Westworld Saskatchewan

Winter 2012

Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/118148

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surfers knew not to brave the breakers here. But it truly is mandatory to at least stop at one of the major surf zones, perhaps even the Banzai Pipeline in Ehukai Beach Park – the most famous break in Hawaii, if not the world, where monstrous, classically shaped waves cascade over a shallow and treacherous reef, a playground almost exclusively reserved for expert locals and visiting pros. In November and December, the world's top surfers congregate here and at nearby beaches for the Van's Triple Crown of Surfing, an event managed by none other than Randy Rarick. Just beyond the Pipeline and nearby Shark's Cove (a rare, sheltered spot where snorkelling is possible many months of the year) is Waimea Bay, yet another surf shrine. For British Columbians, it is also a poignant place, for it was here in 1792 that several of Captain George Vancouver's crew were stoned and clubbed to death by Oahu tribesmen ordered by a chief to steal the explorer's guns. A short drive away, the historic Waimea Valley Botanical Garden draws a demographic that's a little unusual for attractions of the type. At its furthest extent, at the end of a perfumed walk amongst rare Hawaiian plants and endangered tropical species from around the globe, is a pool fed by a natural waterfall in which bathers can frolic Shangri-La style. Thus all the young couples in bikinis and board shorts. A short spin later and we're in Hale'iwa, the kind of town where almost everyone is young, unless of course they're a Golden Ager who once ruled the waves. Sadly, none of these will be Eddie Aikau, probably the most legendary big-wave rider of all time and the inspiration for the slogan "Eddie Would Go" – which we've seen, on bumpers and elsewhere, dozens of times this day. The local lifeguard and surfing pioneer disappeared in 1978 and was presumed drowned, after setting off for shore to get help for a sinking war canoe. It's hard to believe, but Hale'iwa was a farming centre until the rise of the north shore surf culture in the 1960s and '70s and the concurrent fall of the local pineapple and sugar cane industries, as Hawaii found itself priced out by lower labour costs in countries like Thailand and the Philippines. Not far from town, the Waialua Sugar Mill and Dole Plantation provide elegiac insight into this mostly lost world, the latter offering a short interpretive train ride through a vestigial plantation. But there's little of the island's colonial-era past to be seen on the streets of Hale'iwa, which now reigns as the capital of WESTWORLD p28-35_Oahu.indd 33 >> W I N T E R 2 0 1 2 33 12-10-19 9:56 AM

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