Best Day Ever at the Vans Triple Crown

Thanksgiving turkeys and cold weather are descending on the mainland, but here in Hawaii surfers are flocking to the famous North Shore for the Vans Triple Crown. The event works its way through three separate contests and ramps up to an exciting finish at one of the world's best, heaviest tubes: Pipeline. 

First up on the Vans Triple Crown circuit is Haleiwa, right in the town of Haleiwa. The wave is popular on small days with surfers of all levels. But in winter, watch out! It pumps, and big swells turn it heavy and challenging.

On my first morning off, I headed up to check it out. The women's contest was in full session, the weather was amazingly beautiful, and I was stoked to visit Scotty, Mark Morgan and Lyrl Hailstock, who are all on the film crew.

Mark Morgan & Scotty Lisetor with the camera jib arm.

I guess being in the industry has its advantages! I got to climb a camera scaffold tower and look through the lens. I could hardly believe how powerful the zoom was--I could see the looks on the competitors' faces, all the way out at sea.

me with Lyrl Hailstock up on a camera tower

I also got to drop in on the video trailer, which is a big tractor truck full of people and flashing equipment. It looked as if they were about to launch the space shuttle or something.

Entrance to the flashing video village land

Outside, Vans had a tent with free swag that included stickers, programs, Vans frisbees, and all sorts of other things. Rockstar Energy Drinks, another sponsor, was giving away free cans of their drinks, including new flavors like lemonade and cola. A third tent had hats, shirts and hoodies for sale, and Scott got me a super cute Triple Crown hoodie. Yay!

Best of all, the women surfed really well, and it was exciting to watch. 

To make a virtual visit, check it out here:

http://triplecrownofsurfing.com/

Now I must head to the grocery store in search of a turkey and some cranberries. Happy Thanksgiving and best wishes to all of you :D

Why I've Been "Off the Map"!

Hello all! Whew, it's been ages since I've posted, but I have an excuse. (although I've thought about blogging literally every day, somehow I just never made it happen. How do multi-taskers do it all???) I've been off the map for three months. What I mean is--I've been working on a new TV show from the makers of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, called Off the Map. It's exciting, because I think it's going to be really good!!

We started in September. The first day on a new set always reminds me of the first day of summer camp. You're milling around between the hundred or so people, wondering who's going to be there that you know, searching for friends and familiar faces, trying to see what the new people are like, checking out the people in charge, and hoping like crazy that the food will be good. Slowly, after a few weeks, everyone finds their places, learns names, and this whole social world develops.

We've all been cloistered away up in a rainy, jungly (is jungly a word? I don't know but I'm going with it) valley in Hawaii. We eat breakfast, lunch, and even sometimes dinner together in a big tent. It's like we're off in a land that's totally remote from our normal lives. Or maybe it just feels that way because work days run 12-14 hours and I tend to get a little fuzzy at that point . . . ! And I'm super happy to say we're now like one big family. The food is pretty good too :)

What's the show about? Off the Map features a bunch of doctors who run a clinic in the South American jungle. We have people getting attacked by anacondas, strange diseases, and lots of romance. It's fun, and surprisingly funny. We've shot 8 of the 12 scheduled episodes so far.
The show will air on ABC some time in January. On Friday and yesterday we got to watch two of the episodes during lunch. It was awesome! Jammed in our lunch tent we were hooting, laughing, and there were even some tears.

In the meantime, I've been huddled down every moment I can get to work on my new novel. Watching drama play out live is inspiring, and helping fuel my own creative energies. It's a great combination!

Sending you all best wishes!