To bring board or not... to Kauai

[Big Z]

Bring your own board! Its well worth it. Spend the money its gonna cost you no matter how you slice it. Nicer to ride something your use to riding. Just my 2 cents! Have fun!

[aircube]

Sharksuper, theres a 10x29 PSH and an 11' Admunson  in the surf shop right on the road at poipu beside brennekes broiler.  there's a couple of others as well, but the rental is high and the selection is low.  Pretty much all beginer boards.

pm'd ya re spots

[Easy Rider]

Westjet in Canada will take up to a 9'8" surfboard/per ticket for free.  Kinda cool, cuz if your wife and kids come along, you can take multiple boards for free. 

Nope - it's a $50. charge for over size - - and don't pack it heavy - cause if it's over 50 lbs. it's another $50. for overweight.

And don't tell them it's a Stand Up board.  Tell them it's a windsurfer or surfboard.  Those are listed on their site - calling it a SUP will just confuse the person at the airport.

[aircube]

oh.  Thats odd, heres what the website says

Surfboards and windsurfers

    Surfboards and windsurfers will be accepted in checked baggage when under 9.8 feet (3 metres) long.

    All boards must have the skeg/fin removed, be padded, and packed properly to prevent damage to the board, sail and other baggage.

Other large items like scuba gear, they say additional and excess baggage fees, but not with surfboards and windsurfers.  So they charged you $50/board ER?  They told me one board per person on the phone, perhaps they forgot to mention the cost, but i did ask.

Either way 100$ return is well worth it.

[aircube]

AH, i found it.  It became applicable after NOV 3 2010

$20* – as a second item

This fee is only applicable for flights booked on or after November 3, 2010.

* means another 30$ for oversize

So yeah $50 as per ER's post, still pretty good.

[sharksupper]

I was confused by the website too, so I called... Alaska Airlines,

Maximum single dimension is 9ft, I double checked this to confirm.
Anything over 81 LINEAR (L+W+H) inches is $75
Anything over 50lbs is still only $75 if also over 81 linear inches.  No additional
There is also no added standard cost if it's oversize, so $75 is the max you'd have to pay.

Renting is out, that's too cheap to pass up!  Especially when I throw in a prone board and splt the cost with my friend.

[crtraveler]

Definitely bring your own board.  Especially if you are going for a little while.  I just got back from Costa Rica for 3 weeks and brought down my board.  Ended up costing me $160 round trip.  I had the board + paddle I love and didn't have to worry about how much I would have to pay if I scratched up the board a little.  Well worth it.  I just padded that thing up like crazy (probably way overkill) - the board arrived in perfect shape.  Of course JetBlue did lose it and it showed up a day later, but thats a different story altogether (they paid for my rental for a day - and boy am I glad I didn't rent the whole trip!!)

[caseyg]

My wife and I had the same dilema when we went there last July.  We ended up opting to rent boards there.  All of our boards are 10'6 or bigger, which makes them expensive to travel with.  Plus we were taking a puddle jumper between islands, and I wasn't sure if they would take my boards, since they are larger than a typical surf board.  I was also nervous about damage.  I have had 2 SUP's damaged in shipping, so I am a bit paranoid.

We ended up being happy with our decision to rent.  We got decent (but not great) boards from Duke's in Kalapaki Bay.  They also had boards for rent 100 yards or so farther up towards the street.  They looked a bit better, but you have to carry it farther.  Hanalei had some boards you could rent on the river, which was cool.

At the end of the day, if you are looking for best performance, nothing will compare with your own board.  If you are looking for less hassle, and risk of damage, rent boards there.  It was also nice not having to deal with getting our boards onto a rental car's roof, I must say.

[Easy Rider]

From the top of the page on the West Jet site about baggage fees.

"Sporting equipment is subject to all applicable excess baggage fees unless otherwise stated. Fees are combinable where applicable.  For example, if an item is overweight, oversized and a second item, all three fees may apply."

But yes - $50. per direction from Edmonton to LAX and back is still a good deal.

Air Pacific took it as my one piece of checked luggage at no charge.
(my wife and I combined our clothes into her one piece of checked luggage).
So all together it was $100. to get a Starboard 8'10" Widepoint and 2 paddles round trip to Tavarua and back.