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Makaha Delivers Big Waves on Valentine's Day Stand Up Paddle Event! |
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By: Assc. Editor Bill Ward
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Saturday, 16 February 2008 |
The inaugural QuikSilver Edition-Ku Ikaika Challenge, presented by C4
Waterman and Red Bull ran on Valentines Day and boy did it deliver the
flowers and candy! Cheesy intro aside, this was one of the finest
contests I ever had the privilege to attend. From start to finish it
was a STOKE-FEST of epic proportions! The vibe from competitors to
event organizers to all the family and friends gathered was the epitome
of what our watermans lifestyle is all about.
VENUE
Makaha,
the original home of big wave surfing was the perfect venue for stand
up paddling’s first ever big wave contest. It is an incredible point
wave that offers surfers long rides with challenging sections. In the
years prior to North Shore gaining notoriety Makaha was THE place where
surfers challenged themselves in monster waves. It was where legends
like Wally Froiseth, John Kelly, Buzzy Trent and of course Buffalo
Keaulana showed the surfing world how to ride big waves. That
generation then passed the torch to Brian & Rusty Keaulana, Mel
Pu’u, Archie Kalepa and many others. In turn these waterman are doing
an outstanding job of generously passing along their knowledge to the
next generation.
KU IKAIKA means to STAND STRONG
Mahaka has not changed much
since the early days and thank god for that! It is truly a very special
and spiritual place. It is a small tight community that cares deeply
for each other, the ocean and insuring that future generations maintain
their rich surfing heritage.
In keeping with that tradition and
spirit, the good folks at C4 Waterman established the KU IKAIKA
foundation last year. Their goal is to “shine a spot light on the west
side youth and encourage them to “stand strong” by making strong
positive choices in their lives”. It is no secret that the west side is
a tough place to grow up and that young kids are easily drawn into bad
choices that often cost them dearly. The west side’s waterman community
is leading by example and showing these kids that they too can have an
amazing fulfilling life by staying true to their waterman roots, to
their birthright.
Therefore, the proceeds from this event,
including the $4,000 for first place were donated to a worthy cause,
the west side junior lifeguard association. Every surfer who made the
main event shared an equal check for $350, regardless of where they
placed. And three very generous surfers (Blane Chambers, Bonga Perkins
& Dave Parmenter) even donated that money!
Knowing that the
prize money was going to a worthy cause, the surfers were able to focus
on the joy of sharing waves with friends and put on an amazing showcase
of state of the art SUP big wave surfing. No one and I mean NO one was
disappointed with the outcome.
It could not have happened to a better guy!
So, who won? A 41 year old former pro surfer and life long waterman Aaron Napoleon
surfed all the way through the trials and advanced through stacked heat
after stacked heat and won the all Hawaiian final against some
extremely tough competition. Going backside no less! It was truly
heartwarming to see Aaron win the event. It could not have happened to
a nicer more humble guy!
At first blush you might think this
was a “dark horse” victory and to an extent it was, since Aaron works
full time as an electrician and has not had much practice time doing
stand up recently. However, he also spent many years doing outrigger
canoe paddling, was an excellent young professional surfer who excelled
at Pipeline and also competed in the “Eddie” big wave invitational
several times.
In other words, Aaron is a true waterman who did
what came natural to him. Riding a stock 10’ from Paddle Surf Hawaii he
simply went surfing with his friends and in the process etched his name
in the SUP history books forever! Congratulations Aaron! That was one
heck of a contest!!
Coming in 2nd place was Makaha’s own Keoni Keaulana
who’s local knowledge was obvious, he consistently picked off the
better longer waves and made the difficult bowl section look easy. It
is no easy feat standing out in a family of surfing stand outs! But he
did just that! Watching Keoni surf was a genuine pleasure, no doubt we
will be seeing a lot more of him in the future.
