Ripcurl National Final

photo from transworldsurf mag. online
got a picture on surfline!! stoked! here's the url if you wanna see it: http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/kolohe-andino-wins-rip-curl-gromsearch-finals_38808/ i'm the 8th picture

I spent four days in Cali for the Ripcurl Gromsearch NAtional final. It was an invitation contest where the top two finishers from every region were invited. I was lucky to win HAwaii's one, so i took advantage of the opportunity and went for it. I did alright, i ended up with an equal 5th place finish. I lost in the semi by .2.... yup a heartbreaker. It was a questionable call, but thats just how things work. My Dad accompanied me and put up w/ my boring self... ( all i did was watch T.V when i wasn't surfing) so thanks... haha. Overall i had a nice time and i appreciate all of you who supported me throughout the event!

THE 2009 RIP CURL GROMSEARCH NATIONAL FINAL from Jon Hechtkopf on Vimeo.

i'm in the highlights video here, i think towards the middle.... i'm wearing a yellow jersey and a red wetsuit. i have two waves on it...stoked

NSSA turtle bay

how do you sit like that?
had to follow the stupid bus all the way through the pineapple fields!!
epic "stables"
not so epic poolside...

kkkk so this weekend wasn't one that'll go down in the books for me... we had a contest at turtle bay... honestly i thought it was crap, but maybe thats just the opinion of someone who lost first round... haha. The event was held at a spot called "poolside" really junk wave.... a little more down the beach is this super fun barreling left called "stables"... i don't understand why they didn't hold it there. Anyway my brother cole made the semis on day one and kaito got 2nd on day two. at least they did good... when we surfed stables, we did a few suicide missions by jumping off the reef into the water (big waves crashing on it). I got cleaned out the first time, and the second time Geoff Wong got cleaned out and cut his foot up.... oops, i kinda told him it wasn't dangerous.... sorry geoff! i leave for cali on thursday for a contest, wish me luck!

Novusswell profile!!

Novus Swell S1E32: Kylen Yamakawa from kaz sano on Vimeo.

Thanks Kaz!!!

Weekend of Big Waves!

all the boards...
kaito's interview...
some of the waves at Lanis

Surfed some pretty big waves this past weekend. There was a high surf warning posted...Kind of changed my perceptive on surfing... there's a whole different side to it rather than just technical performance. On saturday, kaito slept over, and we picked up kai and went to a spot called Rogers on the northshore. it was about four feet hawaiian on the sets. Then me and kaito surfed pipe for about an hour. It was pretty damn scary! waves were sooo big! like the kind you can fit city buses in!!! we lived.... then we surfed some 6 ft + Lanis which was fun.... Halloween was a bummer in the sense i didn't get to trick-or treat... but we went to kaleen's house and cruised. Everyone slept over and on sunday we went back out to the country which was MACKING! it was like 10 ft at some spots! My sponsor jason kashiwai made me some bigger boards for this winter and they really came in handy! We surfed a spot called Himalayas... was real big... we came in and it just so happened the news needed to interview some surfers... me and kaito got interviewed.. BUT THE SUCKAS CUT ME OUT!!!!!! hahahahaha my 3 seconds of local fame that i had all pictured in my mind didn't happen! haha well atleast kaito got his couple seconds of fame...

class day pics

my "wanna be" thug pose...
club asia ALL THE WAY BAYBAY!

Kylen's Bus Service

Kai's crib! this chair makes fart noises...
geoff is thinking of investing in one of these for his car for protection
little rollers came in


Woke up early on sat. and picked up Geoff Wong and Kai Matsumoto. Oh yeah... KAito too... haha... nah he slept over. We went to a secret spot to surf... ended up being only head high... but it was soooo glassy. We surfed there twice cuz everywhere else sucked and was crowded. Was fun...
Went to my friend Weston's house for a party... it's so nice to get all your friends together and just cruise. Thanks Weston for the party!

Friday

Spent the entire day with my girlfriend. We surfed a spot on the northshore that was real fun! We ate at this pasta place in haleiwa for lunch that was good. After that we just cruised at home.
I had a real nice time :)