I know absolutely nothing about reefs so I'm not even sure if there is such a thing but I figure if Waikiki is where most people learn to surf it can't be that bad. This question is not really for specific island either.
haha oh **** i just realized i never finished the title. It was originally can you name any mellow reef breaks in hawaii
Waikiki is probably okay if you want to rent a log on the beach and cruise around but if you want some size, you might want to go elsewhere. I have a friend who use to surf Diamond Head when he was learning. He said it got sorta big and the paddle out was far but he wasn't too good and I saw pictures of him riding overhead waves so that is probably a pretty good wave to try if you are looking for something mellow.
If you have never surfed reef before- all you need to know is to be careful of shallow reefs- it can change from point to point and at low tide... you can see the bottom so just watch out! Some breaks are shallower then others. diamond head is a good spot that is fairly mellow...
You'll love the South Shore for cruising waves... Ala Moana is mellow on small days (only time I was there), but gets super good on big swells.
Yes, you learn that quickly in Hawaii (and other places). If you see the locals kick out, even though the wave looks like it continues on for another 30 yards, there is probably a good reason they are kicking out. Do what they do.
South shore is deceiving. . . .not that its super sharp or anything but when it gets kinda big there its not as mellow as i imagined. i broke my wrist hitting the reef at Waikiki on a 5 foot day (NJ scale). which i wasn't really even expecting to hit bottom at all but there is some random sections and sporadic rocks and what not you could hit at low tide. Drive around the island there is so many spots that people don't even ride that a surfer from the East Coast would be pumped to ride. I went to one beach while i was driving around island on west side and found a perfect barreling right and no one in sight. It was sketch though because all i was thinking is why is no one here . . .
Doesn't Ala Moana have a certain way you have to paddle out to avoid the reef? I remember driving down waikiki at night and seeing these guys paddle in and they were zig zagging back to the shore after their session for a reason. If you hit this spot, you might want to follow someone who looks like they know what they are doing to paddle out. These guys were definitely paddling 20 or 30 yards parallell to the shoreline 2 or 3 times hah.
