Waimea shorebreak now a beachbreak

I went to the North Shore weekend before last in hopes of catching the pipe masters and getting a few waves. Instead the North Shore was plagued by kona winds and I aggravated a knee injury so I caught an earlier flight home.

Anyway, regarding Waimea: the shorebreak has been a key place for me to get tons of barrels and escape the crowds between OTW and Rocky's on my past North Shore trips. However this year after they opened up the rivermouth a strange sandbar formed out in the middle of the bay. Conceivably it might have been pretty good with non-kona conditions and a bigger swell, but the dependably hollow waimea shorey body whompers were basically gone. It was literally about 30-40% surfers out there with only a dozen or so bodyboarders/bodysurfers at noon on a Saturday. Pretty unheard of.

Moral of the story - opening the rivermouth can ruin the shorebreak. Turns out that just like the OTW-Pipe stretch, sand flow is also a big factor at Waimea. Learn something new every time.

Luckily the swell had some north in it and the kona winds meant it was just beautiful hot and sunny at Pounders over in Laie. We duly got pounded with only a handful of kids in the water and had it to ourselves on Sunday. The Kahuku grilled shrimp never tasted so good.

Going back to Northern Sumatra - 5 month countdown

I've started to plan my return surf trip to Northen Sumatra in May. I've already been there once.

Why am I going back?

• I've seen how consistent the swell is on Surfline (even though it was sort of small last time)
• I know there are a lot of world class spots up there
• There still aren't very many boats operating up that way
• No effects from the recent Mentawai earthquakes

What's different about this trip?

• Boat leaving out of Padang, not Sibolga, Simeulue, or Nias
• A day longer on the boat
• More efficient flights meaning less time off work and more surf time
• Half the guys from last time have had kids and can't go back

Why May?

• Memorial day weekend gets me an additional day for free
• Historically a very consistent month for swell
• technically peak season but possibly a bit less busy than June/July/Aug