My favorite surf break and why it's named that way

[waikikikichan]

My home break in Waikiki is called " Canoes ". For me it's the best wave in the world. People ask, "why do they call it "Canoes" ? Well it's where the Waikiki Beach Boys catch waves on their outrigger canoes. One of the only places in the world that you can do that.

I've known "Oku" for over 25 years. Only until recently I found out that his son Kevin, was my classmate since Elementary school.

[dtc]

great little video.

[oldmansurfer]

I rode Canoes once when I was one of two surfers out there. Unfortunately I was using a red log from the rental that the beach boy just let me use because they weren't renting boards due to the surf being too big. It was only double overhead but really nice waves (maybe 7 feet Hawaiian). I was going to UH and brought my surfboard as soon as I could but unfortunately never saw waves there like that again. However the waves there are so easy to catch and ride. Would be great if there weren't so many tourists. The waves were so good I learned to use a log longboard that they rented for tourists well enough to do cutbacks and carving turns off the top in a couple hours time (I had not longboarded before then)

[waikikikichan]

Yeah OMS, when it gets over 5 feet, some stands ( not all ) stop renting surfboards.

That's how I learned to surf, on borrowed beach boy surfboards. 10 foot long 4 inches thick big ole single fin. And surfing where it's so crowded you learn how to turn, if not you're going to kill someone.

[waikikikichan]

Here's another video of Canoes surfing at Canoes surf break.

[jaffa1949]

So Aussie. surf break names. The oddish ones

Bonesyards... self explanatory.
Ours.......because the Bra boys‘ reckoned it was theirs
Sandshoes...... because it was surfed before wax and sandshoes were needed for sea urchins
Crackneck.....l because you could domthat climbing down the cliff.
Voodoo, jinxed
The butterbox. a wrecked ship scattered battered butter boxes.
Spookies...l because ....... it was.
Broken Head........ sorry named after the headland.
treachery........ white fellas betrayed local aboriginals
sharkies....... any explanation needed
Chicken Run,........
Fisheries where fish caught to eat is brought innand the big fish come to be man eaters
Cactus , two reasons lots of prickly bushes and if the locals or the sharks don‘t like you, you‘re cactus.
Deadman‘s ......... get it wrong, that‘s you.
Oilies, near ship ballast discharge and iron works near harbour.
Flusha......a shipwreck with toilets bowls as cargo
Golfcourse........ you have to drive through one..... duck on fore
1080...... named after dingo and wilddog poison in the national park, don‘t take your dog-
Various sucks.......... hollowness abouts suddenly. Play reef meat , no,locals enticed too deep!
Assorted no mans‘ land difficult to get to.
Cyclops, a one eyed giant of a slab
Old woman‘s named after an aboriginal womans‘ island.

There are quite a few expletively named breaks.
Whump, one of the quickest waves you will attempt to ride.
gnaraloo,.... great wave the aboriginal name could almost describe it!
my brain hurts remembering

[waikikikichan]

So Aussie. surf break names. The oddish ones
Bonesyards... self explanatory.
Ours.......because the Bra boys‘ reckoned it was theirs
Chicken Run,........
Oilies, near ship ballast discharge and iron works near harbour.

Boneyards - There's a "Graveyards" in Waikiki where the bodyboarders go. Rocks stick up like tombstones on low tide.
Ours - So do others call that place "Theirs" ?
Chicken Run - I choose that as the best named
Ollies - isn't that the famous break in Costa Rica by Witche's Rock

[dtc]

Ours - So do others call that place "Theirs" ?

If you ever met the 'Bra boys', you would call it whatever they wanted you to call it... (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bra_Boys) Its otherwise known as Cape Solander and its a nuts wave https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyAPgZ_adtQ

not to mention a wave that lets you know when you have dipped your head just a little bit too far https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPSdTdHrOkM (see at 0.30)

Jaffa forgot 'kamikaze' (just over from Golfies) and Guillotines down the road (not sure why the plural). Kamikaze (like Ours) is a break that screams along the face of the rock ledge, so its well named.

in the spirit of canoes, near me there is a break called 'pot holes' because the dirt track to get there is always in bad condition.

There is also a break called 'Cow Bombie', named because.... its a bombora at a place called Cowaramup [I just realised 'bombora' is an Australian word - indigenous Australian term for an area of large sea waves breaking over a shallow area such as a submerged rock shelf, reef, or sand bank that is located some distance from the shoreline and beach surf break. In the Australian way we shorten the word bombora to 'bommie', but for surfing breaks its always 'bombie'. Not sure if its because of bomb waves or just because why not.] Anyway, being Australian we took the two words (Cowaramup Bombora) and made both of them shorter. Because long words means flies get in your mouth.

