My alternative to Fiji in June is Hawaii, but to keep the Mrs happy I need to stay on Oahu. I have found gear rentals, but am worried about the wind consistency. I only have a week. Anyone sailed there and got some links or points?

I initially thought you were wondering about Diamond Beach in NSW so now I'm jealous. Can you email the rental shop? Otherwise let the internet do the work. From my 2 trips there I saw some great days at Diamond Head, not as strong wind as Maui but an incredible spot.

The wind is so consistent in Hawaii that you don't need to rig 'up' as we tend to do in Sydney anyway.

at least it is the right tack for most of us

Give Robby Naish a call, I think Diamond Head was his home turf.

Some vids here of a big wave day at Diamond Head.

hawaiianx.com/index.php?Itemid=127&id=180&option=com_seyret&task=videodirectlink

There are some epic places on Ohau. Kaialua is good bump and jump. Just south there starts wavesailing in some walk in places all the way to diamond head. Diamond head was the birth of Robbie and his crew. Nice long waves. Pretty safe.

Have sailed there quite a bit over the years, its a great spot in the US summer.
You'll get waves there when all other places are flat. Wind obviously not as strong as Maui but if the trades are blowing you'll sail because there's generally a reasonable wave. It does get a bit shallow at low tide but nothing too serious.

Can be a pain walking all the gear down the path but the walk will be worth it.
Be careful with leaving stuff in the car or on the beach as the lowlife are plentiful.

Thanks for the advice guys. Sounds awsome.

I have found a shop that rents gear although I heard third hand the gear may be pretty low quality stuff. Would appreciate any further information on the quality of gear.

I would love to drop my old mate Robby a line. I am sure he remembers me from the vids I watched of him...

Naish Hawaii used to be up at Kailua and you could get good gear, not sure now because I think Kailua is more of a kite spot these days

Geoff, are you taking any gear? Although I haven't been to Hawaii for ages some of the airlines are pretty strict but if you are Hawaiian Airlines they will accommodate you. Mostly they don't like sailboards due to the length & anyway the boards over there are (generally) thinner than ours due to the consistent wind.

If you can keep luggage weight down - allowance may be 21-25kg per person and pack harness, uni & extension, fins in hand carry on - then you could take all your rig, sails in the 4.0-5.0 should suffice.

Then again the $A is hovering around $US 1 so it's more affordable and only a week as you say.

Vid I did two years ago:



I just took my gear with Qantas (for free...) You only need a 85 l board and a 5.3 (5.7 / 4.7 for bit better cover).

It's a great place and mostly consist.

Friend of mine goes every year:

gf-pictures.smugmug.com/Other/oahu-2010/13466795_qFAue

I'm in Oahu right now.

Theres bugger all wind

Ive been thinking about oahu for a while now. I'm pretty keen over winter at some point.
I wonder how La Nina is effecting things there?
Zippy whats the chat from the locals about the season they have been having now?

June July Aug is Best for wind and you can get decent swell too.. there is generally always a wave to ride.
I had my honeymoon in Honolulu in June 2002 (good timing) my wife enjoyed the shopping etc while I enjoyed the waves at diamond head.
I took my lightwind 88L wave board and 5.8-4.7 sails - perfect for the conditions.
There are other places to sail on the south coast of Oahu, toes was good but you will need to watch the shallow reef.

Dimond head rocks ................ windy most mornings and got lighter ,dropped out early afternoon but scored every day , like to sup it ,if da locals will have a bar of it ?x ................try back yards its down from pipe in arvo ,,,,,all cross off . laninia year ? whens the volcano expected to fire up again?

Langy, you're giving me flashbacks

remember that time at that bar at mamma's when browny was trying to pork that yanks girlfriend (think it was my 18th).........

the yank was pretty blind and slurs 'you're all a bunch of f-o-r-e-...." he spells out foreigners or tourists or something like that.

the gangsta comes back with ' mate you are a m-o-t-h-e-r-f-u-c........' you get the idea.
it took the guy a couple of minutes to do his spelling bee and work out where you were going before the penny drops and he lets loose the biggest haymaker i've ever seen. chicks are screaming, tables flying, we bolt out the front door and into the bongo van just before the fuzz arrive and we make a very slow getaway.......
and then you almost kill us driving on the wrong side of the road.....or was that the day going to maalaea when we ran into that local with the filthiest skunk..??

......back in the days of pre social networking facebook reality tv BS when u could have real fun... anyway past my bedtime, i'll go back to sleep now. heading FAR west tomorrow with Zak....................

OK - Diamond Head it is! I am arranging gear through Naish - only got 7 days but hopefully will score it. Will let you know what happens....

I'm heading over to Oahu in september. hopefully still be a few windy days then. was hoping to get over there in June but work intervened which was most disappointing. going with the mrs so not really a windsurf holiday but going to take a board and 1-2 sails. flying with Jetstar so can take 20kg in weight and 2.77 max length.

gmitton I went over in July 2006 for a wedding and sailed Kailua Bay as we were staying on that side of the island. Unfortunately didn't get to try Diamond Head. The wind was great for the first 4 days (4.7-5.5 weather) but after the wedding was pretty light. my understanding is Diamond Head is a bit stronger than Kailua. Another spot I have heard about is Mokes on the North Shore.

Thanks for the detail. Now trying to get a nice hotel near beach front at Waikki beach. Any recommendations would be appreciated...

Used to be called the Park Shore in 2005 and at the diamond head end of high rises next to the zoo was good and basic accomodation/hotel, one of the few that was around $150 a night and had great sea views, bottom/second floor was Lu Lus restraurant too which was good.

i guess you could check out the park shore pretty good from your cage next door

Dont make me put up the baboon picture window licker

sorry bro
u left yourself wide open.

sunday still looking ok, swell got plenty west in it so should push in ok.

word is nasty new 100L WOMD (weapon of mass destruction) will be ready for a run; looks siiiiiiiiikkkkk


back on topic- great move Geoff, Oahu is great; gotta say tho i cant take waikiki for long- B&B on the beach at Kailua way to go IMO, 20 mins to DH

Twist her arm for Maui, the wind is soooo much better. I waited a week on Ohau for wind and nadda. I was hanging for a sail at DH. There is heaps of other cool stuff to do however. Even saw a summer swell at Pipe.

Finally got to maui and it rocked!! The missus even prefered it to the shops at Waikiki.

Have a great time. Its a fun joint.

Yea but the time of year means flat, and she like shopping - which means south shore, expensive and away from the action. Also it is hard enough to go on a windsurf trip for your honeymoon when the future wife is not into windsurfing. At the moment looking at Outrigger on the beach at Waikki for accomodation. At least she can go shopping while I windsurf....

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gmitton said...

Yea but the time of year means flat, and she like shopping - which means south shore, expensive and away from the action. Also it is hard enough to go on a windsurf trip for your honeymoon when the future wife is not into windsurfing. At the moment looking at Outrigger on the beach at Waikki for accomodation. At least she can go shopping while I windsurf....

There's lots for her to do on Maui. Much better scenery and less like going to gold coast. No offense to gold coasters but Maui is awesome even when the wind is not blowing.

my brother is over in Oahu at the moment. said the tradewinds have just started up again after the winter hiatus. was around 20knots at Kailua bay the other day and around 25knots at Diamond Head. can't wait for September. hopefully get a few days sailing and a bit of SUP action as well