White Plains, white wash

Hello all, it's not the weekend!

I apologize for the delay of post. I had a few fires to put out this weekend.

Pushing into Monday, my father is in town, and to my surprise he suggested we go surfing. Both of my parents surfed back in the day--my mom and her siblings out past Diamond Head and my dad at Barber's Point to the southwest of the island. I've since shouldered that mantle and I often go alone when the water calls. (Which is often.) It's a vigorous workout if you don't have a channel to paddle past the breakers, otherwise you're swilling whitewash trying to get into position.

My haunt is Waikiki. I torture myself getting up early, slogging through our horrible, horrible traffic (top 5 worst in the nation behind L.A. and San Francisco), walking a good half mile, paddling for a quarter, and finally catching that first glorious curl.

Welcome to White Plains beach!

This time, however, we headed out toward Barber's Point and the White Plains beach, which is a spot I have never surfed before. It's supposed to be sharky out this way and while I didn't see any in the water today, I'm sure I scared several attempting to dismount waves gracefully.

The surf report said the heights were 3-4 feet for southern facing shores and I would agree with that assessment. I swear I had a few 6-footers rollers that shunted me back toward shore. "Fun size." If you know what you're doing.

A glimpse of the breaks at the beach.

The lifeguard tower and Diamond Head in the background!

The nice thing about White Plains is there are plenty of breaks so surfers get to spread out. You're not all fighting for waves, 20 surfers taking off at once. The bad thing about White Plains is there are plenty of breaks, you have to fight the surf the entire way. And moreover, today was a little bit choppy. I'd crest one curl, tumble down the white wash out the back, and whoop!, here comes another one!

Waikiki is great for beginners with three distinct breaks. (At least where I go.) And I notice if you're in just the right spot, the waves will hit each break in turn. So just as you're losing speed, the wave will hit the next coral head and give you another burst of speed if you can adjust for it.

White Plains was weird because the waves were more roly poly. I'd pop up on a sharp face, slice a bit and drop back down and the face was suddenly gone, but I'm still catching...something. I can't slice anymore either without going right out the "top." I also had to avoid the swimming area which I accidentally broke past once. I thought I'd cleared the left buoy. My bad.

A stage set on the western side of the beach and...

...the cottage rental reception! I believe this is strictly for the military?

We only have one surfboard, my beautiful orange-flame one, and we had to rent the other one from Hickam's MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation); a slim 7'10" board. I caught a couple waves on my board and traded with my dad about 20 minutes in in the wash. Losing almost a foot of board made me purl my first attempt. Never fun. But I caught a few more and wish I'd popped up faster to see just how maneuverable a smaller board could be. But you know, between purling and the waves closing out, I didn't really get the chance.

Turns out Barber's Point has an MWR.

And a wall-full of monster surfboards! We wish we'd known so dad could have gotten a tanker.

Surfing haven through and through.

Next time. It was still a fun day on the water!

This weekend, I...might be in New York. Stay frosty.

Happy Monday.