Days 3 through 7 of the Tera Girls Skimboard Festival in Nagoya, Japan through the eyes of Jen Jacobs and Keiao Gucwa-Bucasas.
Day 3
TGF: Day 3 from KEIAO LLC on Vimeo.
The day has come! This is what we were here for…contest day. I couldn’t help but be excited. I couldn’t wait to see all the girls and skim with them. People at the house left in waves because there were so many of us we couldn’t fit in the same car. I stayed back at the house for an extra hour or two just so I could get Day 2’s video up and online. It was actually a relief to get it done. It’s pretty difficult doing a daily video blog. You want to capture and remember as much as you can about your trip but at the same time you want to be able to enjoy it.
We arrived at the contest and just to my surprise there were still some waves to be had. It wasn’t as clean as the day before because it was later in the afternoon and the wind had picked up. The waves were a little choppy but nothing short of fun. The contest went on and I got to see many girls who I’ve met before and I also got to meet many others. It’s fun when you travel to a foreign place and you can stumble upon some familiar faces.
The contest was a blast and so was the after party that followed at Sachiko’s house. It was such an amazing day. Everyone was all sunburned with rope burn on their hands from the tug of war contest. It couldn’t have been any better. I love these people.
–Keiao
Skim contest day. this day rocked. seriously it was the day that made the trip. and the reason i came to japan in the first place.
i was surprised to hear the contest didn’t start until 11am. so i thought it would be a good morning to get some extra shut-eye and a good hearty breakfast. i was so wrong! lol
woke up a little before 7am i think. i was taking my sweet time resting and stretching my sore legs from the skim session the day before while sipping on a cup of hot coffee., i was about to go for my second when one of the girls asked me. do you want to go to beach now or later? I asked if anyone going earlier had a surf board i could borrow, she said “yes, you can borrow.” so i jumped out of bed in a heart beat and was ready in about 5 minutes. i know it was a skim contest, but we had some conversations about catching some surf the night before. so i was stoked!
stopped at the local 7-11 for something to hold us over and some more coffee and before i knew it i was paddling out with my new friend, Tukasa, or his nickname “MossEye” which means ‘tall (or dark) african’ in Japanese. we surfed for about two hours, it was small but we got in a few fun waves before skim session time.
the skim was fun. for the most part there was no wind all day and the waves stayed pretty steady. i met another dozen or more girls this day on top of the dozen staying at Sachiko’s house we met the night before. literally the beach was an all girl line-up. it was sweet. ive seen nothing like it before.
the girls were all smiles and all charging. they were all colorful from head to toe too. it was cool to see the different style of clothing they wore to the beach. each girl had their own unique style.
the skim contest was a blast and i was stoked to make it to the finals. two man heats at 5 min each was a little scary!
After the contest we hit the grocery store for some beer and snacks. Sachiko was hosting the after-party BBQ at her house. it was epic. everyone was so friendly and the energy never died.
Towards the end of the night many of the girls gathered in a big circle in the back house and we shared many laughs and stories. it was such a special evening to kick off a really really awesome day.
keiao and i made many new friends from all over japan on this contest day. definitely worth it and definitely want to go back soon!
–Jen Jacobs
Day 4
TGF: Day 4 from KEIAO LLC on Vimeo.
Having such a long day/night yesterday I thought everyone would be sleeping in today. However, this is probably the earliest we’ve woken up on this trip so far! Some of the girls got up at 5 or 6 in the morning to go check out the skim. They came back to the house and by 6:30 we were headed back to the beach. Sure enough the waves seemed better than the past two days so of course I was dying to get in. I got a few clips of some skimmers with my camera and Jen on hers. Other than that we were skimming (or sleeping) sorry 🙂
This would be our last day in Toyohashi staying with Sachiko and her beautiful family. I can’t thank her enough for letting us stay at her place and for putting on such a fun contest. It’s always tough saying goodbye but we were only half way through our trip. Next we’re heading towards Tokyo with Kumiko and her friends where we’d be checking out the skim at Hiratsuka. Excited 🙂
–Keiao
Definitely thought we’d be doing some sleeping in time this morning. but. nope. wrong again!
since TGF was just a one day saturday contest, everyone seemed to have come back to the beach for a second helping. the waves were looking fun but my legs were pretty sore. i skimmed for a bit but retired my board for rest of the morning and did some filming with my GoPro. hanging out in the warm water and waves was like a sauna for my mind, body and soul. i was so content.
