Day 2 of big surf exposes problems

By Tim Sakahara - bio | email

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Surfers continued to barrel away at the overhead waves. Yes the waves were smaller than yesterday but no one was complaining.

"Everybody was in good spirits that I was around. Plenty of waves to go around," said Matt Gorman, surfer.

Plenty waves meant plenty pictures as well. People were flocking to the shore to snap away.

"It's epic. It's one for the history books and it's good to come out and check it out. Town rarely gets this big so it's pretty fun to see," said Joah Buley, surf photographer.

But it wasn't all fun and games. A channel marker buoy at the Ala Wai Harbor broke off and was no help resting on the rocks.

And the Kewalo Harbor was closed to boat traffic all morning.

"It looks pretty bad. We have a nasty rip current running across here. When a set of waves does come in you end up with waves four to five feet high jacking up right off there just like you are in a rapids on a river," said Charles Barclay, Kewalo Basin Harbor Manager.

Over in Waikiki, near the Duke Kanahamoku statue, the surf washed away the sand exposing a 50 foot long wall of cement with the rebar inside sticking out.

"You got kids playing on the shore break the tide comes up it can hit this straight on with their face," said Atilla Jobbagyi, a surf instructor who teaches near the exposed concrete. "You can easily bust your feet up against this. The most important is the kids you know. Kids are playing in these shore breaks with their boogie boards and just inexperienced people with their surfboards getting beached. It's dangerous."

The city Parks and Recreation Department says it is aware of the problem and has met with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. They plan to figure out what the next course of action will be as soon as the conditions get better, for repair crews that is.

"It was a quiet summer to loud and proud summer you know," said Jobbagyi.