The stoke is real at Hawai‘i’s first artificial wave pool

Under the scorching June sun on O‘ahu’s ‘Ewa plain, the clear turquoise waters and churning swells at The LineUp at Wai Kai, Hawai‘i’s first artificial wave pool, looked cool and refreshing—but also a bit daunting—as I prepared to give it a try.

Okay, I was terrified. At the deep end of the 100-foot-wide pool, divided on this day into 30- and 65-foot lanes, industrial pumps forced water down a spillway to noisily shape a 4-foot-high wave.

To be clear, I grew up in Honolulu and have surfed ocean waves 3 times that size, but this was a different beast. For one thing, it was a fixed (or standing) wave that didn’t break, so theoretically you could ride forever, turning back and forth. For another, instead of paddling into the wave, you start out standing on your board, holding on to the edge of the pool—already on the wave, as it were.

I began by sitting on the pool’s rubber-padded concrete edge and, following instructor Ollie Fix’s directions, planted my feet in a wide surfing stance atop the soft foam deck of the round-nosed short board he held on the water’s surface. “Push down hard, especially with your back foot, and then push off,” Fix said.

I took a deep breath and pressed down with the soles of my feet. I felt the wave push back beneath my board—an entirely novel sensation. I mentally prepared myself to stand and, fingers crossed, carve a turn—or crash and burn.

Asked how he’d compare them, Gerry Lopez—famed Hawai‘i surf champion, Pipeline pioneer, and yoga master—gave a characteristically balanced reply. “There aren’t tube rides at Wai Kai, but there are literally a million turns to be had, and anyone from first-time beginner to pro-level surfer will find it very fun to ride and quite simple to figure out,” Lopez said. “Kelly’s wave is so close to a perfect wave in the ocean that one has to pinch themselves.”

The latter is also quite expensive, if you can get in at all, since access is mostly limited to World Surf League events and private parties that rent the entire facility for at least a day. According to a 2023 roundup by Wavepool Magazine, Surf Ranch’s daily rate for 10 surfers is $5,000 to $7,000 per person, or about $625 to $875 an hour. Wai Kai’s standing wave, on the other hand, costs $60 to $100 an hour for kama‘āina.

“If we’re talking apples and oranges, Wai Kai is an orange grove and Kelly’s is hoping for the golden apple from a single tree,” Lopez said.

During our second session, Don and I moved up to the 65-foot-wide wave, and I felt more relaxed with more space to maneuver. Once I let go of Nichols’ hands, I gradually found the sweet spot, adjusting my weight and pressure to harness the power under my feet and ride the waves with my arms wide, as instructed, until I turned back to glide the other way.

I spent more time falling than riding, though, and I scraped a lot of skin off my forearm in the shallow end. Nichols quickly cleaned and bandaged the wound, and I finally made it across the pool and back on my last few rides.

Here, at last, was the familiar rush of speeding down the line, until, exhilarated, I tried a cutback off the cement wall and fell, striking the back of my head. Grateful for the helmet, I realized I was tired and called it a day.

“You were going really fast; you were flying!” Fix said with a big smile. Smiling back, I knew I’d savor the brief, shining moments when the artificial wave felt as hypnotic and thrilling as the real thing.

In Hawaiian, wai means fresh water and kai means ocean. Wai Kai uses 1.7 million gallons of potable water in its wave pool. This has generated some controversy in our state, where fresh water is a limited resource and contamination from a U.S. military oil spill has closed some drinking water wells in Honolulu.

Wai Kai General Manager Greg Champion said the wave pool’s water is continuously recirculated and treated according to Department of Health standards for commercial swimming pools.

A second and far more extensive 5-acre wave pool that would use breaking-wave technology is being planned for a new development called Honokea Surf Village in nearby Kalaeloa. It received a permit in May, but the developers are being sued by environmental and Hawaiian culture activists.

Parking and entry to The LineUp at Wai Kai are free and open to the public, but admission to the wave pool is restricted to paying customers (guests can watch from seats on the Wave Deck).

Hour-long surf sessions are $90 for general admission; $60 for kama‘āina and military for the 30-foot-wide wave; $140 for the 65-foot-wide wave (kama‘āina, $75); and $175 (kama‘āina, $100) for the 100-foot-wide wave.

Surf day camps for ages 8 and up and further instruction for surfers of all levels can also be booked.

Additional water sports at Wai Kai revolve around its enclosed lagoon. The Dock at The LineUp rents stand-up paddleboards, kayaks, outrigger canoes, surf skis, and a whimsical pedal boat. Here, you can learn how to navigate watercraft in Hawai‘i’s windy conditions without being carried out to sea.

Equipment can be rented individually, or you can try them all, swapping them out over 4 hours in a “Play Your Way” package: adults, $50 (kama‘āina, $40); children, $20 (kama‘āina keiki, $14).

The LineUp at Wai Kai has 4 restaurants. The LookOut Food & Drink overlooks the surf pool, and Foam Coffee & Bar is near the Wai Kai lagoon beach. The Kitchen Door Napa houses Plaza Grill, whose Asian-influenced menu by renowned chef Todd Humphries includes Korean short ribs with shoyu glaze, furikake fries, a chicken báhn mì sandwich, and ramen, in addition to burgers and a mai tai with caramelized pineapple and whipped cream. Boardwalk Café is located on the Kitchen Door Napa’s lower level near the lagoon.

The LookOut bar has live music daily and also hosts evening DJs and dancing on weekends. Cocktails such as the blue Wai Tai and orange Lava Flow are a treat to behold and sip.

A dinner show that incorporates live surfing takes place on Mondays.

Mindy Pennybacker’s work has appeared in The Atlantic, the New York Times, the Surfer’s Journal, the Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere.

In Surfing Sisterhood Hawai‘i: Wahine Reclaiming the Waves (Mutual Publishing, 2023, $21.95), Honolulu Star-Advertiser surfing columnist Mindy Pennybacker, who wrote the feature story above, pens a love letter to her wave-riding sisters past, present, and future. The longtime recreational surfer posits that wahine figured greatly in birthing the Hawaiian sport of he‘e nalu, or wave-sliding.

Among ali‘i who were expert surfers: Queen Ka‘ahumanu, wife of Kamehameha I; and Princess Ka‘iulani, the last heir to the Hawaiian throne. Female commoners of old Hawai‘i also took to the waves with gusto.

Ensuing years proved less kind to generations of women who faced hostility from male surfers in and out of the lineup, yet the sport continues to evolve. This past winter, 6 women (Hawai‘i’s Makani Adric, Paige Alms, Emily Erickson, Keala Kennelly, and Andrea Moller; and France’s Justine Dupont) surfed the 2022–2023 Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational on O‘ahu’s North Shore, the first time women competed in the tournament.

Pennybacker’s heartwarming prose, buoyed by photography of sistahs of all ages shredding, evidences the power of going fo’ broke in our love of the sea.