The Overwhelming North Shore

Froiseth, Kelly, and a few others also began making day trips out to the North Shore, after hearing stories from visiting California surfers Whitey Harrison and Tarzan Smith about a powerful reef break near Haleiwa Town. The North Shore was about the same distance from Waikiki as Makaha, but much easier to get to: drive straight across the island on the well-paved Kamehameha Highway, through the cane fields and past the tent rows at Schofield Barracks, then bear right, about one mile inland, ...

The North Shore squared up directly against both incoming waves and storms, which meant bigger waves, plenty of rain, stronger winds. A vast network of reefs began at the water’s edge and moved seaward in an irregular progression for up to a mile offshore, with breaks often shingled one on top of the other. It was overwhelming, particularly in the early years.