Close Encounters of Neal "Sponge" Miyake Bodyboarder, Longboarder Honolulu, HI (by way of Kauai)     Homepage:  HI Surf Advisory

MET WITH
Roger "Cortical" Raffee -- well, kind of met anyway (see update in "surfed with" below).  See the story at: http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new2/sesh222.htm

Herb Silio -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new2/sesh236.htm

Rick "#9" Ciaccio -- I met Mr. (and Mrs.) "Chacho" at Pipe in January 2000. Way cool guy. Bodyboarded small Pipe/Backdoor in the morn. Came outside and found Rick, then talked story while the bodysurfing contest got prepped. Conditions were funky and on the rise big time. We both agreed that since he never surfed the place before, it might not be a good idea to enter-- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new2/sesh255.htm

Terry "sdbchguy" Hendricks and S. Carson Rhodes -- Was planning to jump in at the Scripps Pier before work on Wednesday. While waiting at the 7-11 near Windansea at 5:20 AM, I got a call on my cell. It was none other than the comical Bill Andrews.  He was bringing down a funboard that Joanne had generously loaned me. However, on the way down the radiator in Bill's truck decided to spring a leak...   When I reached the pier I knew that my time was virtually gone, but I parked anyway to check out the action. Good thing, because a gentleman approached me, someone that I've been looking
forward to meeting for many moons. It was none other than alt.surfer Terry (sdbchguy).  Talk about fascinating. I was just entranced listening to him. Terry is like a mad scientist applying his vast knowledge of physics into surf science, designing and engineering various surf vehicles and tools. The only person like him that comes to mind is George Greenough. Must be a belly/kneeboard thing. :-) 

That evening, I was invited to a get-together by the elusive Carson (also of alt.surfing fame). So I
quickly changed in the dark (no streetlights in the Torrey Pines area) and made my way to his
home.... Carson is not an idiot. That's my opinion anyway... See the whole story at:  http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new3/sesh372.htm

Glenda - No Surfing in SD -- 7/23/04 -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new5/sesh545.htm
 

SURFED WITH
Jack Heckerman -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/travel/okinawa.htm

Doug Frick -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/nm_obs15.htm

Danny Z. Clark -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/sesh67.htm

Craig Dobbin -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/sesh86.htm

Lance "efur" Furuyama -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/sesh95.htm

Buddy Williams -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new/sesh157.htm

Makani Mcdonald -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new/sesh160.htm

Rich Williams -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new/sesh162.htm

Mike Gemelli -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new/sesh173.htm

Jeff "kdalle" Kaplan -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new/sesh173.htm

Sus "Mama Sus" Shawhan -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new2/sesh202.htm

Craig Kemnitz -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new2/sesh216.htm

Tom Tweed -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new2/sesh221.htm

Ron "Rontiki" -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new2/sesh221.htm

Tom "Santa" Keener -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new2/sesh223.htm

Bill "Pink Bod" Andrews -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new2/sesh223.htm

Rod "rodNDtube" Rodgers -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new2/sesh232.htm and http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new3/sesh308.htm (w/post-session pic of Bud and Rod)

Jules "Hohum" Humon -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new2/sesh241.htm

Warren "Foondoggy" Overman -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new2/sesh242.htm
PS  Foon, I wasn't dissin' you--I just didn't update my Encounters for a couple of years.

Luis "Lou" Mejia -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new2/sesh285.htm

Evan "wavslav" Ginsberg -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new3/sesh337.htm
(coming soon)  11 Aug 2001.  Meeting wavslav:  We caught some fun ones.  It was pretty chunky, near victory at sea at times.  Makani and Sus were no-shows.  Evan had fun, I think.

Tom "tdsurf" Duncan -- Yet another alt.surfer was in town. This time it was Tom (aka "tdsurf") from California. Tom gamely challenged the surf, but was undergunned with a snub-nosed 6'3".  Although he was disappointed with his session, his stoke to just being in the islands was readily apparent. Anyway, he and his wife were capturing some good video with his brand new Canon GL-1 Mini-DV cam, for
eventual uploading to his www.wavecam.com site.  Read the whole story and see pics at:
http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new3/sesh357.htm and http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new3/sesh358.htm

Lloyd "lp" Pollock -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new3/sesh375.htm

With Tower7 - Ehukai Beach Park - Nov 3, 2002.

Jose Borrero -- Two Shoes at Rocky’s -- 3/2/03

Mad Dog Maddux -- 6/21/03.  Tim "Mad Dog" Maddux from the alt.surfing newsgroup was in
town--time to get more points. Picked him up at his hotel at 5 AM, then ran to Zippy's for coffee and donuts.   Tim and I joined the newsgroup at around the same time (1994) and have been trading dialog since. It's always a trip meeting someone IRL (in real life) because they may or may not be similar to their online persona. In Tim's case, he was. Cool guy with lots of smarts. Kind of on the fair side though (since he spent the past year in Massachusetts) :-).  Buddy and Rich eventually paddled out to join us, and Buddy immediately spotted Tim out. However, soon Tim got a little out of position as a set came through and ended up getting washed over the reef shelf...slicing his hand on the reef.  After a while of looking, I finally headed to shore and found him cruising on the beach...  lo and behold, Mama Sus arrived bringing her bright demeanor with her, but chose not to get wet this day.

Alex and the French Revolution - November 2003.  See
http://www.aroundhawaii.com/leisure/reviews/neal_miyake/2003-11_frevolution.htm

Showdown and a Date in Court with the Supreme Court - 12/12/03.  Surfed with Gamivia Duke (aka The Supreme Court) after the Pipe contest today. Surprisingly challenging conditions at DHLH.  He's a solid surfer. Gaining more AS points.  The Budster is probably surfing with him today.
 

Where's WestOz? -- February 7, 2004. See http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new5/sesh509.htm.
 

Just Like Old Times -- 3/27/04.  Yesterday I entered a fun contest at Sunset (link to the left). On a chance encounter, I met Jim 'The Genius" Phillips from Oceanside, who is staying here for a while.
 Also, Rod is in town and he and his friend came by the contest. Unfortunately, I was kind of busy helping out the contest and going into my heats so I didn't talk story as much as I'd wanted to.  Rod's
friend took a photo of us as proof of the alt.surfing encounter (see here).

Sponge Visits the Capital (May 2006).Foon notes, "Yeah, we met that guy too this week. He's a total lightweight. Couldn't even finish a Miller Lite at the hotel bar Tuesday. He must be Hawaiian though, gave us a box of Macademian nuts and talked a funny language. You're lucky he didn'ttake you rollerblading. ;) " And Sponge retorts, "Eh I told you, I had to brief that CIO the next day. Turned out I had
already met the guy and we had a decent dialog. But you are right, I'm a rollerblading lightweight... so when are coming back so we can go surf Laniakea again? ;-) Nah, aloha to you and Rod for making me feel welcomed near the Outer Loop. Take care of that hip [Foon]."

(L-R) Rod, Sponge, Foon

Neal (Sponge) Fear and Loathing in OB (San Diego) - July 2006. Everything he said was true... more or less. George, appreciate the hospitality. Although the surf didn't cooperate, we made the most of it and got wet and talked story. Here are some pics:
http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new6/images/060714_01.jpg
http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new6/images/060714_02.jpg
http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new6/images/060714_03.jpg
http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new6/images/060714_04.jpg
http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new6/images/060714_05.jpg
http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new6/images/060714_06.jpg (our very own OBsurfr)
http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new6/images/060714_07.jpg

In the afternoon, I got to surf with the infamous Cortical:

http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new6/images/060714_11.jpg
http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new6/images/060714_12.jpg

Then of course, Mr. Andrews was on the beach taking pictures and perving chicks. Thanks for dinner Bill.

Good times in San Diego.

(Chalked up water encounters with Barnes and Cortical)

"No. And we have not yet begun to award transoceanic trip points!"

NEAR MISSES
Jose Borrero -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new/sesh135.htm (but see above)

Ted Diets -- http://www.hisurfadvisory.com/sesh/new/sesh146.htm

Tripped with
No one... yet.

Plans
Will definitely be getting more points this winter....

Other Items of Interest
Bodyboarding.com, an online community made up of content contributed by volunteers or purchased from freelance content providers (webmaster)
Alt.Surfing Hub, alt.surfing's world wide web experience (development team and content provider)

Point totals:  71