Surfing has always been a hobby for Sheldon Stanford. Visiting Hawaii for the first time with his family from Boise, Idaho, watching professional surfers take on the waves of the North Shore was one of the priorities of his trip.
“We wanted to come here in the wintertime so we could come see the big waves,” Stanford said Thursday as he watched the waves at Waimea Bay. “My kids are really big into it, so we went down over to Pipeline, too. To experience all that firsthand, rather than reading about it in a magazine, was, wow.”
Locals and visitors, including Stanford and his family, flocked to Waimea Bay to catch a glimpse of the North Shore’s iconic waves following a high-surf warning that resulted in 25- to 35-foot waves. A high-surf advisory is in effect until 6 p.m. today.
Leah Jordan, who visited her son from Baton Rouge, La., lived in Hawaii when she was a young girl. On her first trip back to Hawaii in the wintertime since the 1970s, she knew she wanted to see the big waves, despite not being a surfer herself.
“This is incredible. They’re big, and I could sit here and watch them all day,” Jordan said Thursday at Waimea Bay. “We went to Kauai for a week, and we’ve been (on Oahu) for a couple days. Our flight’s tonight, so we had to come by and see them (today).”
The months between November and February are the best time for big-wave surfing in Hawaii, with waves upward of 30 feet. The waves attract millions of tourists to the North Shore every year.
“Statistically, January and February have the highest percent chance of big surf, so lots of surfers target those months,” said local surfer Josh Echemendia, who surfed at Waimea Bay on Thursday. “People seem to have showed up at this time this year, just over the last couple of weeks, and the waves got big right before Christmas. There’s a lot of excitement in the air.”
Echemendia, who originally hails from Los Angeles, moved to Hawaii 25 years ago to surf.
“I knew in sixth grade that I was going to move to Hawaii and surf big waves,” he said. “All big waves are special, but Waimea Bay has something else going on, another energy, another vibe. It’s just incredible to connect with it. The feeling you get when you get a wave here is really special.”
The energy surrounding the big-wave season swelled as surfers and spectators alike anticipated the potential calling of the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, which requires that wave faces at Waimea Bay be at least 40 feet. 2022’s Eddie was the first held since 2016, with North Shore lifeguard Luke Shepardson taking the title.
“We’re hoping that (while) we’re here, that maybe they’ll call on the big surf competition,” Stanford said.
“You feel like you’re connecting with Hawaiian history, you feel the mana, you feel the history of surfing at (Waimea) Bay,” Echemendia said of the Eddie’s traditional venue. “It’s a special, spiritual, powerful place, and it’s an honor to be able to come surfing and get a wave here.”
As the waves on the North Shore, coupled with the anticipation and excitement of a potential Eddie, grow, local businesses feel the effects.
“With a lot of people coming to watch the waves, they end up eating here, shopping here. It’s a big plus,” said Luis Real, co-owner of North Shore Surf Shop in Haleiwa. “When the waves come, the people come.”
Real said the store, which sells apparel and accessories and was established in 2010, thrives on tourists.
“Stores like ours, we’re 90% supported by tourism. When there’s nobody coming, there’s no sales,” he said.
“Beyond the thrill of the waves, we acknowledge the symbiotic relationship between nature’s spectacle and the vibrant heartbeat of North Shore businesses,” Mayor Rick Blangiardi said in a statement. “From cafes to surf shops, our local entrepreneurs thrive on the energy that these colossal waves bring each winter, creating a dynamic synergy between commerce and the call of the ocean.”
Brooke Roy, manager of The Growing Keiki, said she can “almost time” the influx of tourists arriving during the big-wave season.
“When people see on the news that there’s going to be a big swell, the tourists wake up from their hotels in Honolulu and drive out here, and by 11 o’clock, 12 o’clock during a big swell, we’ll usually get a lot of tourists,” she said.
The children’s merchandise shop, which is Roy’s mom’s, has operated out of its Haleiwa location for 38 years. Throughout that period, she said, big waves have always brought waves of tourism to the North Shore, especially at this time of year.
“Everyone wants to come out and see, especially when the contests are on, when you have the talk of ‘Maybe it’s the Eddie or the Pipeline Masters,’” she said. “People come to Hawaii just to see the waves sometimes.”
The shop sees roughly 40% of its business from locals and 60% from tourists. Roy said the store rotates its inventory strategically to align with the demographics of tourists visiting at different times of the year — surfers in the winter and visitors interested in seeing sea turtles in the summer.
“In the winter we definitely gear up on our surf gear, our merchandise that says Pipeline or Waimea, and kind of cater to that,” Roy said. “People coming out here, driving out for the waves, usually know about surfing or have interest in it.”
Layne Larsen has owned Kai Ku Hale, a gift shop selling local art and souvenirs, for the past 31 years, and said that every year, the influx of tourists from the big-wave season would bring increased traffic to her business.
“I’ve watched it for 31 years, and I always knew that come November, December, January, with all the surf stuff going on, it was going to lift us all up,” Larsen said. “The surf season is what we all wait for all year. That makes our year.”
But this year, Larsen said, she’s faced her slowest December yet. She said that among a number of factors, she thinks not having the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing this year “has really affected” her business. The Triple Crown switched to a digital format during the coronavirus pandemic and has not returned in person since.
“The Triple Crown having those three contests each year, and all the hype and promo and reps and cameras that came with that, we don’t have that now,” Larsen said.
Larsen said the crowds that Thursday’s waves drew were “wonderful and spectacular” and that she hopes they come through Haleiwa before or after their visits to the beach to shop. As the big-wave season continues, she hopes there’s still time for more business this winter.
“We need tourism back from everywhere in the world. They’re coming, trickling in, not in swarms anymore, but how do we get them here?” she said. “We need them. We need all of them.”
