Shore Water Rules being drafted for Oahu’s South Shore

Surfing contests on Oahu’s South Shore, where Olympian Duke Kahana­moku and his fellow Waikiki beachboys put the sport on the map, dropped off heavily during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But a return to normal is giving rise to more events and reinvigorating discussions that are influencing new Shore Water Rules that could change how the city manages surf sites on the South Shore, where there currently aren’t any surf contest limits, and addresses new topics like gender equity on the North Shore, where limits were previously set.

Nathan Serota, spokesperson for the city Department of Parks and Recreation, said in an email Friday that the city has developed a draft of new Shore Water Rules, which can be accessed at 808ne.ws/3C65aCW.

“It is important to remember these proposed rule changes are still in draft form. We are fine-tuning them after public meetings with our Shore Water Advisory Group and input from organizers of shore water events ranging from professional surf contests to school competitions and canoe regattas,” Serota said.

Serota said as part of the process the city Department of Parks and Recreation will go in front of the state’s Small Business Regulatory Review Board to discuss these administrative rule changes.

“Part of that process requires working directly with the affected businesses when drafting these rules,” he said. “We will have additional opportunities for public input during a general public meeting as part of our DPR rule promulgation process. We will certainly publicize this meeting, and provide the latest version of the draft rules for public consideration. Those will likely differ from this current version.”

The South Shore surf calendar in the draft runs May 1-Sept. 30 and includes surf spots along Kuhio Beach Park, Queen’s Beach, Kewalo Basin Park and Ala Moana Regional Park.

The city process to establish new rules for the Shore Shore surfing contests is similar to the one used in the late 1990s to set limits on North Shore contests. Those rule changes, which Serota believes have been in place since before 2015, limited North Shore contests to 16 per each of the four sites.

The draft is getting mixed reviews. While promoters of South Shore surf contests generally favor the proposal, some recreational users are questioning it.

Retired businessman Tim Garry, who started leading the charge for South Shore contest limits in 2017 after getting kicked out of the ocean during setup for a past Duke’s OceanFest, said he doesn’t think the draft rules are acceptable.

“It’s just so away from what the objective was originally, which was to have a policy limiting the contests. But if I get a calendar out, according to the draft formula, there could be 44 surf dates. The original plan was to limit it like the North Shore.”

Garry said an established North Shore agreement allows for 64 contests but limits events to 16 at sites, including Haleiwa, Pipeline, Sunset Beach and Turtle Bay.

The city’s latest rule change proposal would continue to keep the Queen’s Surf break inundated, said Garry, who has lived on Oahu since the 1970s and has surfed Waikiki nearly every day for the past two decades.

He said the Queen’s Surf break, which during the bigger south swells gets some of Oahu’s most “rippable” waves, is the most sought-­after spot for South Shore surfing contests. He estimates that last summer there were at least 36 days of surfing contests there, not including Duke’s OceanFest, which spanned nine days.

Garry doesn’t blame South Shore surfing contest organizers for choosing Queen’s, which he said is sacred to the local surfers who live to frequent the waters. Legendary Hawaii surfers like Kahanamoku, Rabbit Kekai, Cippy Caboto and others once frolicked in the waves.

But he said if limits were implemented, some contests could go to other popular South Shore breaks, including Ala Moana Bowls, Kaisers, Kewalos, Threes, Canoes and Publics. Garry said spreading contest locations throughout the South Shore would ease some of the strain on Queen’s.

Draft of new Shore Water Rules by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd