I was born and raised on Oahu, and Sandy Beach was where I got my first real tube ride. It's also the place where I came closest to dying, as I thought it would be a good idea to charge the 15-20 foot sets during Hurricane Iwa. I was wrong. Also, as a teen, Sandy Beach was famous for its long straight-away fronting the beach that doubled as a unlawful 1/4 mile race track. I'm not proud of it, but I raced my turbocharged VW bug there many...well, let's just say I raced there.
In any case, I haven't been back to "Sandies" in quite a while and knew I'd be in the are, so I brought my "new" D300S and 200-400 to give it a try. That's the great thing about the zoom, if you're not familiar with the area and what lens to bring, you bring the zoom. Simple.
I looked out and a was floored. Waves were off the chain and I (seemingly) had the whole beach to myself! It was a shooting frenzy for me, as the waves were coming in every 10-20 seconds. I shot over 350 shots in no time flat. In fact, I normally don't take that many shots, but with so many great waves, I ran out of space on my 4GB CF...but had a 2GB SD card in there as backup, which saved me (BTW, the camera pauses for a bit, then switches to the SD as backup (if you set it up as a backup)).
The natural lighting wasn't at the best angle, but it was better than nothing. I sort of wish I brought my 300 2.8 VR on this outing, but the "zoomability" of the 200-400 allowed me to pick out surfers from all over the beach, which was pretty sweet.
BTW, I shot all these in JGP with Active D-lighting either on Auto or on High. You'll see some noise on a few of the images, but it's mostly from those needing more post processing to bring out some of the detail in the shadows. I think I may invest in a Better Beamer to see if I can throw out any more light into the waves. If you have any experience with this for surf shooting, please advise.
Aloha,
Keoni
PS. If you have any questions about the D300S and the 400VR, 300VR or 200-400VR, feel free to ask. These are my surf combos that I use regularly.
Nice shots Keoni! Looks like Sandy's was going off, great lighting, I bet it was windy as heck over there hope you had some heavy bags holding your tripod down! lol. We need to go shoot the Triple Crown next week at Haleiwa. Let me know if you want to go!
Is the III Crown back on this weekend or next? Yeah, let's go! Did you see my shots from a couple weeks ago at the III Crown at Ali'i's?
Oh, and btw, I used my cheapo Giottos monopod for these shots since it has a big, fat foot on it (good for sand--I've used cut tennis balls too, but didn't have one with me for my big monopod).
Opps Keoni, I guess I missed this the 1st Jewel then. That's the one your talking about. 2nd is Sunset, then the infamous pipe masters. I use a monopod too when I shoot, easier to move around. May need a 600mm + tc for sunset! I'll give u a ring.
Shootz!
Jay
I wasn't sure if the Haleiwa event had wrapped up or not, I only stayed for the morning heats. Got to snag a few nice shots of Derek Ho. Reminded me of how old I am--the picture of him in my mind is of a young kid who grew up in Kailua (where I grew up, same era) and tearing up the surf scene. He looks great, mind you, but not the "kid" I had permanently etched in my brain:
Hey Keoni,
Derek still got the juice! Looks quite a bit different today lol. You see Michael there too? Coco Ho is coming up too, should be a World Champ someday, gotta get some shots of her too before she get's old like the Dad lol. D300 is still producing, wish I had another CF slot on there though :0) ~Jay
Really like the "after" shot of Derek! 
