Surfboard Repairs Needed

When I came out of the water the other day after an hour or so of surfing, I was basking in the triumph of having successfully gotten up on the board--not once, but twice!

This was a huge deal, not only because I was starting to get really frustrated with how badly I sucked at surfing, but also because I was getting frustrated at sucking so much worse than Laura, who got up three times on the prior day. It can get awfully annoying watching everything come so easily to your wife while you're out there floundering around like an idiot.

So this day was a big step for me.

But there was a problem. There was a small gash in the upper edge of our board. This board didn't belong to us--it belonged to our friend Carol, who generously entrusted it to us for our entire stay here in Hawaii. We were responsible for the proper care and feeding of it and somehow it got damaged.

I wasn't sure how it happened, but it was probably when I bumped into somebody earlier that day. It's an all-too-common occurrence at Waikiki Beach and this is one of the reasons people call Waikiki "surfing kindergarten." There are a lot of beginners here, and even those of us who can actually get up on a wave once in while have no idea how to steer or control ourselves.

I had to find someone who could fix this gash.

The first place I went to was a surfboard rental shop two blocks from our condo. I got a blank stare. The second place I went to told me, no, they don't do repairs, but they could ship it out to somebody. It would only take about five to seven days.

Dude, I could be dead in five to seven days. That's an eternity.

Then I walked into the Moku Hawaii rental shop on the corner of Koa and Uluniu Avenues and asked them if they did board rentals. No blank stare this time. The guy whipped out a pen and wrote a phone number down.

"Call this guy. We send all our board repairs to him. His name is Daniel."

Well, I was certainly encouraged by his name at least. So I called Daniel, and he came up and picked up my board, fixed the gash for $45 (which is considered a reasonable price for a relatively minor board repair), and then he brought the board back to me the same day. This guy clearly does not operate on Hawaii time.

I thanked him profusely, and in a voice that sounded like a cross between a Zen master and John Wayne, he replied, "That's what I do. I fix boards."

Daniel Stewart
Surfboard Repairs
(808) 351-3991