Posted on: Friday, January 23, 2004

Complaints trigger closer look at rules for surf schools

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser East Honolulu Writer

The state will look at revising its rules governing surf schools, after hearing concerns and comments on noise, class size and safety from residents who filled a school cafeteria last night.

The Hans Hedemann Surf School has been giving surfing lessons out of the New Otani Kaimana Beach Hotel in Waikiki for the past nine years, but since August has drawn the ire of some residents who want a ban on commercial operations in their neighborhood.

Nearly 100 people gathered in the Jefferson Elementary School cafeteria to talk about the sport of surfing, the operations of the surf school and the need for controls.

Steve Thompson, state Department of Land and Natural Resources' acting boating administrator, said that the rules governing surf schools were enacted more than a decade ago and that the meeting was to find out if new rules should be adopted or changes are needed in the laws governing surf schools operating in residential areas.

Another meeting at an undetermined date will be held to establish guidelines to address the conflicts between residents and the surf school.

Residents of condominiums fronting the popular surf break Tonggs, where many of Hedemann's students catch their first wave, made a slide presentation last night showing pictures of large classes, concerns for the reef, surf students lounging on the sea wall and surf students occupying most of the inside surf break.

Alethea Rebman, who spoke for the residents, said the occasional shout from a resident surfer is not bothersome, but the constant yelling by the instructors echoes right up into their apartments, some of which are just 100 feet from the surf break.

"It's a quality-of-life issue," Rebman said. "We want our life back. It's not about putting Hans Hedemann out of business."

Peter Cole, who represented the Surfrider Foundation's O'ahu Chapter, said: "From the (high water mark) to the ocean, it's public property. Buying property on the beach is a privilege, but it doesn't give you the right to control what happens on the beach."

Hedemann said he is open to rule changes and has made several changes on his own, including limiting class size.