A friend of mine is visiting Waikiki Sept 5-12, and she's looking for great places to surf. She's a total beginner, so a location with mild waves would be a good place to start.

Non-touristy spots preferred. Any suggestions? PM me or reply here!

 

Sorry, but the Waikiki area is among the best and safest places for a beginning surfer to learn the sport. The waves are usually small and manageable and the surf is relatively calm. Also, if she is just learning, she will need a board and an instructor. Those are usually found in Waikiki.

 

Aloha,

Your friend should learn first at Waikiki with an instructor, but then might want to consider Barber's Point is she wants to get away from the crowd.

 

I'll pass along your info ASAP.

 

to get the most fun out of surfing, i'd recommend trying one of the many surf schools. one that comes to mind is the hawaiian fire guys, who are basically made up of local firefighters who surf. i believe they take the students out to barber's point for lessons also. in fact, that's probably where'd i recommend a beginner to go, as it's relatively gentle, somewhat sandy bottom, and best of all, not nearly as crowded (= danger) as waikiki.

the crowd is the main thing, although in all other categories, waikiki is pretty much the best place to learn.

 

Once she has learned here is a site that shows the surf levels at different locations with a few days of estimates.

http://www.surf-news.com/

 

Don't they have sharks at Barbers Point?

 

I've seen sharks all over

 

shhhh...that's why it's not as crowded.

nah, no worries, as long as there's others surfing too.

and if you go with a surf school, guarans there's gonna be others in the water too.
just don't be bleeding in the water and no surf in dirty water especially after heavy rains.

 

I find this statement very funny.

Having been associated with the surfing world for some 45 years now, I learned long ago sharks do live in the ocean. You want to play where the fish live then you have to deal with it.

 

What's worse is fish pee and poop in the water.

 

Sorry, Kyle