I do a lot of body surfing -- both because I'm clearly not skilled at the balancing act it takes to do any boarding well, but also because I do like the "zen" nature of it being you and the waves and nothing inbetween.
But no -- I try to avoid the 15' pipelines.

It's enough for me to drive a few miles down from my home to Half Moon Bay where I can watch Mavericks about a mile offshore with binoculars on occasion (a nice, safe distance).
As for Hawaii itself, it's alright. I think it's overrated by a lot of folks. There's something messed up like about a 9 month average stay for new residents... they vacation there, get excited, decided to buy property, move in, and realize they're landlocked, they've run out of things to do, and they still need to work for a living. Having been to my wife's native Azores -- which you could almost call a kind of Hawaii in the Atlantic -- I actually prefer them a lot more to Hawaii. But for different reasons (at least as beautiful, but far less developed, etc.).
Though if you're into surfing, there's something about the North Coast of Oahu and Maui that are really intense - the wind and waves are constantly pounding the shores. It's not uncommon to see people surfing and a helicopter overhead, pulling some unfortunate fool out.
Hawaii is worth visiting before you die. But on the downside, it has some of the most hideous architecture in the world (particularly Honolulu), the food is incredibly bland, the tourist thing gets a bit too heavy depending on where you go, and it attracts too many mainlanders as residents who are little better than Polynesian hippie wannabes.