Getting around Waikiki with boards

[Travel_Rabbit]

My brother, 9 year old niece and I are going to Waikiki for a week this summer. We had planned to rent surfboards for the week, and we wanted to try out different spots for surfing. We'd really like to avoid renting a car if at all possible . . . but surfboards aren't allowed on buses, and biking doesn't seem to be the best option either. I'm not sure if walking to all the different parts of Waikiki would be too much for a 9 year old (or even for me - I don't have a good sense of the distances)?

Any other ideas for getting around Waikiki with our boards?

Any other tips for us? My brother's a decent surfer, my niece is good for a 9 year old, and I'm pretty lame but you know, I try.

[surf patrol]

Alright, I did some more thinking and research and problem-solving and figured I'd share it with you in the spirit of aloha and all that . . .

First, there are surf lockers that are close to the beach. If you rent a board from Koa, you can keep it in their surfboard locker. There are also lockers at Kuhio Beach Park and some further up the beach called Nalu Storage. The Nalu lockers are a yearly rental, but I bet you could get on craigslist and "sublet" a locker for a week. But I wasn't sure if the lockers would help us all that much.

I said to my brother "we almost need something like a cart." He said "there are surfboard carts." Then I remembered I had been thinking about buying a kayak cart that looks pretty much the same. In fact, there's a wider variety of kayak carts, many are cheaper, seems like they'd work with multiple boards, and they seem higher quality (and they'd work with my kayak). I ordered one since I had been thinking about getting one for my kayak anyway. So we'll see if it works with our boards . . .

I'd still love to hear any Waikiki tips (yes, we know, "respect the locals" - and we will, but what else?)

[Travel_Rabbit]

Wow, an uptight surfing forum. Bit of an oxymoron. Just trying to be helpful by including the links related to my research, none of which were advertising . . .

[jaffa1949]

Not really rabbit, it's just that we get buried by one post multiple spammers I know you sit at 2 post and I for one are interested in what you find at Waikiki, , have lots of fun

[surf patrol]

Hi Travel_Rabbit, welcome to Surfing Waves!
Sorry about the link stripping. We are plagued by people registering simply to promote their own sites. Unfortunately genuine first timers get tarred with the same brush, but it's necessary to discourage spammers.
I hope that does not put you off and that you'll coninue to contribute to the forum.
SP

[scsurf]

I always rent boards from "Moku" surf shop in Waikiki. http://www.moku-hi.com/shop/english/moku_english.php

I found "Threes" to be a pretty killer summer break. But there's something for everyone there. Very long paddle out though.

Last time I hired a surf guide Todd http://www.oahusurfguru.com/guidedsurftours.html Picked us up at the hotel, outfitted us with boards etc. and paddled out with us. Worth it.

[pandarturo]

Well if you're in Waikiki feel free to pm me I'll be more than glad to do a little exploring. Or if we have a nice wind swell you can come out to Kailua which has a real mellow break called castles.

[surf patrol]

Aloha,

MY name is Roi , i live in Waikiki....owner of Waikiki surfboard rentals.

Lockers are not available that easy....there is a waiting list. if you staying in Waikiki, you can walk to any spot in town, Waikiki is small.

We do rentals of large selection of boards, for ALL LEVELS. we have High Performance shorboards, longboards, funboards, SUP~s.....

<edit>

Mahalo

[Travel_Rabbit]

I'm back (to this thread) . . . it's funny, I re-discovered this thread when I was doing some other googling for our Waikiki trip, which is a little over a week away. I did end up buying a kayak cart, which works great with my kayak - I've taken it on steep and relatively rugged terrain with no trouble. Then I tried it with my brother's surfboards and something went wrong and his boards crashed in the parking lot. He wasn't willing to try it again with his boards but is more than happy to try it with the rental boards in Waikiki.

We decided to rent a car in Waikiki. We want to be able to go where the surf is good, when it's good. And we gotta get up to see the North Shore (yes, I know it's summer). We're also thinking about doing a surfing tour on our first day just to get to know some spots and get some tips. So thanks for the tip on the surf guide . . .

[pandarturo]

Yup, well if you ever had ppb over to the windward side let me know!

[Travel_Rabbit]

I always rent boards from "Moku" surf shop in Waikiki. http://www.moku-hi.com/shop/english/moku_english.php

Thanks for the recommendations scsurf. We liked the looks of Moku until we read some scary reviews on Yelp and TripAdvisor. There are a lot of good reviews too and you obviously didn't have any trouble, but I'd hate to encounter that asshat owner . . . (sorry, long post)

“The most dishonorable owner on earth!”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed April 5, 2011
I have used this shop many times, and the owner's son is cool, but if you deal with the owner, I just want to let you know, you will be screwed in any way he possibly can.
I try to avoid the owner, but just last week he has made enemies with me, my friends, the management of the Outrigger hotel, and the HNL Police Department. This is so he could make an extra $100. Karma is a good thing, and i am sure he will get his.
He is what we call back here a true narcissist.
Spend the extra money to go elsewhere, and get some customer service, because he is only looking out for himself.

Never again!
1.0 star rating
7/18/2013
Be very careful! They will shake you down for $$ using physical intimidation, verbal abuse, & threatened ID theft.

