Friday, November 21, 2008

Surfing on a River


Surfing (and paddling) on Waipa' River
(See the surfing video below)
Waipa' River runs placidly by Bill and Tanya's house. From their house you can look over the river and see Hanalei Bay just beyond. Bill loves that he can just hop on his paddle board and in a few moments be in one of the finest bays in the world.

Neighbors come by on their paddle boards and they visit with each other (mostly talk about the waves for surfing I think). In this photo it was pouring rain, but that doesn't stop anyone (but me I guess).
Oddly though, where the river hits the bay it is stopped by the sandy beach and looks like a lake. This is a bit uncommon, the other nearby rivers all run straight out to the sea, making beach walking sometimes river wading too.

However, as the water builds up especially after heavy rain it will eventually cut a path through the sand and outflow to the bay. And if you help it along by creating a small ditch you can predict the time. After heavy rainfall had the river overflowing the bank into the yard, Bill decided to go down and help it along.


And the young locals love to do that, because as the water begins to pour out you can actually ride the waves pouring out from the river. Just another fun activity in Hanalei.


Check out this video... sorry I put the cap on at the end and thought I'd stopped it.


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