At about noon our tummies were rumbling and Keiao and I said our good byes on the beach. it was sad to leave, but we were excited for the second half of our journey. Sachiko was a great host and she put on a super fun contest. it had been an awesome three days in Terasawa.
our tummies were rumbling and we were ready to get some lunch! but an hour into driving and our lunch restaurant had a 40 minute wait! we were gonna wait, but it was butt hot humid outside. we did a few circles around town before our driver, Miku and our new host-gang decided we should push onward towards Hiratsuka– about 5 hours north of Terasawa. tummies still rumbling.
Onward ho another hour or two and we rejoiced in some hot Japanese style ramen at a sweet rest stop area. feeling satisfied and energized, we laughed and enjoyed the rest of the road trip to our new host, Kumiko Swd’s house at Oiso beach.
tomorrow. we go see tokyo!
–Jen Jacobs
Day 5
TGF: Day 5 from KEIAO LLC on Vimeo.
We headed into Tokyo today with no real plan in mind. We wanted to walk around and see what there was to eat. We met up with a bunch of the girls and one of my friends from Hawaii, Irving. To save some cash we went over to a government building to see the Tokyo skyline. The best thing about today for myself had to be my little Godzilla key chain. It’s a mini Godzilla with my picture on it’s face. Haha I can’t stop laughing. To end the night we met up with a bunch of the skimboarders from the area and had dinner. It was nice meeting everyone. It’s always a good time.
–Keiao
…working on it
–Jen
Day 6
TGF: Day 3 from KEIAO LLC on Vimeo.
The day has come! This is what we were here for…contest day. I couldn’t help but be excited. I couldn’t wait to see all the girls and skim with them. People at the house left in waves because there were so many of us we couldn’t fit in the same car. I stayed back at the house for an extra hour or two just so I could get Day 2’s video up and online. It was actually a relief to get it done. It’s pretty difficult doing a daily video blog. You want to capture and remember as much as you can about your trip but at the same time you want to be able to enjoy it.
We arrived at the contest and just to my surprise there were still some waves to be had. It wasn’t as clean as the day before because it was later in the afternoon and the wind had picked up. The waves were a little choppy but nothing short of fun. The contest went on and I got to see many girls who I’ve met before and I also got to meet many others. It’s fun when you travel to a foreign place and you can stumble upon some familiar faces.
The contest was a blast and so was the after party that followed at Sachiko’s house. It was such an amazing day. Everyone was all sunburned with rope burn on their hands from the tug of war contest. It couldn’t have been any better. I love these people.
–Keiao
Skim contest day. this day rocked. seriously it was the day that made the trip. and the reason i came to japan in the first place.
i was surprised to hear the contest didn’t start until 11am. so i thought it would be a good morning to get some extra shut-eye and a good hearty breakfast. i was so wrong! lol
woke up a little before 7am i think. i was taking my sweet time resting and stretching my sore legs from the skim session the day before while sipping on a cup of hot coffee., i was about to go for my second when one of the girls asked me. do you want to go to beach now or later? I asked if anyone going earlier had a surf board i could borrow, she said “yes, you can borrow.” so i jumped out of bed in a heart beat and was ready in about 5 minutes. i know it was a skim contest, but we had some conversations about catching some surf the night before. so i was stoked!
stopped at the local 7-11 for something to hold us over and some more coffee and before i knew it i was paddling out with my new friend, Tukasa, or his nickname “MossEye” which means ‘tall (or dark) african’ in Japanese. we surfed for about two hours, it was small but we got in a few fun waves before skim session time.
the skim was fun. for the most part there was no wind all day and the waves stayed pretty steady. i met another dozen or more girls this day on top of the dozen staying at Sachiko’s house we met the night before. literally the beach was an all girl line-up. it was sweet. ive seen nothing like it before.
the girls were all smiles and all charging. they were all colorful from head to toe too. it was cool to see the different style of clothing they wore to the beach. each girl had their own unique style.
the skim contest was a blast and i was stoked to make it to the finals. two man heats at 5 min each was a little scary!
After the contest we hit the grocery store for some beer and snacks. Sachiko was hosting the after-party BBQ at her house. it was epic. everyone was so friendly and the energy never died.
Towards the end of the night many of the girls gathered in a big circle in the back house and we shared many laughs and stories. it was such a special evening to kick off a really really awesome day.
keiao and i made many new friends from all over japan on this contest day. definitely worth it and definitely want to go back soon!
–Jen Jacobs
Day 7
TGF: Day 7 from KEIAO LLC on Vimeo.
It’s always hard to say goodbye especially if you’ve had such an amazing trip. I can’t thank everyone enough who made this trip possible for Jen and myself. We scored some good waves while we were here in Japan and we got to hang out with some pretty cool skimboarders. I can’t wait to come back.
–Keiao
