Saturday morning was a bit depressing after looking at what we had to paddle for and somehow make a meaningful ride. There was no time for complaining because everyone had the same situation by making the most of what was given. Waves were inconsistent with light onshore winds picking up around eleven. The contest ran until six thirty that night! And the day started with seven heats of Explorer Juniors followed by Explorer Women’s head at the lowest tide of the day. As I sat in the lineup my legs would dangle on the reef, the conditions were great for picking Opihi or preparing for some contest conditions that we face on the mainland.

Sunday morning had better form and seemed a bit bigger than Saturday. The inconsistency of the waves made it impossible for everyone who wanted to get at least a wave or two before the contest began. When a wave actually came, there were some major paddle battles. Champion of the day was actually little Kalen Galtes who in one heat had to be called in after he actually reached his wave limit. He never really responded to Auntie Bobbi’s calling for him to come in, until that is Kalen’s mother got on the microphone then Kalen paddled in faster than Chad Owens in a 50 yard dash. Kalen wasn’t penalized and he advanced in his heat, too. He became the wave magnet of the meet!

Two high performance standouts were Carissa Moore and Ezekial Lau. Carissa flew home with Explorer Girls, and Open Women awards and Ezekiel had his arms full on the flight back to Oahu with Open Boys, Explorer Boys and Explorer Menehune first place prizes. Dusty Payne did quite well in his own backyard of Lahaina Harbor taking first place in the Explorer men’s division. Another “Maui-Built” surfer was Granger Larsen who never let his guard down. Granger captured first place in the Open Juniors final. Koa Smith of Kilauea Kaua’i dominated the Open Mini Groms, and in the Explorer Juniors final the six-foot tall Banyans phenom Casey Brown showed that he can rip in all conditions and all size waves. A great showing by Coco Ho in the Explorer Women’s division again illustrated that good surfers can perform and do well in all sorts of waveless conditions. And last but not least Chas Chidester proudly took first place in the most prestigious division, Open Men’s.

Congratulations to all the finalists and we’ll see you all at the next Lahaina contest September 10th and 11th! And lets all pray for SURF!