Jamba Juice/Verizon NSSA Hawaii Contest #5
Kealia, Kauai, November 5 & 6
Mia Melamed

All week long Pine Trees was consistently two to three feet with an entertaing right peeling across the bay. As the week went on the swell gradually decreased leaving the sandbar with not much to work with. Friday rolled along with a waiste high suck up right and a reform left down the beach. A small East swell was expected and Saturday morning the contest site was relocated to Kealia Beach about thirty minutes away. Kealia is a tricky wave and it was probably a good idea to practice before going out in a heat. The peaks were kind of broken up and made it a challenge on knowing where to sit. The consistency helped out a lot so there was always something to ride.

Saturday morning began at ten with the Explorer Divisions. Chas Chidester is on a roll and is showing great consistency in his results. This will be his third win in the Explorer Men&Mac226;s Division this year! In the Explorer Junior&Mac226;s Division Dusty Payne took first with his smooth and graceful yet radical style. The Explorer Women&Mac226;s first place contender Carissa Moore took
another first place finish to add to her neverending collection. The winner of the Explorer Boy&Mac226;s division was Kyle Galtes who has shown great improvement throughout the season and is going be a full time dominator in the near future. The Explorer Girl&Mac226;s Division was overruled by Kealia&Mac226;s very own Malia Manuel. The Explorer Menehune winner was Matty Costa showing he knows how to adapt to any kind of wave. In the Explorer and Open Longboard division Cedric Caires proudly took home two first places! Great Job!

Sunday arrived, the waves were smaller and the water had some morning sickness on it but it cleaned up as the day progressed. The Open Men&Mac226;s winner was Torrey Meister who sported it in a full suit! And let me tell ya, it was no where close to be cold. I bet he friend like an egg in there! Tanner Hendrickson from Maui won the Open Juniors and Carissa Moore once again dominates in the Open Women. Keanu Asing aggressively won the Open Boys and Koa Smith took first place in the Open minigroms. In the last Big Island contest the Open Boys and Open Minigrom finals were postponed due to darkness and were held this past weekend at Kealia. Winning the Open Boys was Ezekial Lau and Lahikiola Manamishin won the Open Minigroms division.

This sunny weekend went by quick and enojoyable. A big mahalo goes to the DLNR for allowing the contest to be moved to Kealia in such short notice. Congratulations to all the competitors, great wave riding was shown by each surfer. Happy holidays and we&Mac226;ll see you all in January on the Big Island!