Oahu sailing spot identification

[jmakers]

If you're still learning waterstarts, Kailua is the safest bet on O'ahu.
If you get into trouble, you won't be in trouble because the worst that will happen is you'll get blown deeper into the bay. (But then you're in kind of a "black hole", the deeper you get, the harder it is to get back out, but you'll just end up on sandy beach.) Of course, there's no place to set your feet down (but on Oahu, you don't usually want to set feet down for already mentioned prevalent spiny urchins). And you'll have lots of folks around.

There have been some folks who have learned to windsurf at the Waialae spot (yeah, like on your google link), but not taking the treacherous path out to the surf break windward of the pylons that zirtaeb described, but just downwind of the pylons where there's a mostly sandy bottom. Not a very long reach, just enough for working on waterstarts, but no space for any fun after getting up -- it's already time to turn around (don't want to go over reef -- aka Razors). If you do find a spot deep enough to get out over Razors to open ocean, currents can take you downwind real fast, and then good luck finding a channel through the reef to get back home. Be sure to talk to some locals; if it's blowing good, someone will be there.

I've *never* seen anyone windsurfing at Crouching Lion and I drive by there alot. There's a reason for that. Occasionally a kitesurfer will land just beyond there at the end of a downwinder. Maybe they mean Chinamen's hat? Hmmm, hammerhead shark breeding ground -- good place to be dangling your legs while practicing the nuances of waterstarts??

Bear in mind that our wind has been pretty lame for at least the past year or so ... but maybe El Nino will bring us some treats

[dllee]

I stayed, from '86 thru '93, twice a year, at the tiny sandspot just downwind of the channel there. 4 blocks downwind on the map.
It's plenty good for full speed planing and jibe practice, 10 second planing runs, and 50 jibes in about 7 minutes.
Billy, the Makapuu lifeguard, would regularly go over the reef and out 15 or so miles, and I've been with him when we saw one of the Maui Islands, but from a windsurfer (8'10" Haut Slalom in my case and 8'6" Seatrend in his), we couldn't really identify the exact island, it could have been Haleakala.
Nice sandy hole, sandy launch, side on winds, we taught several locals to waterstart, trading in some time at the grass court tennis court behind the two gold lions.