NORTH SHORE — The surf forecast called for a declining northwest swell, with trade winds kicking up by midday.

And rain. Possibly thunderstorms.

But that didn't stop surfers — even some on rental boards — from crowding just about every surf break along the seven-mile stretch of O'ahu's North Shore on a recent weekend.

The parking lot at Foodland in Pupukea was packed, with cars circulating for stalls. Slipper-wearing caffeine junkies waited patiently in line at Starbucks next door. And the traffic stretched for miles on the cramped two-lane highway.

It's winter, after all. Get used to it.

The coastline population of 18,380, which itself has grown by several thousand since 2000, more than doubles during the winter months, as visitors flock to the famed shoreline that boasts some of the world's best, if not most well-known, waves.

It's no surprise that more than half of all visitors to O'ahu — roughly 2.5 million people — make the journey to the North Shore every year, according to statistics compiled by the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. They're lured by the world-famous surf breaks, picturesque beaches, popular shave-ice stands and shrimp trucks and that laid-back island feel you can't find anywhere else.

But it comes with a price, at least for residents.

On any given day, North Shore residents are forced to share the roads, beaches, parks, grocery stores and coffee shops with some 6,700 visitors. And that's bound to cause some headaches.

"Personally, I liked the way it used to be," said Karen Gallagher, 46, longtime Sunset Beach resident and surf instructor who publishes Paumalu Press, a community-based quarterly magazine about the North Shore. "I came here (in 1979) because of the slow country lifestyle, the warm water, the surf, the people. Now ... God, I'm starting to hate it."

This past Sunday, as with most Sundays during the winter months, Gallagher avoided popular North Shore spots. She played tennis in Waipi'o, took her surf lessons to a break on the east shore and holed up at home for the rest of the night, watching traffic crawl along Kamehameha Highway.

She's even switched her bank to the Kahuku branch and is considering getting a post office box there, too, just to avoid going into crowded Hale'iwa.

"We used to blame the big surf," Gallagher said. "But now (the traffic and crowds) have nothing to do with the surf anymore. There's no surf, it's cold, there's nothing happening. It's driving me nuts!"

And yet, she'll never leave. Because as much as North Shore residents loathe the added traffic, longer store lines, the crowded surf breaks, they still love everything the coastline has to offer.

"I love the people, I love the culture, I love Hawai'i," Gallagher said, sighing. "I'm not rich, I can barely pay my rent every month. ... But I wouldn't know where else to live."

ECONOMIC BOOST

While many residents are frustrated with the seasonal onslaught of visitors to their backyard, there's no denying the economic benefit these crowds have brought.

A study done by Vans Inc., sponsor of the annual Triple Crown of Surfing, showed that surfing events on the North Shore brought in about $14.6 million to the state in 2006. More than 1,500 visitors came to O'ahu specifically for the contests and spent an estimated $6 million along the way.

In fact, two of the three jewels in the Triple Crown reported record attendance this year, said Jodi Wilmott, media director and longtime North Shore resident.

"As per predictions, (we had) fewer extreme surf episodes and, therefore, fewer extreme days of crowds," said Wilmott, who lives in Waialua, intentionally away from the main surf strip on the North Shore. "Regardless of surf, however, the North Shore always attracts visitors. We even see it now during the flat summer months. It is a destination within a destination."

Even on a cloudy Sunday, there was a long line at Romy's Kahuku Prawns & Shrimp. The tables were filled at Giovanni's Original White Shrimp Truck in Kahuku, and throngs of camera-toting tourists at La'ie Point.

Virgilio Tomas, owner of a 20-acre farm on the North Shore, said business had started to pick up in December at his stand on Kamehameha Highway.

He was averaging about 200 customers a day, with about half of them visitors en route to the North Shore.

"The bigger the surf, the busier we are," said the 64-year-old mechanical engineer from Waipahu, cutting up papaya behind his fruit stand. "It's always been that way."

Sales double between June and December at the Northshore Boardriders Club in Hale'iwa, said assistant manager Vince Brady.

Customer traffic picks up in early November, when the first pro contest of the big-wave surf season, the annual Xcel Pro Presented by No Fear, starts.

"Winter is really the best time for us," said Brady, who said anything with "North Shore" on it in the store will sell.

While Brady is stoked that business improves during the winter, he, like other North Shore residents, has to deal with the traffic the crowds inevitably bring.

"Traffic is crazy," said Brady, a Kahuku High graduate. "I live right down the road and when there's a contest going on, it takes me 45 minutes to get home. And I live only 10 minutes away. I could probably walk home faster."

BUSINESS VENTURES

The economic boost has prompted dozens of businesses to open up — successful or not — on the North Shore in the past decade.

Shawn Bonnell, a 30-year-old real estate agent, moved to Hau'ula from Kane'ohe a few months ago. The Indiana native came to the Islands from San Francisco six years ago — he moved here without ever visiting — primarily for the surf and its accompanying lifestyle.

"It's not a very stressful way of life here," Bonnell said. "There's a tranquility."

But it's expensive to live in Hawai'i, and particularly on the North Shore, which is why Bonnell's living in Hau'ula. So Bonnell figured out another way to supplement his income: open a coffee stand on the side of Kamehameha Highway.

Right outside his house, he opened Ground Swell Roadside Espresso & Smoothie Shack, a tiki-style kiosk that serves Waialua-grown coffee and refreshing smoothies to anyone who'll pull over. (It's even got a thatched roof that Bonnell made himself.)

"I figured this location gets so much traffic," said Bonnell, who earned an MBA from the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. "Starbucks can put a (coffee shop) on every corner. There's gotta be coffee junkies like me around here, too."

So far business is growing, not booming. He's only open on the weekends, and even those times vary. But Bonnell has regulars who stop by every weekend, jonesing for his blended coffee drinks and fruit smoothies.

IT'S NOT WAIKIKI

The allure of the North Shore for visitors is simple: it's not Waikiki. At least not yet.

The beaches aren't overrun with umbrellas and mats, surf breaks aren't nearly as crowded as south shore spots, and the country doesn't operate on a 24-hour clock. The North Shore still tends to shut down by sundown.

Longtime residents hope it stays that way.

"It's country, miles of green space, no high-rise development," Wilmott said. "We've got cool stores, not gigantic commercial storefronts. Pristine water. The natural phenomenon of huge waves. Room to breathe."

Jasmin Wagner, a visitor from Germany, drove out with her husband to the North Shore two weekends ago. At Sunset Beach she marveled at the beauty of the ocean, the power of the waves — and the crowd.

"It's more crowded here than I expected," said Wagner, 28, on her first trip to the North Shore. "Hawai'i is such a far-off place and the North Shore has an aura. It's the place to be."

Visitors aren't just coming in the winter months anymore; they're driving north even in the summertime, making it the second-best retail season for businesses along the coast.

"Summer is more crowded than winter now," said longtime resident Gallagher. She should know; she ran the Sunset Beach Surf Shop from 1981 to 1995. "It's good for business. I mean, my surf shop absolutely died in the summer. It could have two customers a day. Now, it would just be booming."

Not that Gallagher regrets closing the surf shop. Sure, she could've profited from the surge in visitors eager to spend their disposable incomes on T-shirts and key chains. But she chose to spend her time differently.

"Even though people are out here making money," she said, "you have to be careful what you wish for."

Catherine E. Toth is a former Advertiser writer who spends time on O'ahu's North Shore. Read her blog, The Daily Dish, at http://blogs.honoluluadvertiser.com.

Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.