éS | Menikmati | French Fred Tapes | Hawaii VacationThe éS Hawaii vacation. In the summer of 2000, before the completion of ‘Menikmati’, a trip to Hawaii was organised for two purposes: doing a bit of promotion via the local distributor, with a demo, some autograph signing, and a radio show. And of course, offering a bit of sunny vacation to the team. From the beginning, I was totally opposed to that trip, which came in the final two or three months of filming for the video. I was super bummed. For me, it was going to be a total waste of time, while we still had to film a lot of important stuff, especially with Koston who was still miles away from having a killer part. Instead, I was sent on a holiday. I was super bummed. I believed that the video should have been the only focus. So I didn’t enjoy my time, for my unique travel to Hawaii. Indeed, I even got close to die, one day when we went out surfing, that time when Arto says “Ready for this Fred? I’m not gonna drown you know”. Local surfers took us for a session, to a proper spot near Diamond Head. I never ever surfed before. They handed us small boards, and took off to the waves. I started to paddle, but could never make it to the waves. As I realised this was not a situation for me, I started to be exhausted. I turned around. But then, I could not make it back to the beach. As a total beginner, I made the typical mistake of trying to battle the strong currents. I got even more exhausted. I got off my board to float and get some rest. But I cut up my foot on some reef. The sun was going down, and I really started to stress. I was away from everyone, and on my own. It was getting dark, and was feeling hopeless. I couldn’t paddle anymore. I didn’t know what to do. It was very scary. I tried to stay as calm as possible. I laid on the board to save on some energy. After a short time, I raised my head, and suddenly, out of the blue, I was 15 feet away f