Those amazing menehune
Friday - March 30, 2007
| Share
Del.icio.us
Kekoa Cazimero won the HASA event Ali‘i Beach Park in
Haleiwa
Aloha, surfers and beachgoers, Here comes April ... with plenty small to moderate (2- to 5-foot) swells for country and 2-to 3-foot surf for Town. The strange thing has been our weather and winds the past week. You’d picture sunny trades, but we’ve had a long run of variables, sea breezes and afternoon cloud buildup. Our culprit was a nearby low pressure system (rising, unstable air) pushing our usual “high” (sinking, stable air) farther to the east. The positive side is that this setup works well for your morning glass and late-evening sessions. And, hey, remember this time last year it was 40 days and 40 nights of hell weather ... or would you just as soon forget?
So here we are a year later and surf keeps rolling onward just like the time. In fact, the south shores rolled onward from April 2006 with swells every month with the exception of January! I don’t think that has ever happened ... very cool. I like new records, new stuff. Nature does too, I guess. She likes keeping us on our toes as well as our surfboards ... especially for Hawaii’s surfing crazed youth.
Last weekend the Hawaii Amateur Surfing Association (HASA)finished a rip-roaring event at Haleiwa’s Ali’i Beach Park.
One ever-present surfer-dude extraordinaire, Bernie Baker, shot some photos and told me “the kids just keep getting better every year - they’re amazing!
Plus, they scored great 5-foot surf the entire weekend. Haleiwa pumped from dawn till dark for both days of competition, giving all of the surfers more than they could have wished for so late in the season.”
HASA puts on about a dozen events for Hawaii’s competitive youths, and provides an awesome training ground for skill and character development. They hit the Neighbor Islands, too ... so it truly is a statewide surfing ohana. Bigger sponsors are taking notice and jumping on this great wave peeling off into a bright future. Coming up fast are the Burger King State Championships at Ala Moana Bowls early June! So stay on your toes, too. For all the latest and greatest scoops, try HASASURF.ORG and SURFNEWSNETWORK.COM. Got the results right there.
A menehune in a moment of great position and
concentration … watch out, Kelly Slater
I asked Bernie what was one of the most impressive things about this particular HASA contest at Ali’i and without a pause he said, “The Menehune (11 and under) blew me away! Last year their parents were pushing them into the waves, and this year they were paddling into overhead barrels like it was backdoor Pipe! Our hats are off to the parents and coaches who do such a good job with their children ... every year we expect the kids to do better, but this year they grew in leaps and bounds ... I can’t say enough!”
Thanks to the combined efforts of HASA with its sponsors and friends. It sounds to me as if Hawaii is going to keep delivering the world’s best surfers for generations to come.
And, hey, even if it’s just for fun and recreation with family and friends, everyone wins something priceless.
The next two events are at Ehukai (Pipeline) May 2, 3 and/or 9, 10, then Kewalos May 5, 6 and/or 12, 13.
Here are a few results: MENEHUNE: Lahiki Minamishin
MENEHUNE LONGBOARD: Nelson Ahina III
BOYS: Keanu Asing JR. MEN’S: Kekoa Cazimero GIRLS LONGBOARD: Ashley Ahin
WOMEN’S SHORTBOARD: Yukiko Whiteside
For all the rest of the results, you know where to go!
Mahalo ... special thanks to Bernie Baker for the shot of champion Kekoa Cazimero, and to David Croxie (CROXIE.COM) for the (future champ) Menehune pic! Hawaii’s photographers are No Ka Oi!
GQ, dropping in 4 U!
E-mail this story | Print this page | Comments (0) | Archive | RSS Comments (0) |
Most Recent Comment(s):
