The APE

I did a vector render of one of my favorite pieces of graffiti in Honolulu. At some point I want to make a T-Shirt out of it*. It's on the H1 King Street on ramp (West bound). The post has two signs on it. A bright yellow "Click-It or Ticket".. and then a defaced black & white sign: "Buckle Up, It's the APE".

Maybe it's my visual imagination, but I think the sign is hilarious. Picture a brutish Hanna Barbara looking gorilla stalking the berm waiting for an unsuspecting negligent driver to go by unbuckled. The beast bounds over and rips the driver out of his car through an open passenger window. Hey, Buddy.. you'd better buckle up!

I don't usually take the King Street on ramp unless I'm surfing Diamond Head, or swimming the Double Rough-Water buoy course before work. This morning, it was the latter.

A reporter from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser (Nancy Arcayna) called yesterday and asked me if she could interview me about my upcoming channel swim from Kauai to Ni`ihau. Certainly. She also wanted to send a photographer out to get some shots of me doing open water training. I told her that he could meet me on the beach after my typical Wednesday Double Rough Water swim.

I think eight out of the last ten or so weeks, I've been swimming the Double Rough on Wednesdays. I usually go with my friend Brian. He and two others will be crossing the Kaulakahi with me, so it's good training for us to swim distances together. He had to get to work early today though, so it was just me. The solstice is over, the sun is coming up later. I had to start the swim about 30 minutes before sunrise. It was a little creepy being out there then but in the end it turned out to be a great swim. I broke my own record, probably due to some unusual currents. 54 minutes out, 40 minutes back.

The photographer snapped several pictures of me when I returned to the beach at the end of my swim. Nancy said she would interview me later on. She commented that the story probably won't run until closer to Labor Day.

*: If I make a T-Shirt with the APE graphic, it will be available to you through "Quinnzshoppe" the link to the shop is in the margin on the left. Thanks.