Surfing Waves

Hi,

I recently hit the jackpot and scored a job in Oahu, Hawaii. I'm 38, have been surfing for 12 years and consider myself an intermediate level surfer that can fit into most line-ups without trouble. I'm respectful, polite, but also used to surfing less crowded environments, often in inconsistent areas with modest quality surf. I'm also a white guys (aka Haole). Moving to Oahu will likely be a big step-up in terms of wave quality, skill level of other surfers, as well as competition for waves and loyalism.

Aside from the obvious things like giving respect to the locals, minding my place in the line-up, knowing my limits, etc, is there anything else I should to to avoid confrontation in the line-up? One of my boards is a red twin-fin fish, should I leave that behind? Any tips would be appreciated. I've heard horror stories from guys who've visited Hawaii and surf a lot better than me.

Horror stories like what?

1) Where will you be living ?
2) where do you plan on surfing ? South, North, West or East side ?
3) What type of surf break you're used to ? Beach, Point, Reef ? Where was it ?
4) Can you fight ?

Whatever you do don't paddle out inside of someone else and don't drop in on anyone even if they do this to you. It would be good to meet someone familiar with the break before you go out and go out with them so they can help you get up to speed but if not make sure you can surf as well as most of the surfers out there or don't go there. Don't repeatedly paddle for waves and not catch them, be committed If you are the only white guy out there don't stare at the other surfers, lots of locals hate it if you stare at them. Say hello when you paddle out but if they don't say anything back just ignore them.

waikikikichan wrote:4) Can you fight ?

LOL.....if he could he wouldn’t stress about it.

waikikikichan wrote:1) Where will you be living ?
2) where do you plan on surfing ? South, North, West or East side ?
3) What type of surf break you're used to ? Beach, Point, Reef ? Where was it ?
4) Can you fight ?

1. Honolulu, not sure where yet, my employer is putting me up for a month somewhere near downtown. I'll have to find a place from there.

2. Not sure. Probably depends on where I'm living, what type of waves I find, crowds, etc Tips welcome

3. I've split my 12 years of surfing between Miyazaki, Japan - I was a learner then and mostly stuck to beach break when I was there; Nova Scotia - long mellow pointbreaks, inconsistent conditions, extreme cold; Oregon - mostly beach break, challenging paddle-outs, often too rough and windy to bother paddling out.

4. I was an undefeated amateur boxer and used to fight all the time between the ages of 12-18. Used to get into trouble for it when I got a little older and went to college, almost got myself kicked-off the varsity swim team. Now I'm 38, have a respectable job, and would rather avoid fighting if possible.

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Big H wrote:Horror stories like what?

1. A friend of mine who is an experienced surfer from Santa Cruz got jumped by three guys getting out of the water in Maui. Got his board broken and beaten pretty bad. Had half his ear tore off and needed surgery to fix it. Said he never saw it coming and didn't think he rubbed anyone the wrong way in the water.

2. Another friend in Kauai had his tires clashed, windows broken, wallet, phone, and keys stolen while surfing, leaving him, his wife and their 3 year old stranded on a remote beach somewhere.

Don't go to remote breaks without friends and preferably someone who surfs the break regularly

1 - 2 ) Since you'll be living in town, which is the South, as a short(er) boarder there's :
Kewalos,
various Ala Moana breaks ( Bowls is famous, but a Left and advanced )
Diamond head. ( warning, hide your slippers ( flip-flops ) because they will get "borrowed". )

Waves are best for the South shore starting May and ending around September. But 3 weeks ago it was 6 foot Hawaiian scale.

3) Awesome, looks like you have a well rounded variety of surf breaks under your belt.

4) Great, exactly the answer I was hoping for. Not that you can beat some one up , BUT that you have the maturity to walk away. Just watch your back as some punks fight in packs. Stay away from the West side and Mokuleia

Oh, if you "Biff" and fall off on your first wave at a new spot, you might as well paddle in. Since you're going to get dropped in by others who think you're a Kook and wasting waves. ( funny, since that's exactly the opposite in Japan )

I am sure they are just talking about fairly good surfers at the hotly contested breaks but let the locals catch the best waves is Kala Alexander's advice

[quote="waikikikichan"]

Thanks for the tips. So I take it the South Shore is a good place for someone new to the area to start? Any haole friendly areas in the winter months? Of course I'll try to stick to publicly surfed spots. Really appreciate the advise. Thank-you!

