If Donkeys Could Fly, The North Shore Would Be An Airport – Bumper sticker in Haleiwa, Hawaii.

The north shore was firing yesterday.  Not the 20 foot faces of two weeks ago, but respectable nonetheless.  Head to 1.5 times + on the larger sets.  The Pipeline Pro body board contest was being held so the line up was just west of backdoor.  Conditions were pretty good; fair shape with very light winds and not a big crowd factor.  A lot of guys in the water had their own personal videographer and/or still photographer to document their rides and bravado.  You could tell because when they came in the first thing they did was check in with the video cam guys for a quick preview. 

Some solid waves, some great rides and some broken boards.  Check out the two tube riding sequences!  After a couple of hours or so the winds came up and conditions deteriorated rapidly.  Soon there was no one out so we traveled on down the road to Waimea.  It wasn’t breaking so no one was out, but the shore break was packed with body surfers risking life and limb in ridiculously large waves breaking in ridiculously shallow water; not a healthy combo. 

Karen and I were hungry so we pushed on to Haleiwa for grinds.  Had a humongous sandwich at a deli and shared the lanai with a feral chicken that loudly demanded to be fed despite the signs all over the place pleading with customers not to feed them.  Guess chickens can’t read; or they don’t care.

After lunch we went over to Haleiwa park to see what was happening there.  About 15 guys out, shoulder to head high and fair to good shape.  Very inconsistent but looked fun.  Two or three local guys were snagging most of the waves.  (Last four photos)

The swell is supposed to come up tonight, be large on Tuesday, drop back to today’s levels and then pick up again.  Have a great day.

Just checked the local breaks and we have waves.  The reef at Lanikai is reported to be double overhead.  I’m sticking around here.

Aloha

Gary