The best place to surf on the North Shore depends upon what kind of surfer you are. For beginner surfers Puaena Point and Freddie Land are the best places to go. If your an intermediate surfer any place up to 6 ft, except Pipeline and Rocky Rights. After the surf gets over 6 ft., every surf spot is for experts only, especially Pipeline, Sunset, Haleiwa, Waimea Bay and all outside reefs. The good news is that if your wanting to learn how to surf we teach our surfing lessons in a protected cove, so even when the surf is huge on the outside we have small and safe 1-2 ft., waves to teach you to surf on.
There is an old saying; “the secret to happiness is to find something you love and make it your profession”. Well I love surfing and I love teaching. When I started the North Shore Surf Girls Surf School, I designed it to match the surfer lifestyle – in other words to fit in with what matters most – being in the water and catching waves. Some pleasant surprises happened along the way; sharing the joy of surfing with people while helping to make them more in tune with the environment tops the list. Also adopting the beaches we teach surfing at; who knew that keeping a beach clean could feel so good. Learning more about our Hawaiian culture and passing it on to my surf students – way neat! Getting much better at bodysurfing – always an item on my bucket list. Working close to home – the best! Love, love this life of teaching people how to surf!
Jack Johnson could be described as the North Shore’s favorite son. He grew up on the beach in front of Pipeline, surfing and playing music with his friends and brothers. When he “hit the big time”, he started giving back to the community by advocating for sustainability. In the process he started organic gardens at Sunset Beach Elementary School and reached out to Hawaii’s children with his Recycle, Reduce & Reuse program. He also is reaching adults with his Kokua Foundation and Festival. When it became known that one could get a pre-sale ticket if they participated in a beach clean up, I marked my calendar and showed up at Goat Island by 9:00AM on the appointed day, there where also clean ups at 3 other locations. The Kokua Foundation Team and Surf Rider Foundation where there to give out supplies and record names. An estimated 300 people showed up on a Saturday morning to volunteer to clean up one of my favorite Summer time surf spots, Maelaekahana Beach. Although, I pick up trash everyday while teaching surfing lessons, I could not but help think what a wonderful lesson Jack was teaching all of us. For me it was the sheer number of tiny, tiny pieces of plastic on the sand. I shudder to think of how much of it I have added with my rate of consumption. Thanks Jack – don’t ever stop being Jack.
Kokua Festival 2010
The Kokua Festival will be April 23 – 24, 2010 at the Waikiki Shell on the Island of Oahu. Tickets go on Sale via Ticket Master February 20, for Hawaii residents and February 21, for the rest of the world.
Teaching young children to surf is my favorite thing to do. Recently, I took Ms. Kekai on her first trip on a surf lesson board up the Anahulu River on the North Shore of Oahu for a SUP lesson. Way cute! The picture below says it all!
More important then being cute is the self esteem children develop when learning to surf or paddle at such a young age. It’s a gift that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.
The North Shore Surf Girls Surf School, welcomes North Shore Surfer Girl, Janna Bills to the team. Born and raised on Oahu’s North Shore, Janna has been enjoying a life of surfing since age 10. Any sport in the water has been a common theme in her life since she was a small child. She as competed as a collegiate NCAA swimmer & water polo player, and enjoys paddling boarding, stand up paddling and of course surfing, anything in the water.
The Surf on North Shore December 25th, Christmas Day had a special gift for surfers and spectators alike, a solid 25 ft swell Hawaiian style. Even the back of Anahulu Stream had one foot waves breaking in front of the 3rd bridge, not sure how the traveled the mile from the ocean up the meandering stream but they did. I have a camera bag to prove it. Chocolates a rarely breaking wave fronting Surf and Sea was a solid 3 ft and filled with surfing lessons. People where towing in on the outside reefs and the sand was returned to Sunset Beach that had washed away durning the last big swell.
In the past in order to get a prime viewing spot to watch a surfing contest on the North Shore one would have to be very connected now with the advent of live web casting it’s all about having a high speed connection. So when the Eddie Aikau was called on Tuesday December 8th, I just tuned into the web-cast – surfing the internet was never like this. Below is a highlights video that you will enjoy. As for me I did not want to miss the action in person, so after taking care of business for the day I jumped on my beach cruzer and peddled from Haleiwa Town to Waimea Bay. When I arrived I stood near the front of the judges scaffolding texting my girls, when I heard someone call my name! It was Michele Judy, she was watching from the third level of the judges scaffolding, thanks to helping Jenn Marr serve food to the judges! She signaled for me to come to the back of the tower and got me into one of the best views in the house!
I got to watch the two last and biggest heats of the day! Stoked! Still trying to figure out how the judges gave a perfect score to a guy going straight no matter how big the wave. Mostly though I love the energy and the people at the Bay that day lots of ALOHA for sure!
It’s been a long, long time since I’ve seen surf like this past week on the North Shore. The last time in 1998 it was too big for the Eddie Aikau, this time it was just right – “a solid 35 ft.” to quote Sol Aikau. BTW – Waimea Bay at this size is not a good time to learn to surf. In the days leading up to this giant swell all of Hawaii was on high alert – predictions of a double swell as big as the one that devastated the North Shore community in 1969 had everyone nervous and excited. So early Monday morning I awoke and checked to see how the boats where handling the swell in Haleiwa Harbor. Fortunately they where not rocking too hard and no waves had rolled over Kamehameha Hwy. fronting Surf and Sea. All’s well so far, so I loaded Mom and Michele one of my North Shore Surf Girls and we drove on a recon mission up to Sunset Beach to pick up Jenn Marr ( a famous unknown) to give her a ride back to Honolulu, she was supposed to help Squidy cook for the Eddie but it was canceled till the next day. Traffic was bumper to bumper to bumper even at 6:30 AM, it seemed that everyone and their cousin had driven to the North Shore to watch the hugest waves in 10 years. Driving or rather crawling by Waimea Bay had 20-30 people out and looked about 25 ft. solid Hawaiian scale, but disorganized, After picking up Jenn Marr ( she’s just one of those people you use two names for) at Sunset Beach, we also stopped and picked up a couple hitch hiking to Waimea, by coincidence it was the same people me and Michele tried to keep from bodysurfing 15ft. Keiki the day before, any ways…We really stopped at Sunset Beach proper to take pictures of the bike path that is still about to fall into the ocean. We then drove past Rock Piles and barely missed a wave that washed across the road. A quick stop at Keiki Shorebreak impressed my mom. Then it was back into the truck for everyone for a slow drive back to Haleiwa. Waimea was getting bigger as was the thousands of people siting in the bumper to bumper to bumper traffic…Short ending…dropped the girls off at home and drove Jenn Marr to Honolulu and went to Commission meeting. Next edition…the day a guy from Cali earned a perfect score for going straight on a 100ft. wave.
The North Shore Surf Girls Surf School wants to share with you some basic tips for getting ready for your first surf lesson:
1. Place a strip of tape on the floor and practice jumping up from a laying down position so that both your feet land sideways on the strip. Don’t worry which foot comes in front – you will learn if you are a goofy foot (leading with your right foot) or a regular foot (leading with your left foot.
2. Lift weights to strengthen your arms and do sit ups to improve your core strength. This will help with paddling the surfboard during your surfing lesson.
3. Apply sunscreen at least 20 minutes before going in the water for your surf lesson.
