Ben Aipa

     My earliest recollection of Ben Aipa was when I first moved back to Hawaii from El Paso, Texas in 1990 and I got my first job working in the surf industry for Town & Country Surf. At that time Ben Aipa was the premiere shaper for T&C  and probably in all of Hawaii. I remember all the Japanese surfers coming in and asking for Ben's boards and all the locals putting their name on a long list to get a custom shape from the man himself.

        Ben's signature "Stinger" shapes.

After a long tenure with T&C, Ben went over to Blue Hawaii Surf to work along side probably the most talented shaping stable in Hawaii. Glenn Minami, Cino Magnallenes, Wes Oshiro, and Ernie Tanaka. Ben's son Akila was also at Blue Hawaii Surf at the same time but as one of BH's top pro surfers. It was a good time for Blue Hawaii Surf back then when it came to surf. They were a force to be reckoned with.

                       Aipa SUP's

     Aside from shaping Ben is also a renowned surf coach who's worked with some of the top surfers in the world. His most recognized student was Brad Gerlach who came in 2nd place in the world in the early 90's. Currently he is coaching Koa and Alex Smith from Kauai. While Ben was giving us a brief history lesson he was also juggling calls from Alex and Koa while they were preparing for their heats in today's Vans World Cup of Surfing at Sunset.

     This board that Ben was shaping today was for the 50th anniversary of Bruce Brown's cult classic movie The Endless Summer. 

Mahalo Ben for the hospitality and tour!

Country Time!

SXA Pupu Kine BBQ at Kapolei

     "Pupu Kine" is a term Braddah Marlon came up with. It means a small unorganized BBQ with whatever you have at home in the fridge or your kitchen cabinets that can be BBQ'd within minutes and goes good with a cold beer. Today we had "pupu kine" BBQ with Portuguese sausage, hot dogs, kielbasa sausage and some zucchini. Perfect snack after a sesh and right before going home to eat dinner!

Bobo Kuamo'o serving up a frontside boneless in the keyhole!

Fada / son tag team BBQ! Sancho and Delroy.

Mahalo Veteran's

     It's amazing what people would do for people they don't know. Veteran's put their families and their lives on hold to defend our country and provide freedom for all of us who live in the U.S.A. Mahalo for all you guys do on this Veteran's Day and every day. Here's just a few of my friends and family who've served and some who are still serving in the military.

Rodney Chmolack

Lawrence Moroles

 Brian Takishita

Jessie Lacuesta

     Karl Brueggemann

Mike Kays

Nick Yamasato

Jonathan Bruchal

Mikey Nelson

Joseph "Sancho" Khamvongsa

Last night in Beijing

     On our last day in Beijing we ran around all day handling some business. By the time 4 o'clock came along Dyson and I were over it. We still had some souvenir shopping to do. Our friend Vince was kind enough to pick us up and take us to the markets where we could bargain and get stuff for cheap. Dyson even managed to get some prescription eyeglasses from Dr. Feelgood for $35.00. The lady checked his eye sight, figured his vision, and filled his prescription in some knock off Ray Ban frames in about 20 minutes. I don't think she was an optometrist but Dyson said he'd never seen so clear in his life when he put on the glasses. Are we getting ripped off in the U.S. or what? Dys said the only reason he never got glasses back home is because his medical didn't cover it, so it would cost an arm and a leg for a pair of prescription eye glasses.

     After we pau shopping, Vince took us to one of his favorite local hot pot restaurants. Perfect because it was starting to get cold outside! We had to wait outside for about 30 minutes freezing our balls off, but it was well worth it!

Beef or sheep!

There were two sides to the hot pot. The spicy side (red) and not spicy (clear).

This was fresh baked bread. Braaaahh it was soooo good! It was super crispy and look like there individual layers of thin dough that made up the bread! That and beer and I'd be content!

Look at the size of that lettuce on the dirty floor!

Mahalo Vince!

Night shopping in the super busy alley.

Raddest Starbucks we came across!

Cafe racer in China. Some hipster owned this. We can't escape the hipsters even in China.

Last stop was to get a cold beer to drink in the cold weather. This place had the most elaborate selection of beer and it was located in an alley. Vince said all the Chinese military guys patronize the bar next door, so they probably stop in here as well to get the high end stuff. There was a bench with a long table out front and Vince said this is where they come to drink some times in the summer before going out for the evening. China's version of Ewa Pantry!

Back on Jinchengfang St.

      The next morning we woke up to beautiful Beijing weather again. Sunny skies, clear air, and it was warm enough to wear a tee. That was until the wind started to blow. Other than that it was a wonderful day to get outdoors and make the most of our last free day.

This is the CCTV building. The architect who designed this did an outstanding job! I'd like to be on the farthest out corner with the glass floors taking a look down into the city of Beijing!

     Just little less than a week before we got to Beijing there was a terrorist attack on the Forbidden City. A husband, wife, and grandma crashed their jeep into the crowd and the jeep blew up killing six people and injuring 30. On this day as we passed by there were fences installed separating the street from the sidewalk which wasn't there before. On the Tienanmen Square side across the street the military and police were armed and ready for any terrorist planning an attack again.

These guys were working the corner commanding sympathy from all the workers in the Financial District. Looked to me like they made out pretty good at the end of the day!

This car set up shop right across the street from all the restaurants. They were serving hot rice, some type of soup, and some sort of chicken. They got pretty busy and a line started to form. The police saw them but said nothing, they might've even ordered something!

These were the familiar businesses I was talking about. They're all located right across the street from the lunch car and the place we were skating. It's amazing how much the Chinese adopt American brands into their own lives. It seems they're looking for something to identify with and they don't really have anything iconic to latch on to. Don't matter they probably own most of the shares of these American companies anyways.

The park on Financial Street is absolutely beautiful. Being that we live in Hawaii, we don't get to experience the colors of fall. This portion of the city is spotless and very clean. I watched the street cleaner come by three times that day spraying the street and sweeping it. There were landscapers manicuring the park as well.

She likes skateboarders!

Vince

Dunzi

Tsuyong

Lunch time!

And this is what happened after lunchtime! No more skateboarding!

Bathroom break!

Tsuyong, Chuck, Dyson, and Vince!

After our skate sesh we went to go check out the Joy City Mall. This place was jumping for a Monday evening. It's huge and it's 6 floors I believe. Pretty much every major brand that we have in the U.S. was here. Didn't feel like were in China.

This is the Nike Action store. It's pretty much a Nike SB shop with everything skateboarding related only. Haven't seen one of these back in the states yet.

I was asked kindly not to take pictures in the Vans shop for reasons unknown. There wasn't anything I saw in there that we don't carry at our Blue Hawaii Surf Beijing shop. For some reason when we walk into the different Vans stores in China they like to tailgate you. They don't say anything they just tailgate you and gear check you. 

And last but not least this one's for my friend Marlon. Here's the Li Ning store a China brand of athletic footwear. They managed to steal D. Wade from Team Jordan so you know they paid him a shit load! The quality of the shoes weren't that good and it seemed like they may have even brought a designer from Nike over to design Wade's shoe. Supposedly these will be releasing in the U.S. some time in November.