening started closing and the camera caught the underside of the lip throwing him off the board and over the falls. (picture in the gallery)

After a quick rescue by Jamie Sterling, and the thumbs up that Raimana was OK, we reloaded the camera and strapped it to Jamie O’Brien. With out hardly any waiting Jamie dropped in on the wave of the day, a super hollow 15 footer that spit him out right at the boat. Jamie Sterling dropped in with the camera and punched through another stand out wave.

Raimana was itching to get back on the board and record a stand up wave. After a long wait for a set, he dropped in and stomped the ride like a champ.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=6087&l=608e8&id=500088350

I decided it would be a good idea to get the blog rolling again to document my trip to Tahiti. I doubt anyone still reads this, but at least it will get syndicated into a Note on Facebook, which at least one person will read.

We are on a surf mission to Teahupo to work with a new type of camera. This trip has been in planning for a long time, but crystalized very suddenly. To get you upto speed, we have been working with a prototype backpack/camera system for our surfers to wear while towing into big waves and hopefully getting barreled. Since the surfer is acting more like a camera man than a shredder, we needed a wave that was big, hollow, allowed riders to drop in, and point it out the other side. Teahupu was the logical choice if we could get it on a big, but not huge day.

Once the design and location was finalized we had to wait for waves to hit.

Typicaly the Teahupu big wave season is coming to a close once October rolls around. We were getting a bit bummed that no waves had materialized, and started looking at the North Shore of Hawaii as a possible replacement. Luckily, word came on Thursday that Teahupo was lining up to be huge the following week. By huge I mean 12-14′ Hawaiian, which means the BACK of the wave measures 12-14 feet, the face is typically double that, aka 20-30 foot faces. In laymen’s terms, at the biggest baddest wave on earth, the wave that no one talks shit about, was about to go off. The two swells lining up to hit Monday/Wed/Friday were looking to be the biggest days of the year.

Update-
I just posted some of the action from Monday on Facebook. Check the link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=6014&l=32fda&id=500088350

At the iPhone developer conference in San Francisco. This has been a really great event with some really great apps coming together in only 3 days! Highlights include an app that lets you control applescripts on your computer remotely, a web based document editor, and a visualizer that allowed a bunch of iPhones to work together and display messages stock ticker style.

Head to iPhonedevcamp.com to see the details.

Written on iPhone

This was a crazy video that popped up on http://viralvideocharts.com.

Who knows what the kids said before he came out, but from this video I can’t believe how over the top this officer behaved.

The skate blogs are blowing up over this, and I can understand why!

Read through the blog links and YouTube comments- the response is impressive, including posting the officer’s personal contact info as well as the Sheriff.

Happy Go Skateboarding Day!

Professional social networking site Linkedin is planning to follow Facebook’s lead and provide an open source platform for developers within the next nine months. Let’s hope it’s sooner – 9 months is like 5 years in the digital world.

I am always amazed when companies pre-announce products that they have only barely started developing. Remember Windows Longhorn? It got pushed nearly 2 years, and when Vista finally released, suprise! no one was very excited. The lack of interest was understandable since Microsoft had been spouting its feature set for ages. In tech you need to act fast and hit hard. Pre-announcing vaporware is a great way to be forgotten as soon as you launch.

9 Months to develop an API into Linkedin? Good luck, lets hope they add some functionality that makes developers and users get excited.

The maker of hand-held computers has hired a top software designer to respond to the challenge posed by Apple’s new iPhone.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/09/technology/09palm.html…

Has Apple actually succeeded in turning the mobile industry on its head? With echos of the Rokr still in my head, I can’t be completely convinced, but considering that during a the mobile conference I attended earlier this week, hardly an ill word was spoken of the iPhone- the industry might be starting to see the light after all.

I hope the stories of companies responding to the iPhone keep trickling down the pipe. The results can only benefit consumers.

Things move so fast on Facebook!

A few months ago I got a Nike+ system for my iPod Nano. The Nike+ system consists of a bluetooth transmitter for your shoe and a bluetooth receiver for your Nano. The sensors record how fast/far/long you run.

In all honesty this is one of the best partnerships/products I have ever seen. The execution of the product is nearly perfect. The data is easily understandable, automaticaly updated to nikeplus.com and relevant. The community features of nikeplus.com are fantastic. The Nike product tie-ins are obvious but are presented as a feature not an advertisement. I probably would buy some Nike+ shoes if they fit my feet.

Bottom line: Since I got this thing, I actually want to run more.

The problem?

After being berated by half truth marketing messages for 25 years, I unconsciously developed the attitude that all marketing is exaggerated. (which is 99% true) When the Nike+ system actually exceeded both my expectations and the marketing I got uncomfortable. I don’t like feeling like the marketers were right. I try to tell myself that I would be running anyways, but I know its not true.

I guess for now I have to give credit where credit is due: good work Apple and Nike… thanks for making a product that is so good I actually don’t want to like it.