Third place went to North Shore local and Pipeline standout Ikaika Kalama
who absolutely ripped the entire event. Ikaika is another one of those
talented SUP surfers that makes the difficult look easy in big Hawaiian
surf. Which as we all know is NOT easy!
Rounding out the final in 4th place was Kamu Auwae. Truthfully, I had not heard much about him before the event, but WOW! Plain and simple the guy rips!
Conditions
Although
the waves did not quite reach the heights they hoped for, it was still
a solid 6-10 (Hawaiian scale) with morning sets hitting the 12 foot
plus range. Guys were taking off deep on the outside point and then
driving with the peddle to da metal for hundreds of yards in hopes of
making the “bowl section”, where one of three things happened.
#1-They made it to the safety of the channel and got a high score from the judges.
#2-
They rebounded off the huge left coming straight at them and finished
the wave going left on the inside (also high scoring potential)
#3-They got demolished trying to go around the bowl section!
Ask Blane Chambers
the 3rd option. Aside from putting on an outstanding performance in
massive waves, he also took a MONSTER on da head trying to out run the
Bowl section!........LOL.......he survived so its okay to laugh about
it now, but it took him quite awhile (it must have been an eternity for
him) to resurface as we all prayed he was okay.
Blane was
driving hard down the line and appeared to have the necessary speed and
proper line to out run the bowl sections glass axe guillotine. But at
the most critical moment the wave pitched hard and swallowed him whole
in a massive avalanche of exploding whitewater! Holy crap that was
heavy!! Glad you made it bruddah!
Stand up stand outs
It
is virtually impossible to write about all the amazing SUP surfers
without forgetting to mention someone. But that is what happens when
EVERY surfer in the contest is good enough to win the darn thing! Here
are a few of many that stood out that day.
Chuck Patterson
from San Clemente just missed the finals in his semi final heat. The
guy went for some of the heaviest moves of the contest and looked right
at home in large Hawaiian surf.
Chris Mauro is the
editor of Surfer magazine and is an outstanding surfer. He may have a
“desk job” but you would never know, considering how well he surfs and
how many waterman events he enters. He more than held his own in
challenging Makaha surf! Chris should be every working mans hero!
Brian and Rusty Keaulana
showed their knowledge and expertise of the spot by dominating early
heats and both made the semi finals. I absolutely love watching how
these guys approach the wave. They take such a pure line and are always
in control. Rusty was a former world long board champ and it shows.
Brian may have the most complete package of any surfer today. His
rescue efforts are legendary, he has done dozens of stunt man jobs for
major Hollywood movies and can surf any wave, any day at any size, on
any board he chooses. He is truly a “waterman’s waterman”!
Dave Parmenter-what
more can you say about this guy? I had the pleasure of surfing contests
with Dave back in the early 80’s and he is still one of the most
soulful stylistic surfers to ever grace the water. He is the “thinking
mans surfer” and rides waves with the same ease and aplomb as always.
If you want to learn how to do a full rail cutback with no wasted
motion or flailing arms then watch this man surf and take notes. I know
I do!
Bonga Perkins makes SUP surfing look as easy as
surfing on a long board. He was ripping huge waves in ways we can only
dream of! The more you watch Bonga surf the more you realize he has NO
peers.
Garrett McNamara is a true big wave aficionado.
Whenever I see him or hear his name I instantly think of two
words…..FEARLESS and accomplished. G-Mac will tow, paddle or SUP paddle
surf his way into the largest set of waves ANY place he surfs! He was
absolutely killing it at Makaha and showed amazing fitness when he lost
his board to a huge set.
We also saw some fantastic surfing from extreme paddle champ Jamie Mitchell, former windsurf world champ Robbie Naish, Tahitian legend Raimana Van Bastolea and many more.
I
congratulate and thank everyone at C4, QuikSilver and Red Bull for
putting on an outstanding event that showcased big wave SUP surfing at
its very finest! This event provided the perfect blueprint for next
year and for all others to follow. It was truly an outstanding
event!...............CONGRATULATIONS and mahalo!!
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