With the sport of surfing tracing its origins back to pre-contact Hawaii, it’s fitting that the North Shore of Oahu remains the Mecca of professional surfing to date.  The first international surfing contest in Hawaii, the Makaha International Surfing Championship, was held in 1954 at Makaha, on the west side of Oahu. At the time, Makaha and Waikiki were the main surfing hubs on Oahu. The event ran annually in November or December through 1971 and was dubbed the unofficial world championships.