Sport Today

Interesting proposition...My wife has been offered a job in Honolulu
with approximately a two year commitment.  I own my own company and
could very feasibly keep things going during that time frame while
away from our current home/s in Minnesota and Colorado.

Wife has visited HI multiple times and loves it, I have never been,
but surf and windsurf (windsurf avidly).  So the alure is obvious.
Though I am well aware that Oahu is not Maui, what am in for as far as
sailing goes?  Surfing?  Lifestyle?

On the real life side of things...is it feasible to live on the
windward shore towards the north shore and commute into Honolulu?  I
know traffic is horrible on Oahu, but the housing looks much more
attractive and reasonable up that direction.  Any insight on
properties, neighborhoods, transportation, etc.?  We currently have no
kids, but are due for a December delivery...regardless, school systems
should not be a concern.  We do have a dog, but have went through all
of the necessary vet work to avoid the six month quarantine.
Considering shipping some vehicles over and selling them before we
leave (2003 VW TDI Golf and Eurovan) ...have not looked into it yet
though, so who knows?

We have a few weeks to make a decision, so we would love any insight
anyone can provide. thx. m.

I've recently moved to Oahu (the reference to seattle in my ID is
old.)  There is a lively and friendly community of windsurfers here.
As you probably know, wind is less reliable here than on Maui, where
the trade winds get a bump by the topograpy. However, I've enjoyed
many nice days of sailing already this year; even better, I've missed
a few and haven't felt like it's the end of the world.

Regarding vehicles: I personally think the best vehicle for this place
would be a hybrid, but I'm not sure whether the current crop of SUV
hybrids are really suitable for windsurfers. The Prius, if you're
willing to cram your gear in there, would actually be good here;
smaller cars manuever through these tiny parking spaces well. You do a
lot of stop-and-go driving here, and it's mostly stop. On the other
hand, gas here is no more expensive here than on the West Coast right
now.

Where to live: Nowhere is that far from anywhere here, but you need to
be sure what you're talking about. When you say the Windward side,
that's the northeastern side of the island, where you have towns like
Kailua and Kaneohe. The North Shore is on the northwestern side, where
the main town is  Haleiwa. Mililani is a town up in the mountains
between Honolulu and Haleiwa and is a good midpoint way between the
North Shore and Honolulu. Kailua or Kaneohe would be better for
commuting to Honolulu; there are more routes in that direction,
whereas there's really only one direct route to Mililani and Haleiwa.

Good luck. If the finances of the move work for you, then it's a great
place.

Like between Kahuku and Kahaluu? Most of the traffic during rush hour will
be after you hit the Likelike or Pali, maybe 50 minutes or so from that
point.  You're probably looking around 70-90 minutes.  You can save quite a
bit of time if you go after 8 or before 6.  I used to live in Kailua.  Took
me about 50 minutes to get to work at the edge of Honolulu during rush hour,
less than 20 minutes to get home in the middle of the night.

From Kahuku to Mokuleia you talking more than 90 minutes.  Traffic coming in
from central Oahu is pretty heavy from the H1/H2 merge all the way downtown.
If I did not have to drive in everyday and could live anywhere, I'd choose
Mokuleia beach-side.  Good surfing and sailing with a laid back atmosphere.

Kailua is reasonable commute.  Lots of the Kailua crew sail most days after
work from April through November.

I live in one of the valleys (Manoa) behind Honolulu. I have kids in school
on this side, and "no" commute works well at this stage of my life.
Unfortunately that means I don't get the after work sail deal, and sail a
lot less now than when I lived on the other side.  The surf is better on
this side, and I surf a lot more.

Avoid the west side.  No wind, high crime.  I'd avoid central Oahu.  It's a
long commute and a long drive to surf or sail. Sounds like you will be
tele-commuting.  Be a jerk.  Live where you play and let her deal with the
drive.
bs

We didn't answer your questions on surfing and windsurfing. Both are
excellent. You're right, it's not Maui, so you sail bigger gear, and
maybe not as often, but there is variety, beautiful sites, and warm
water. Less crowded for windsurfing, but more crowded for surfing.
If you're planning on only two years, you might consider living "in
town," i.e. Honolulu, if it's at all affordable. There are a few sites
here, and when you go to Kailua or Mokuleia you'll be going against
traffic. Although I don't disagree with the idea of making your wife
fight the traffic, it is her opportunity that's making this whole
thing feasible in the first place, right?
 I live in Waikiki and work in the afternoon, and I'm able to make it
out to Kailua easily by 9:00 a.m. or so, sail for a couple of hours,
the head back for work. I've been dialing in new gear so I haven't
done Diamond Head waves yet, but once I do sailing will be even
closer.

Thanks a bunch for your insight, we really appreciate it.  We've
started researching housing options and your direction regarding
desirable locales is really valuable. Besides Kailua and Diamond Head,
where are other sailing spots and of what types?  I am beginning
freestyler and she is an intermediate sailor.  So a variety of
conditions is great by us, and I am really anxious to get better in
waves as my experience limitted to the mayhem that is Lake Superior in
a gale.  Surf-wise, we're both definitely novices, only been out a
handful of times, but would like to be close to a decent spot such
that getting out often is a possibility.  Also would like to be close
to parks, etc. as my wife runs daily with the dog...

As far as housing requirements go, we likely won't be buying a home as
we plan on keeping our places on the mainland for the short term, but
we'd ideally like a free-standing house in a nice/safe neighborhood
with access to high-speed internet...from my limitted research, it
looked as if this is a possibility in any of the suggested
neighborhoods - though certainly not cheap.

My gear consists of: JP FS 109, JP RW Wave 83, and quiver of NP
Expressions from 4.2 - 6.9  ...sound about right?  or if this happens,
would I be better served by leaving some stuff here?

thanks again. m.

You're gear sounds about right, although you could go bigger on your
boards to increase your TOW. There's actually a fair amount of gear
for sale here. The 4.2 is OK for those occasional trips to Maui--
they're planning to start a car ferry sometime this summer so it will
be easy to bring stuff over there for sailing trips.

Other sailing spots that I know of include Kahala, which is just a
short distance from D-head and allows for slalom at high tide as well
as wave sailing; an off-shore wind wave spot further east that I
haven't sailed called Toes; and Mokuleia on the far northwest tip of
the island, which also supposedly has waves in winter and slalom in
summer. Even Diamond Head isn't too bad once you fight past the break.
Once you're outside, the wind is steady and you get rolling swell but
no breaking waves. You just have to be sure to stay upwind.

There's surfing all over the island, although for your skill level
you'd probably do best at Waikiki. It's crowded, but the break is easy
and no one gets too possessive over the waves. Kailua or Kaneohe, I
don't think there are many breaks out there, or at least no easy-to-
get-to breaks. Might have to paddle a mile or so just to get there,
which I would not want to do alone or with another beginning surfer.

Thanks...I did some more searching of the group and found a fair
amount of info that sounds like I am about in the same spot gear size-
wise as I am relative to everyone around here and your response
supports that, so short of picking up a 3.7 for Maui I feel pretty
good...I can guarantee it is windier there than Minnesota regardless,
so I think I'll be stoked.

We've posted craiglist ads for potential housing swaps for either our
house in Minneapolis or our condo in Breckenridge, CO.  If by some
stroke of luck either of those came through, that'd be perfect....but
otherwise we're now into the financial balancing act of what do we do
with properties - what do we rent to who? and where and what do we try
to rent in Oahu?  Though to be honest it is looking more and more
attractive all the time...