Though the north shore lagged all month, south shores kept surfers busy in August. These are the months where you get to work while its flat and surf while its happening because the flat spells in between are really flat.
The north shore only broke a couple times this month, and even then, it was under 2 feet. Town had about 3 good spells of swells, the first of which was at the very beginning of last month (which was a bit of a let down since the media hyped it up for 2 weeks telling us it would be the swell of the summer). It was however an everlasting swell. We had waves in the 3-5 foot range for about 2 weeks straight. There were a couple more surges of swell in the 3-4 foot range that lasted about week.
The water is still really dirty at times in Honolulu. Whenever the tide gets real high or the swell comes in, it gets so brown that you can't even see your feet hanging underneath you. It's such a shame for a place which used to be so beautiful with that electric green glow.
A huge plastic sewage Pipe now welcomes you into Waikiki on the edge of Ala Moana park. Beautiful- Not! Embarrassing. Yuck. There is a controversial rumor about a kid catching flesh eating disease from yet another sewage spill at another Ala Moana Beach in Kailua caused by a car which ran into the Pipe? It all sounds as strange to me as it does to you, trust me. Nonetheless, it's better than it was 2-3 months ago.
Speaking of clean water, Surfrider celebrated 10 years of volunteerism in Hawaii at the end of August. They will hold a party and show a surf flick at Next Door nightclub in downtown Honolulu.
It seemed like there was some sort of longboarding contest every weekend last month and you know what; there kind of was. China had his contest; the groms had an event, and the month finished off with the Duke festival in some pretty decent surf.
Longboarders at Queens
Yes, it is called the Dukes festival in memory of Duke Kahanamoku. The event, which coincides with his birthday, includes a one mile swim, paddleboard races and a variety of ocean activities including of course surfing. The surfing contest is pretty innovative, incorporating legends like Ben Aipa, Rabbit Kekai and Jericho Poplar who team up with employees of local companies such as Hawaiian Airlines, Outrigger Waikiki, KGMB 9 news and many more in team challenges.
Tony Moniz - Dukefest '06
Surfers at Queens
The nice thing about surfing in Honolulu, especially Waikiki, is that you get the true feeling of Aloha. Everyone knows everyone and there are lots of cool local braddahs hanging around. It's just really refreshing in some ways from the new North shore scene which always seems to be about getting something rather than giving something back.
Sea life is giving us plenty of Aloha this month. Waimea Bay has had packs of all different kinds of fish and numerous turtles along with spinner dolphins, putting on somewhat of a circus from time to time.
Speaking of Waimea, it looks like there may be no more parking at the church. Though North shore has been perfect diving conditions, rumor has it that Goat Island has had double overhead wind waves at times throughout last month.
Kammies Market and that whole shopping area has completely disappeared and all we can see is one cement wall. Rumor has it, the plans to build at Kawela Bay are making inroads again because they found some type of glitch in the old contract.
Turtle and Kawela Bays
Drew Toonz threw a party at Banzai Sushi for his famous cartoon series Surf School. The premier was for Surf School 3. Ace Cool, who we saw at the party mentioned that he had been working on a new surf film from which details have not yet been released, but it sounded like "the real thing".
Some Drew Toonz art on the North Shore
Black Eyed Peas played at the Blaisdell Arena with opening act Lyrics Born. Da Hui held their annual fundraiser at Pipeline Cafe.
Nothing creeping into the window for North shore surf yet, but hopefully this month will be a whole different story.
A hui hou
Lane Davey
