Guest Post: North Shore Quiver

Living up on the North Shore of Oahu , you experience all kinds of waves and conditions each year. In order to have the best experience surfing in the varying waves, you need to have a whole quiver of boards. If you’re just visiting the islands, just a few boards will do, but if you are living here and want to surf everywhere, then you’re going to need more than that. Here is a list of some of the boards I would use to surf the North Shore everyday of the year. This is just one possible quiver that would work for the North Shore, but keep in mind that I am only 5’6” and weigh 130 pounds. Most of you will probably need to add at least a few inches to every board.

5’6” Quad Fish – This is the type of board I would ride when the waves are the smallest, usually during the early swells in the fall and late swells in spring. It’s a good board to use when the surf is more playful, usually waist high to just overhead.

5’10” Squash – This kind of board is the best for me on your average day on the North Shore. Obviously the North Shore gets a lot bigger and heavier than a board like this could handle, but the far majority of surfable days throughout the season this is a good board to ride. It’s basically just a standard thruster that can hold up in slightly overhead and powerful surf.

6’1” Rounded Pin – This is the kind of board I would use when surfing the more hollow waves on the North Shore like Off-The-Wall, Pipeline, and Rocky Point on a smaller day. Works best when the waves are just overhead. I surfed a board like this at a spot called Numukoi Point in Kauai recently that is a very fast and hollow wave. The wave faces were about 5-7 foot and this board worked great.

6’4” Rounded Pin – This is the kind of board I would ride as a step-up when the big swells hit. Its not going to work at places like Pipe and Sunset, but for breaks like V-land, Freddy’s, Ali’I Beach Park, Kammies, and Gas Chambers, it works great. A step-up board should definitely be longer than your normal sized thruster, and a little bit thicker. Best size for a step-up is overhead to double overhead.

6’8” Pintail – This board would be good for Pipeline and Backdoor when the waves start to really pump. You need something longer to get into the wave early enough to make it and even then it will still probably be a late drop. Pintails are a necessity at Pipe. With a board like this you goal is to survive the drop, race through the barrel, and get spit out into the channel.

7’2” Sunset Gun – This kind of board is best for the really big swells at Sunset. Sunset holds up in huge surf, but you can’t get into the wave with out a lot of board under you. At sunset you are still able to pull some pretty hard turns and get barreled, so you want the board to be just short enough to still be maneuverable compared to a full-sized gun.

9’6” Waimea Gun – When the biggest swells come and the waves are closing out most spots on the North Shore, Waimea Bay comes to life and you need something big to ride it. A full-sized gun is a must if you want to have a chance at getting into one of Waimea’s waves. At Waimea the drop is everything. The bigger the board the easier it will be to get into a wave. Drop in and bomb straight and to the right till you make the channel.

If you have each of these types of boards then you’re set for the North Shore. If you aren’t planning on surfing waves like Pipe, Sunset and Waimea, then you can cut out those three boards, and if you are planning on being here in winter you can probably skip bringing the little board too. With the boards that are left you should have a perfect three-board quiver for a short trip to the North Shore. But keep in mind that the waves up here are powerful and you can almost guarantee one or more of your boards won’t be returning with you.

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Written By: Tim Vidmar

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See Ya at The Beach,
The Surfboard Man

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