From 'Moili'ili Or Bust'

Holy crap!! That picture of the West Side is rare photographic evidence of a kid "mattress bagging," or at least running out of the water afterwards. It's a white whale for sure...

As a kid in Town I heard rumors of mattress bagging. Never saw it in town though. Sandys was too heavy so never saw it there, nor at Makapu'u. Decades later a friend I grew up with brought some hard-procured twin mattress bags when we met up on a trip to the Ranch near(ish) Lazero Cardenas. I laughed when I saw them and went out for a try. No deal. I was out on a twin mattress bag and after one barely inflated half-ride the thing filled with water. Swimming in with a twin mattress bag full of water was miserable but there was no way I was going to let it stay in the water. Life's full of lessons, right? We decided that the whole thing _was_ a myth. No way a kid could hack it in the water at even mellow Makaha trying to get around with a big bag of water we figured.

Now I see the error of our experiment — kids on the West Side were _futon_ bagging! In the '70s and '80s everyone on O'ahu had a folding foam futon in a closet for a single, unexpected guest; most still do. The kid in the picture has a bag the size of a futon! Thanks for solving a mystery, the futon in my closet today has long ago lost its bag and I'm not going to seek one out but if one happens to pass my way... It's nice to know I'll die with one less unsolved mystery!

Moili'ili Or Bust