Yes, Japan in a very friendly place to surf, even by Nova Scotian and Oregonian standards. I remember surfing Tanegashima 10 years ago. The locals saw me getting off the boat with a surfboard and offered to drive me to my hotel to drop off my stuff and then out to a surf break. Then they called me into some of the best waves of the day and invited me to hang with them at the bar after surfing... never experienced that kind of hospitality surfing anywhere else.

I started talking to a guy in a lineup one day and the subject of surfing in Hawaii came up. He said the way to surf in Hawaii is to just act like you surf there everyday. I heard from another surfer that the aloha spirit (or whatever you call it) tends to be the default, but if you screw things up it can go from zero to sixty in no time. I've never surfed in Hawaii. I don't handle aggressive localism very well so I probably never will.

Anyway, the best advice I can give is to remember what Confucius says:

"If you are virtuous, you will not be lonely. You will always have friends."
“Respect yourself and others will respect you.”
“Worry not that no one knows of you; seek to be worth knowing.”

My sage advice for the day. Good luck.

RinkyDink wrote: I heard from another surfer that the aloha spirit (or whatever you call it) tends to be the default.

But how can one show "Aloha Spirit" if they don't know what Aloha is ? In Japan it is totally fine to push people in your path and not say sorry, it's just normal. In Japan, people just sneeze or cough straight out, while I would always cover my mouth or cough into my inside elbow. In China, it disrespectful to not leave some food left on the plate, but in America it's respectful to clean off you plate. People who haven't grown up in Hawaii think "aloha" means sharing and giving, which it is. But Aloha means more than that. It means RESPECT for family, for the land, for the ocean.
I had a beginner who was brought out by a local surf at Queen's. Saw her a few weeks, no problems. Then one day "she" took it upon herself to bring out a full on newbie friend. He dropped in straight on me as I was going left. My board went all the way in. Paddling back I asked him to please be aware of other surfers coming down the line for safety sakes. He told me, "not my fault, I was already riding the wave". Whatevers. Later he did it again, words exchanged, he tells me " you need to wear a leash" blah blah. His friend the girls sees the commotion and paddles over and say "Hey man, where's the ALOHA ?" "He's just a beginner, show him some aloha !" WTH, she wasn't even from Hawaii and she's telling a local how to act ?

I ran into localism problems 5 times in Hawaii..... even though I am from Hawaii I am white skinned. The first time was from a surfer who was well known and most likely better than me and there were only the two of us out there so I just let him catch whatever waves he wanted. Even though I had surfed with him before he made this big deal about me not being on his waves. Not much of a problem and pretty much what I do anyway.

The second time was by a surfer was not as good as me and he dropped in on me, first I told him to get off the wave, then I proceeded to stick the nose of my board in his butt, I bottom turned and point the board up toward him and put the nose of my board under his rear end and stepped on the tail which made it poke his butt, He persisted to ride in front of me so I repeated this two more times and finally he cut out so I rode the wave the rest of the way. Then he was chasing me in the water but it just so happened that I caught a wave before he go out to me and I was paddling out before he caught a wave in. Then I went to my car and he appeared and threatened me and I told him to have at it and then he backed off.

Then I was at a break on the west side and I almost never surf on the west side although it was my third time there. I was looking for surf and this was the first break I saw that looked fun and no one was out so I paddled out and surfed. I was having fun and then two truckloads of guys with surfboards drove up and I thought "oh no instant crowd" but only one guy paddled out and he was a very good surfer who I knew not from surfing but because his parents and my parents were friends and I had seen him briefly at parties. He gets out to me and yells back at the two truckloads "IT'S OK! IT'S OK!" I asked him what this was about and he said they were going to flatten my tires. So in this case he saved my okole (rear) This was on Kauai and all the guys I had known my whole life pretty much.

Then I had a couple incidents on Oahu. The first was at Malaia bay and there was only me and a friend out plus this one local guy who was giving us grief about not being on his waves. Just like the guy back on Kauai I just let him catch whatever he wanted and then we caught what we wanted. This happened both times we were at that break. Both times it was breaking well overhead and tubing out and only the same guy out (back in the late 70's).