[dtc]

also in that second video, love how they almost run over a guy at 0.55 (I assume someone was yelling at him), and then at 1.38 in the background its complete chaos

[jaffa1949]

So Aussie. surf break names. The oddish ones
Bonesyards... self explanatory.
Ours.......because the Bra boys‘ reckoned it was theirs
Chicken Run,........
Oilies, near ship ballast discharge and iron works near harbour.

Boneyards - There's a "Graveyards" in Waikiki where the bodyboarders go. Rocks stick up like tombstones on low tide.
Ours - So do others call that place "Theirs" ?
Chicken Run - I choose that as the best named
Ollies - isn't that the famous break in Costa Rica by Witche's Rock

Nup it‘s oilies, nup the bra boys call it Ours to anybody outside the gang which they are, it is Cape Solander! Chicken run appears have a perfect set up, but in many years i never saw it break!
Yep Ollies is ollies, revealed courtesy of Endless Summer 2.

[jaffa1949]

An earlier name for Kamikazies , was Collises, rode my longboard there on the nose in the end section pulled off and the water on the rock shelf was ankle deep! adopted the second name immediately , and especially because Kamikazi means the wind of the Gods or divine wind, it certain gave me a case!

[waikikikichan]

also in that second video, love how they almost run over a guy at 0.55 (I assume someone was yelling at him),

Yeah, I am one of those guys. Got nine stitches from the canoe's hull hitting my face.

[dtc]

ouch - if you were run over, some of those tourists wouldnt stand a chance.

[BoMan]

"The Patch" at Bolinas is named for the rock patch just below the surface.

and there are memorable signs...

[billie_morini]

San Onofre State Beach was established in 1971 by Governor Ronald Reagan, whom became two-term president beginning in 1981.Eight thousand years ago, San Onofre was the indigenous Village of Panhe (“Place by the water”) that is historical home of the Juaneño/Acjachemen people and continues to be used as both a spiritual and ceremonial site. In modern times, the US Marines Corps established a significant operation that consists of more than 125,000 acres (506 km2), including the ancestral land of Panhe is the site of the first baptism in California, and in 1769 saw the first close contact between Spanish explorers, Catholic missionaries, and the Acjachemen people. The early Spaniards named tis area San Onofre after the 4th century Saint Onuphrius (‘San O”). Onuphrius lived as a hermit in the desert of Upper Egypt in the 4th or 5th centuries. He is venerated as Saint Onuphrius in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Catholic churches.

[billie_morini]

Something related, but doesn’t actually reveal name origin is “Surfin’ USA” by the Beach Boys. Released in 1961, this song identifies many surf breaks (two near me in neighboring Ventura County, CA + BaNZ' favorites in a lil' farther South)

Color code for lyrics below:
Blue = SoCAL
Green = Hawaii
Brown = Oz

[Verse 1]
If everybody had an ocean
Across the U.S.A
Then everybody'd be surfin'
Like Californi-a
You'd see them wearing their baggies
Huarache sandals too
A bushy bushy blond hairdo
Surfin' U.S.A

[Chorus]
You'd catch 'em surfin' at Del Mar
(Inside, outside, U.S.A.)
Ventura County line
(Inside, outside, U.S.A.)
Santa Cruz and Trestles
(Inside, outside, U.S.A.)
Australia's Narrabeen
(Inside, outside, U.S.A.)
All over Manhattan
(Inside, outside, U.S.A.)
And down Doheny Way
(Inside, outside)

[Hook]
Everybody's gone surfin'
Surfin' U.S.A

[Verse 2]
We'll all be planning that route
We're gonna take real soon
We're waxing down our surfboards
We can't wait for June
We'll all be gone for the summer
We're on surfari to stay
Tell the teacher we're surfin'
Surfin' U.S.A

[Chorus]
Haggerties and Swamis
(Inside, outside, U.S.A.)
Pacific Palisades
(Inside, outside, U.S.A.)
San Onofre and Sunset
(Inside, outside, U.S.A.)
Redondo Beach LA
(Inside, outside, U.S.A.)
All over La Jolla
(Inside, outside, U.S.A.)
At Wa'imea Bay
(Inside, outside)

[Hook]
Everybody's gone surfin'
Surfin' U.S.A

[Instrumental Interlude]

[Outro]
Everybody's gone surfin'
Surfin' U.S.A

Everybody's gone surfin'
Surfin' U.S.A

[dtc]

Surfin USA (except for Narrabeen..)

Good post

[billie_morini]

Surfin USA (except for Narrabeen..)

Good post

good point, dtc. Dats funni!