Never before have I boarded a plane to chase a swell with nothing but my phone. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I traveled anywhere without dragging at least one pelican case behind me.
My typical luggage is a 65 lb. backpack full of glass and bodies and a few cases filled with housings, ports, stabilizers, clothes, batteries, and various other camera parts. This time, though, I was only packing an iPhone 6 and badass little housing for it. I only recently began screwing around with what the camera could do, and I figured it was a good excuse to go to the islands for a decent south swell. I spent the majority of the morning driving to every side of the Hawaiian island of Oahu looking for good conditions. Seventy-five miles later, I ended up back right where I started: Ala Moana Bowls.
I have never shot there before and despite the ever-so-sketchy channel you have to swim across, the wave is a beautiful mutant of a thing. The wind was perfect and the tide was on the upswing. I only spent about three hours swimming, and I was the only one shooting in the zone. All the boys were ripping and yelling each other into waves. It was perfect little dream scenario. I was surprised that I didn’t get any weird looks as I only had a little phone case, but I guess these days it’s almost expected. I floated around, bounced off the reef and got way too sun burned, but at the end of the day it was one for the books. No ports or heavy housing, just a fun little camera and a pair of “flippas.” Take me back!
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