Then I was at a break called Concessions over by Alamoana and there were 5 guys out and lots of tubing waves. They were doing a thing where one guy would paddle around me and even though paddling around wasn't cool this was their break so I wasn't going to do anything but I did lineup deeper and deeper till finally that guy couldn't make the drop or chickened out and I caught a couple of waves that way. Finally I decided to try for the set wave coming in that no one was catching and got one of the best waves of my life getting tubed 5 or 6 times and after coming out of the tube 4 of the times a different one of the five guys was paddling up the wave real close to where I wanted to go so I laid my board down and sprayed each of them then got in the tube again. They paddled over to me and I thought I was going to have to fight them but they just told me that they were going to let me catch waves now and everything was cool after that.

waikikikichan wrote:

RinkyDink wrote: I heard from another surfer that the aloha spirit (or whatever you call it) tends to be the default.

Yeah, my post really didn't come out the way I intended it. Yeech. I was trying to confess my ignorance of the Hawaiian word that expresses Hawaiian hospitality, but it came off wrong. I found the Hawaiians I encountered when I was there in my teens to be incredibly hospitable. I never went surfing back then, but I figure Hawaii has as much variation in its surf spots and its locals as anywhere else in the world.

waikikikichan wrote: I had a beginner who was brought out by a local surf at Queen's. Saw her a few weeks, no problems. Then one day "she" took it upon herself to bring out a full on newbie friend. He dropped in straight on me as I was going left. My board went all the way in. Paddling back I asked him to please be aware of other surfers coming down the line for safety sakes. He told me, "not my fault, I was already riding the wave". Whatevers. Later he did it again, words exchanged, he tells me " you need to wear a leash" blah blah. His friend the girls sees the commotion and paddles over and say "Hey man, where's the ALOHA ?" "He's just a beginner, show him some aloha !" WTH, she wasn't even from Hawaii and she's telling a local how to act ?

I hear you. I have the same frustration with the crowds. I think Hawaii probably gets more than its share of kooks as well.

RinkyDink wrote:Yeah, my post really didn't come out the way I intended it.

No, not at all, I get what you meant. But if someone thinks just be "respectful", it might mean different things in different parts of the world ( like the finishing off your plate thing ). "Aloha" takes time to learn, you have to live it, not just read about it. I've been in Japan 4 years now and still can't figure read between the lines here. But luckily i got the "Gaijin pass". But in Hawaii during surfing, there's no passes.
Actually there is. If a local tells you something, it means in somewhats that he/she's giving you a break. It's when you do something bad and they don't say nothing at all................ that's when you better watch out.

waikikikichan wrote:

RinkyDink wrote: I heard from another surfer that the aloha spirit (or whatever you call it) tends to be the default.

But how can one show "Aloha Spirit" if they don't know what Aloha is ? In Japan it is totally fine to push people in your path and not say sorry, it's just normal. In Japan, people just sneeze or cough straight out, while I would always cover my mouth or cough into my inside elbow. In China, it disrespectful to not leave some food left on the plate, but in America it's respectful to clean off you plate. People who haven't grown up in Hawaii think "aloha" means sharing and giving, which it is. But Aloha means more than that. It means RESPECT for family, for the land, for the ocean.
I had a beginner who was brought out by a local surf at Queen's. Saw her a few weeks, no problems. Then one day "she" took it upon herself to bring out a full on newbie friend. He dropped in straight on me as I was going left. My board went all the way in. Paddling back I asked him to please be aware of other surfers coming down the line for safety sakes. He told me, "not my fault, I was already riding the wave". Whatevers. Later he did it again, words exchanged, he tells me " you need to wear a leash" blah blah. His friend the girls sees the commotion and paddles over and say "Hey man, where's the ALOHA ?" "He's just a beginner, show him some aloha !" WTH, she wasn't even from Hawaii and she's telling a local how to act ?

That’s exactly why locals dislike tourists/out of towners, Hawaii or otherwise. Sheesh.

waikikikichan wrote:

RinkyDink wrote:Yeah, my post really didn't come out the way I intended it.

No, not at all, I get what you meant. But if someone thinks just be "respectful", it might mean different things in different parts of the world ( like the finishing off your plate thing ). "Aloha" takes time to learn, you have to live it, not just read about it. I've been in Japan 4 years now and still can't figure read between the lines here. But luckily i got the "Gaijin pass". But in Hawaii during surfing, there's no passes.
Actually there is. If a local tells you something, it means in somewhats that he/she's giving you a break. It's when you do something bad and they don't say nothing at all................ that's when you better watch out.

I agree. It's difficult to get it right, but many people never learn the invaluable critical thinking insight that other people don't always see things the same way as you. That might appear trite, but in the age of Trump it seems that many of us are missing that perspective.