Story by Kevin Ching
March 01,2026
Exactly 3 weeks later, the Super Bowl Surf Clinic transformed into the Super Mokulua Island Surf Clinic, Sunday March 1st 2026. The original date was doomed by a storm front which materialized on the day of the clinic, so I was concerned about the new date. The weather had been so unstable, all the reports were different this time. The wind would calm and the storm front approaching was all vapor and no substance. Still I was concerned since there was considerable cloud coverage after a week of pretty nice weather. Driving over the Pali in darkness, the clouds were more extensive on the windward side of the Koʻolau.
Arriving at the boat ramp, still before sunrise, I was surprised to see all the parking stalls taken, “Wow these guys come early!” I knew that quite a few paddlers had signed up for the clinic, so where are they all going to park? I parked in the trees and took my Strike off the truck and started to set it up. Before long, Carol and Roya showed up with their red Malibu 2 and they found a spot and one by one all 17 paddlers unloaded their kayaks and somehow found a parking spot, pretty amazing considering how busy this place can get.
Bill, Steve, Stan and later Paul arrived and thankfully helped with the clinic, as we started with the Captain’s meeting. Some really good questions came from the group about how to punch through waves and specific questions about the low brace, in which Bill demonstrated. Before long it was time to launch as the armada led by Bill paddle towards the Mokulua Islands. Surfline mentioned the surf would be 4 to 6 feet in Kailua, so we paddled cautiously. As we approached the islands waves were breaking at the reef north of the islands and it was with caution as we approached the surf site. Steve and his nephew Tommy were already there checking out the surf and it looked like it was the break in between the islands that was punching, but I would take Sarah to the break fronting Mokulua Nui instead because it was the most organized but not very large sets.
The rest of the group landed on the island, following the lead of Bill as the occasional “haystack” waves clapped together right I front of the beach. Sarah eventually had enough of the waves and joined the rest of the group on the beach. The group spent the day exploring the island, several had never been there before and I remembered what it was like when I first made it there decades ago. The parking lot may have been full, but the beach did not appear as full as it usually would be.
Since the surf was quite smaller than what Surfline had reported, I decided to join Steve in the break in between the islands and the waves were considerably gnarlier. I caught one of the bigger waves and surfed left hard, but this wave would not have me do this as it started to bowl back towards the submerged rocks. The kolohe wave actually became rough and started to turn my Strike to the right, directly into the submerged rocks, when the wave passed, I immediately paddle hard to the left to get out of the danger, my paddle striking many of the rocks below, but here came the second wave and as usually the case, it is even more gnarly and as I leaned into the wave, I hulied, this time my foot was caught in the foot strap and I could not pull it out, then came the third wave and I thought there goes the ankle as the Strike started to roll. My foot finally came free, saving my ankle, but now I had to self-rescue in a rock garden. I rolled up jumped into my kayak and paddled away, with memories of the same thing happening the last time I paddled with Steve at the In Between Break at the Mokulua Island when I gouged my brand new Strike. This time I had a few more gouges, but she still surfs like a champ.
After a few more rides, I paddled the mauka side of the island and signaled to group that it was time to make the long paddle back to the boat ramp. Debbie wanted to follow Steve and his nephew as they wanted to surf the breaks back to the beach. I advised her not to follow them based on my experience with the Rock Garden incident and she finally agreed and she paddled towards the rest of the group. That was a good thing as everyone made it back after what everyone agreed was a great outing.
