The paddle is very long so be careful and don't go alone. Come back before you are tired. This reef can hold big swell.With a kayak you don't tire out from the paddle, making your sessions longer and you can bring water and snacks out there with you. It is a playful easy wave up to about ten feet. Its not too shallow or heavy and the locals are super friendly. The only thing to watch out for is the current going out the narrow pass. The bigger the surf the harder the current sucks. It breaks on almost any swell but best with a little west in it. The winds are generally favorable unless they are strong out of the west.
Overview
Atmosphere
Whaou !!! It's a impressive spot. The Take off is easier (!) than others reefs but the bottom is sharp. After you have a long, long wall.
General
The channel has been known to suck tired surfers out to sea. Also make sure your leash is in good shape, a broken leash can be a one way ticket to being sucked out to sea. Many people have come close to drowning here
haapiti tahitis crown jewel
I have jsut returned from a one week holiday to Tahitit with my wife and three grown up kids.
My son and I both surf and we were stoked to find waves at haapiti coinciding with our stay at Marks place.
We had booked ourselves in to an apartment in Cooks bay not properly understanding the that the northern side normally breajks over the winter time.I rang Mark asked if he had any accomadation and he simply moved out of his own house and let my family have it for the three days as his camp was full.Awesome hospitality,the man is a real hero !!
my son and i were a bit unsure with the surf on our first day.It was double overhead and only one guy out so we had to kinda figure the place out.it was awesome though as the takeoff was easy enough but the wave super grunty with nice barrell sections.I had a lot of trouble geting used to surfing transluscent waves as the water clarity made it real tricky to figure where you were on the wave face.Kinda cool problem to have though!
The next coupla days just slowly dropped a foot each day with teh wave salways biggest at lunch time.
We paddled Marks kayaks across the reef enjoying the dolphins jumping and playing.
The backdrop was amazing but the most amazing feature was the locals welcoming and wonderfull attitude- a rarity anywhere else on the planet.How amazing if we all welcomed visiting surfers to our home breaks with the attitude!
comment by Anonymous, 2007-09-13 21:30:59
Bring Binoculars
Like everyone else is saying great wave, long paddle, we stayed at the Haapiti Surf lodge with owner named Petero ,right in front of the break. Current can be dangerous, we paddled out one day before sunrise to beat the crowds, big mistake. We got out there and in was double overhead and I was close to getting sucked out to sea all of a sudden. After fighting with the current for 20 minutes I just went into the line up and took a couple on the head and I finally caught one in. Was scary feeling because no one else was out but me and my buddy. So bring binoculars to at least get an idea of the conditions and size or at least to see if anyone is out surfing.Look at break to the left of you, which it is a righthander to give you an idea of where you are at kind of like a guide your position. If you find yourself floating past it all of a sudden the be careful. If you do stay with Petero at the Haapiti Surf lodge bring him a big bottle of Jack Daniels and he will take care of you.
comment by Anonymous, 2007-02-08 00:54:31
careful
when it gets big (doubleoverhead +) theres a current which drags you out to sea, this makes paddling back out really easy but once you get to the take off zone you have to keep paddling to stay in position, gets quite tiring, quite hard to catch the waves at this size, a big board (7ft) would be the go, really fun at head high
comment by pete howcroft, 2008-10-06 05:46:58