Honolua really was a board-eating spot (before the leash). In '72, two friends and I had a VW repair shop on Maui, and we used to surf together whenever we could. With a huge swell on the way, we decided to camp out at Honolua, catch a morning session, and open up shop late.
We arrived a bit late for the evening session, but could see the swell was building nicely. We woke up before sunrise, and began our paddle out even before really assessing the conditions. We at least knew enough to paddle out from the safety of the far inside, instead of the normal cut-across route.
It quickly became obvious we were facing HUGE storm surf. We could barely make headway, even from the safety of the channel. A decision was made to keep an eye on each other, and catch a single wave in. A fourth non-surfing friend was watching us from the safety of the cliffs.
Currents were so strong, we couldn't have reached the outside "peak", even if we'd wanted to. I caught the first wave from the Cave (probably an 8-footer). One partner opted to paddle straight back in. My other partner, Mike, caught a wave and wiped out. We never saw the board again. Our friend watching the fiasco from above saw the whole thing. HE never saw the board again, even from his vantage point.
Combing the rocks, we found a piece of board that had the same color, but we honestly couldn't tell if it was part of Mike's board or not. We'll never forget that day. Headed back to the shop with our tails between our legs ..
My old snowboarding partner, Jeff Ching @ Kaiser's Bowl:
