"Tropical Storm Daniel, a triple threat with
high winds, high surf and a potential for flash flooding, is
expected to reach Hawaii tomorrow. Even though it was downgraded
from hurricane strength, the storm would be the largest to reach
the islands since Hurricane Iniki devastated Kauai in 1992,"
screamed the front page of The Honolulu Advertiser (7/30/2000).
Tropical storm warning was in effect for the Big Island, Maui,
Lanai, and Molokai. A tropical storm watch was in effect for Oahu
and Kauai. A high surf advisory was in effect for all east-facing
shores, expected to be 8-12 foot, with a wrap to north shores at
5-8 foot, and south shores at 3-5 foot.
click each to enlarge
Great conditions for a windsurfing event!
Excitement grew as the weather forecasts warned people to prepare
for the worst. Which goes to show how sick windsurfers can be. As
the rest of Hawaii went to the stores and bought things like
candles, flashlights, food supply, and blankets, windsurfers from
around the world rigged up their sails at the bottom of the cliffs
at the Blue Planet Diamond Head Pro-Am, last stop of a 7 series
event of the US Windsurfing Championships. But as sunny skies
reigned overhead and solid 2-4 foot set waves broke through, the
weather was perfect-the proverbial calm before the storm. But
something was definitely brewing in the air. The winds rippled the
waters early Saturday morning at a time when it should have been
glassy and good for just surfing. This at a place where the winds
never picked up until the early afternoon, but here the winds
were, and it was only 9:00 am.
By 10:30, the contest was in full swing. With
a force of 39 international competitors, heats continuously ran
for 13 minutes with 2-minute transitions to complete 3 rounds for
the Pro Men, Pro Women, Amateur Men, Amateur Women, and Masters
divisions over the next two days. Judges scored by overall
impression.
click each to enlarge
We were pleased to see some national and
international competitors in Hawaiian waters doing some port tack
for a change. People like Rebecca Wolthers of Santa Cruz,
California and leader of the national tour for the Women's
division. Even though Rebecca kept coming in last in the Pro Women
heats with some bruises and scrapes to show for in the unfamiliar
wave conditions, she had a great attitude and a big smile for
everyone. Local Pro Women favorites like Jennifer Webb and Claudia
Manno of Honolulu schooled the other girls as Jennifer threw some
forwards and back loops and Claudia smacked some lips pretty
hard.
The Amateur Divisions were all about couples
whose partners sail and compete. Just look at the winners of the
Amateur Men and Amateur Women's divisions. Bob Bohn and Yukiko
Sato of Honolulu have been a couple for years now. I guess it goes
to show that a couple that windsurfs together, wins together.
Bob's winning moves were these crazy one-footed back loops. But
Yukiko isn't that bad either. She knows how the waves break at
Diamond Head and likes to charge it down the line. Other couples
in this event are Kris Sexton and Susanna Kleberg of Honolulu. You
know what they say about couples resembling each other when
they've been together for a long time? Well, it's hard to tell
Kris and Susanna apart, especially when they're in the water. They
both use the same gear, ride waves well and both do aerials. But
if you ask Josh, the Event Director, how to tell them apart, he'll
say, "Susanna's the one with the bigger sail." Which leads me to
ask the age-old question: Does size really matter? Finally there's
Pat Tosaki and Jennifer Webb (Pro Women) of Honolulu. Jennifer's
definitely a winner, and Pat says he's lucky to be able to use the
gear that Jennifer wins from these contests. It doesn't bother him
at all that Jennifer's "da man!"
In the meantime, it was like the last
showdown from the movie "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" for the
'ole Masters division. We won't say who was which, but current
leader of the national tour Chris Eubank of Hood River, Oregon
arrived armed and prepared to the scene, first in Maui for some
windy starboard tack, then to Honolulu for some gusty winds at
port tack. He was, indisputably, one of the best starboard tack
Masters in the nation. Word spread of Jim Lundin's arrival as he
was checking out the conditions at the top of Diamond Head cliffs.
He came over from Santa Cruz, California and was 3rd in national
rankings. Then there was homeboy Mike Dale of Honolulu who was 2nd
in the national tour. Having home turf advantage, he had been
training long and hard for the last showdown. Everyone watched the
face off with bated breath as the competition was fierce, but all
Chris had to do was get 3rd place in this event to become the
undisputed national leader. Unfortunately, factors worked against
him as unfamiliar waves, port tack, and some long time local boy
windsurfers got in his way. Masters like Danny Gauen who
cheese-rolled his way to 2nd place, and Byron Kitkousky, who once
again repeated his solid 3rd place finish in the Hawaiian
Windsurfing Championships. But Diamond Head was also Mike's home
turf, and after 3 rounds of back loops, aerials and choice waves,
he showed who the true Master was, getting 1st place in the event,
and clinching his title for the US Windsurfing Championships
tour.
In
the Pro Men's division, current national leader Fabrice Beaux
of Kailua had his work cut out for him as friends Pascal Bronnimann,
Clay Wiggins and Josh Seymour of Honolulu showed the crowds who
the better sailor was at Diamond Head. Other sailors like newly
turned Pro Nathan Mershon of Maui, also a national tour contender,
added to the pressure. Pascal made picture-perfect windsurfing,
doing aerials off the lip, aggressive wave rides, and consistent
forward after stalled-forward, all the while with his blond dreadlocks
flowing behind him. Clay impressed the crowds with his high-flying,
long hang-time back loops. Josh excited the crowds with his radical
across-the-wave goiters. And Nathan's back loops and consistent
wave riding were favorably looked upon by the judges. Despite
the steep competition, Fabrice held his own and showed his years
of experience as he styled through his wave rides, performed back
loops and forwards effortlessly, and did his signature leaning
on his sail back-winded while he gave everyone the shaka sign
and a smile. In the end, it wasn't enough for Fabrice to beat
Pascal who for the second year in a row won 1st place in the Pro
Men division, but it was enough to cement his first place finish
in the national tour.
The awards ceremony took place at Sam Choy's,
Breakfast, Lunch and Crab, always voted as the best Regional
Pacific cuisine, who served us some outrageous pupus like tofu
poke, tako poke, Waimanalo greens with Sam Choy's own dressing,
fried rice, noodles, kim chee tater-tots, and some of the best
sweet & sour ribs to ever touch the taste buds. Sam Choy's
also brews some pretty good beer. The awards started with the Tom
Nishimura Sportsmanship Award, given to the windsurfer who
competes in the Diamond Head contest and promotes the sport of
windsurfing and kitesurfing through education, innovation, and
most importantly, fostering an environment of camaraderie and fun.
It was a tough decision as there were many nominees, but the
winner was Amateur Women's 5th place finisher, Joan Danko. She
entered the contest just to be the 5th person in the division,
just so that there would be an Amateur Women's division, despite
the fact that her Starboard had been stolen a week before and she
would have to borrow gear from others. Windsurfing with gear
borrowed from Josh or Dennis, her husband, she placed last each
time in her heat. But she would smile and say, "That's ok, I had a
lot of fun out there. It's so rare for me to come to Diamond Head,
in fact I only come to do these contests, and it's nice to ride
waves without a lot of surfers in the water. I'm just having so
much fun!" In between heats, Joan would also nurse and care for
her newborn baby Ana. It's no wonder that Joan was awarded a 5.3m
sail from Vortec Sails and a cool windsurfing trophy that doubles
as a lamp. Another special trophy that was awarded was by Cutter
Ford/Isuzu Aiea for the highest jump performed during the contest.
As a prize, the person gets to keep a framed photo of that jump by
Brian Kim Photography. When everyone was asked who they thought
won this award, everyone unanimously shouted that it was Clay
Wiggins.
The top three Pro Men received cash prizes of
$250 for 1st, $150 for 2nd and $100 for 3rd. But everyone was
excited over the prizes to be distributed. After all, the Hawaiian
Windsurfing Championships is proud to be the only tour in America
to give away a prize to every competitor who enters our contests,
regardless of their rankings. We randomly picked the order of
divisions in which to give away the prizes with the help of our
volunteers from the Hawaii Job Corps. Everyone crossed their
fingers as the first scrap of paper was pulled out of a hat. A
scream went through the air as the Pro Women were chosen first.
Jennifer Webb came up and immediately picked up the gift
certificate for a custom board from Sailboards Maui. Other top
place finishers like Master Mike Dale picked up a new Neilpryde
boom. Amateur Men's Bob Bohn got a new No Limitz mast, and Amateur
Women's Yukiko Sato got a new HOT Diva Sail. Other items like
fins, mast bases, universals, foot straps, t-shirts, lycras, bags,
seat covers, videos and massage certificates disappeared quickly
until every competitor had picked a prize.
By the end of the night, as we watched the
news to see how Tropical Storm Daniel was faring, it looked like
it was moving north and not into the islands as earlier predicted.
With great relief and a little sadness that the winds weren't
hanging around, we partied till the early morning with some funky
dancing performed by happy sailors led by the disco king and queen
themselves, Alex Reinprecht and Deborah Schulman.
Aloha!
