Honolulu Lite
Contests curb
nonprofit surfersOnce during my high school days, I happened to be riding past Waimea Bay in a car with my girlfriend and her family. The waves were probably 15 to 20 feet high, and there were a bunch of people out. We had been staying at a beach house up the road at Turtle Bay, so I had my surfboard with me. My girlfriend had her dad pull the car over at Waimea and asked me, in front of everyone, if I wanted to catch a few waves.
I almost blurted, "Are you out of your freakin' mind?" Then I thought she might be kidding. But she really wondered if I wanted to go out in the big waves. This just goes to show you how little couples know about each other, even at that age. I thought she was one of the smartest, prettiest girls in the world, and she thought I was a big-wave surfer. Life is full of such hallucinations.
Her family looked at me as if there was some chance in hell that I was getting out of that car. I realized, hey, these guys don't know that I'm a big chicken. So, not wanting to spoil their delusion, I said I didn't want to inconvenience everyone and I'd take a pass on the big waves this time. Later in life, I found more clever ways to get out of such uncomfortable positions. If asked by my mainland friends if I surfed places like Waimea, I'd say it was against my religion. If pressed, I'd confess that I was a "devout coward."
Now there is another reason why I won't go out in big waves: The surfing contests are hogging all the best North Shore surf spots.
Recreational surfers are getting ready to sue because so many contests each winter take control of the best big-wave surf locations. Each year, the pros snag the hottest weeks of the season for surfing Waimea, Sunset Beach and Pipeline. And that just makes me really angry. I haven't surfed huge Pipeline in, well, ever. But now I'll never get the chance.
This is no joke to members of the Let's Surf Coalition, made up of recreational surfers upset that they are blocked from getting the biggest and best swells of the season because contests control the waves.
The problem is that the best waves on the North Shore break only between December and February, and all the contests have to be crammed into that period. Even then, contest organizers have to wait until the waves are acceptable for competition, meaning the contests are delayed for days or weeks waiting for a swell. When the waves hit, the recreational surfers are ordered out of the water, and the pros take over. It is a situation peculiar to surfing in general and Hawaii in particular because surfing is a sport that takes place at the whim of Mother Nature. You don't see recreational tennis players hustled off the courts every time the sun comes out.
The recreational surfers have a point. Nobody owns the waves, and they should be allowed to enjoy the North Shore at its best. But professional big-wave surfing brings in big bucks to the state. On this issue I feel the same way I sort of feel about the abortion question: Since I can't have a baby myself, should I be telling women what to do? Since my religion bars me from surfing big waves, those who do will have to solve the problem.
In the meantime, I'm starting the Let's Surf (Small Waves) Coalition. First meeting will be in the Ala Wai Canal.
Charles Memminger, winner of National Society of Newspaper Columnists awards, appears Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. E-mail cmemminger@starbulletin.com