When receiving my board I was not informed anything about damage liability or cost.

When I returned the board, the employee pointed out a 2-3 inch dent that they said I had caused (basically all of the boards have dents and scratches). Two of the employees started speaking to each other in Japanese--they didn't know that I also speak Japanese. In Japanese, the one guy said, "what do you think we should try to charge him?" and the other replied really causally and with no system or reference sheet, "How about $150."

Then they said to me in English that the dent was a $150 repair. I objected on several grounds:

1. There is no rental agreement or even verbal explanation that the customer would be liable for damages--certainly not in the hundreds of dollars. This leads customers to believe they factor an expectation of occasional damage into their rental rates/volume.

(to this they replied that they explain that customers must pay for damage in the Japanese translation of the injury release form I had to sign. Seriously, they told me that everyone was supposed to read the Japanese translation rather than the English original!)

2. I would have checked the board carefully for preexisting damage and taken pictures ahead of time! Even if they had given a reasonable damage quote, they should not expect customers to be aware of the economics of surfboards or surfboard repair. We should know ahead of time so we can make an informed decision and carefully document preexisting damage.

3. They did not and would not show me any price list or chart describing the different types of damage and the charge for each. The $150 they told me to pay was just 'what they felt like charging'. When I asked to see a breakdown or description of their damage policy, the largest of the employees came over and positioned himself between me an the door, puffed his chest aggressively and hurled profanities and insults at me. I told him that I didn't want to fight, but that I'm not going to pay $150 based on such a casual imperitive and that I want any payment I make to be an official legal transaction based on actual documented policy. After awhile it was clear that there was no rental agreement in existence nor damage policy. And that their tactic is to identify targets and try to shake them down for whatever amount they think they can get out of us (They probably saw the ironic BMW keychain and assumed I was rich).

4. Video evidence: When I said that I would not just casually cough up $150 that I'm not convinced that *I* actually caused (I was in deep water, no rocks or coral to hit). The employee said "the worker checked the board over carefully before giving it to you. If there had been any damage, he would have marked it on the paper you signed." I objected and told her that there had been nothing remotely like a damage inspection--even a quick glance over, and she pointed at the video display stand at the desk and said, "we have video cameras and proof. I can play it back right now." I told her please do and at that point there were other customers paying close attention, so she basically had to. And when she did it was so clear/obvious there was no inspection that even the worker couldn't point to a pause and pretend he had inspected it (guy grabbed it off the rack/handed it to me with his head turned toward someone he was talking to. Then the employee's strategy changed to: "Well he checked it thoroughly for damage when it was last returned." I'm very skeptical of that since I saw how fast they were grabbing/re-shelving the boards when a rush of people came in.

5. I researched board repair charges after I left. An inflated retail-priced board repair shop in Honolulu called The Ding King lists a MAXIMUM charge of $70 for the size ding I was accused of (that's the full gloss-finished repair charge). A rental shop that moves hundreds of boards/day either does repairs in-house or has a special price arrangement due to the scores of repairs they must get done every month. They are no doubt charged only a fraction of that $70. The $150 they demanded I pay is obviously extortion.

6. Stole my drivers license: They refused to return my driver's license when I told them that I'd actually get some real quotes and not pay such an informal, off-the-cuff charge for damages I'm not sure I even caused. I had to go outside and find a police officer before they would give me my ID back.

Clearly this is a total and complete racket--they do not inform customers about damage policies or even provide a rental agreement (even one with small print), because they don't want us to make an informed decision about the financial risk or inspect the boards carefully to document pre-existing damage--of which there was plenty on this board: even a green tape patch. Do not trust this company with your credit card or ID.

[scsurf]

Lol, my experience was nothing like that. Must've caught them on they're good days.

[Travel_Rabbit]

Wow, it turns out we've got the worst possible timing for a trip to Waikiki. We'll be arriving with Tropical Storm Flossie (assuming we CAN arrive during the storm). Then comes the monthly box jellyfish invasion, which I just learned about. The jellyfish should clear out by Saturday, except that's the day I have to work 8am - 8pm. We leave on Monday, so it looks like I'll really only be able to surf on Sunday. That's not quite what we had planned . . .

[Travel_Rabbit]

We're back from Hawaii and I can answer my question about getting around Waikiki with surfboards . . .

Rent A Car.

Central Waikiki was so crazy busy, we didn't even try to surf there. Even at 6am we could see crowds on the water from our condo. And the sidewalks were so crowded, it would have been a hassle to carry boards around all the people.

The best money we spent was having two different "surf tour guides" show us around and surf with us. We could go back to those spots later, and we ended up liking Tong's (Diamond Head) and Rockpiles. Both were 1 - 1.5 miles from our condo (in opposite directions), which is a bit far to be walking with boards and stuff, especially with my 9 year old niece along.

AND . . . if you rent a car, Quality Surfboards will let you use a roof rack for FREE if you rent their boards. Other places charged $$ for roof racks, and the folks at Quality were super cool. Thanks to Pandaturo for that recommendation!

[pandarturo]

No worries! Hope you had fun! The Thursday you were here was cranking