From Where You’d Rather Be: The World’s Best Beachbreaks – Ehukai Beach Park

Words by Tom Freed | All photos by Laserwolf (IG: @laserwolf_photo / Site here)

Whenever someone utters the phrase “from where you’d rather be,” Stab’s collective mind’s eye immediately focuses on a sand-bottomed setup beneath a smiling sun. We’re talking beachbreaks. Trunks. Bath water. All the finer things! And, since we so adore such things, we’ve decided to team up with our like-minded pals at Coronaextra.com.au to deliver you a new series: The World’s Best Beachbreaks.

We’ll be detailing, visually but also through written text, all our favourite sand setups from around the world. The requirements? Nothing but golden grains beneath, nothing but a warm orb above, trunk temperatures only, and a perfect setup to end the day with a Corona and lime.

First up:

No. 12: Ehukai Beach Park, North Shore, Oahu 

While Oahu has its lion’s share of postcard-worthy beaches — every shoreline vast, gilded, and beckoning — when it comes to beach breaks? Mmm, there’s, like, three…ish. Indeed, the North Shore is fringed in gold, but step into the sea and it’s all hard reef, hard slabs, hollow, detonating surf, hard locals, hard looks, hard rock. And yet. A stone’s throw from the ‘ole Banzai is that rare gem of a beachie. Ehukai Beach Park — right in front of the lifeguard tower — where upon certain swell directions, A-frames, air-ramps, wedges and even a draining sand bank is on offer. Sure, nobody’s flying out to the North Shore just for a sandbar; that would be heresy. But when you’ve had your fill of hard knocks, that right draining on plush sand over in that zone between the lifeguard tower and Pupukea is a sight for sore eyes.

It ain’t just a boy’s club, either. Coco, in the mix.

Lemme break it down for you:

Go: Feb-March

Land in: Honolulu International Airport

Then: Catch a very expensive cab, or rent a not so expensive car (if booked in advance), or be the jerk that has his friend “swing by” the airport an hour away from the North Shore.

Stay: Preferably with a friend on North Shore, in a backpacker hostel (there’s like one), at Turtle Bay (if yer ballin’) or camp (if yer not).

Bring a: Quiver (it’s the damn North Shore), but you’ll just need a standard shortboard for Ehukai.

Mason is a regular anywhere that fun is top of the menu. So, yeah, he jams with Ehukai often. Toes on the nose, vibes on the high.

What’s she like? She’s like three or four various peaks over a span of 100 yards. Quite playful, rampy, wedgey, and after Christmas when the wind is dead and the sand has settled on a north swell, turns into hollow teepees. Closes out (usually) over six feet (Hawaiian), but on those magic weeks can even get a little Snapper Rocks-ish. Requires vigilance for those moments, though. 

What really makes her tick? Sand, baby. Specifically sand that’s been washed out of the Pipeline area from all the big West swells in Nov-Feb. That sand settles over the reefs around Ehukai Beach Park and Pupukea forming a nice, shallow sandbar. Then the predominantly late-season North swells roll in and, voila!, you’ve got draining rights over soft North Shore grains of gold.

Other options in the area are little ‘ole reef breaks like Rocky Rights, Backdoor, Off the Wall, Rockpiles, Log Cabins, and more on the other side of Waimea.

So very much scenery.

For a good time go to Haleiwa, both for sustenance and a few okay bars to meet up with your Tinder right-swipe. For a better time, go to the hip bars in Chinatown (near downtown Honolulu) or Waikiki to mingle with tourists. For a not-good time, go to Wahiawa.

At all costs, don’t wear sandals inside houses, say “Aloha” or “Brah,” get in the way or crush the lip on locals.

OK, I hear you, but what’s an expert say? Jamie O’Brien says, “I always have my eye on it over there (Ehukai). It kinda seems to be firing when Backdoor is like three to five feet. So, it can kinda be a hard decision between the two (laughs). But I love going down to Ehukai when it’s North and all the beach breaks are peeling right. Usually I just walk down to Rocky Point and surf all the way down to Backdoor. Every once in a while we get a Rabbit Hill-type sandbar that’s pretty extraordinary. The waves will break in, like, three feet of water, and the drop is actually pretty hard, but once you lock in, you’re in this six-foot freight-training barrel. It usually happens every couple years, and you never really know when it’s gonna show up. It’s that zone that ain’t really Ehukai and ain’t really Pupukea.”

“When the sandbar is on, even the best surfers are out there bodysurfing and just having fun,” says Laserwolf. Timmy Reyes, cooling out.