Surf Happenings

Where is the Surfing Competitions on Oahu held?
My surf lesson students are always asking where is the surfing competitions on Oahu?  I get asked these questions so many times one would think the Hawaii Tourism Board would be paying me a salary or at least the Triple Crown of Surfing could.  A surfer girl can dream right. But, I digress.  Most surfers know that it’s the North Shore where the most prestigious surfing competitions on Oahu are. The Pipeline is the home of the famous Pipe Master’s surfing contest which is usually the last event on the Pro Surfing World Tour.  Sunset beach follows a distant second as a favorite location where surfing competitions are on Oahu.  Sunset Beach or Paumalu as it’s known in Hawaiian has recently suffered severe erosion problems.  This beach is so eroded the City cut down four very tall and loved date palms lining the infamous bike path bordering the shoreline.    Haleiwa Beach Park or Ali’i’s as it’s known to the locals is the 3rd most popular location where surfing competitions are on Oahu.  Haleiwa Ali’i Beach Park is the first event of Van’s Triple Crown of Surfing, while it is not a full-blown world tour event it’s one of the easiest to watch because there is a lot of parking and only little regional traffic jams.   Haleiwa Ali’i Beach is also home the best surfing contest in the world, the Menehune Contest, which is an annual surfing contest held on the North Shore of Oahu for children under twelve years of age.  This past October’s event hosted some 500 children mostly from the North Shore community.  The Last location where is the surfing competitions on Oahu is the fabled Waimea Bay, home of the Eddie a big wave surfing contest.  For years and years, this was the only surfing competition held there, but for the last two years we have seen permit’s issued for a women’s version of the event.  Last year the event almost ran, but due to lack of big surf in the holding period, it was not run.

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