Maui surf contest
goes to highest bidThe Jaws event's founder complains
that the process is unfair as he is outbid
WAILUKU >> Several organizers of professional surfing events are criticizing a state Land Board decision to put a Maui contest out for competitive bid.
They say they are upset with the way the state took away the Tow-In World Cup surfing contest at Jaws in Peahi, East Maui, from its founder Rodney Kilborn.
"He worked hard for that contest," said Nelson Togioka, an organizer of amateur and professional surfing events on Kauai. "For the state to give it away to the biggest bidder -- that's not fair."
Big-wave surfer and Maui resident Manny Carabello had the highest bid of $27,000 for the Jaws event for this winter, but he later withdrew. So, Calica Hawaii LLC was awarded the state ocean recreation permit with a bid of $10,100. Calica Hawaii LLC beat out Kilborn, who bid $5,000.
Carabello said he planned instead to promote a big-wave event in Tahiti.
State boating staff officer James Schoocraft said officials thought a competitive bid was the fairest way to determine who should organize the event. He said the process also will raise money for the boating division.
Schoocraft said his division may put other competitive surfing events out to bid but has no immediate plans.
Some major surfing events in Hawaii include the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau and the Triple Crown of Surfing on Oahu, including the Pipeline Masters, Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa and Ripcurl World Cup of Surfing at Sunset.
Under Hawaii law the state has jurisdiction over regulating boating and ocean recreation in coastal waters. In the past, state officials have granted permits to use coastal waters for surfing events but required no competitive bidding.
Faith Wenzl, administrator for the Triple Crown of Surfing, said the standard practice has been to give the permit to the organizer with the most experience in operating the event.
Wenzl said putting surfing events out to competitive bidders could be counterproductive, especially if the organizers lack experience and credibility.
"The only thing it's going to do is stop sponsors from sponsoring the event. That's really bad," she said.
Wenzl said surfing competitions, especially big-wave events at places like Jaws, require a certain level of expertise to ensure the safety of participants. "It shouldn't be open to anybody," she said.
Kilborn operated the first and second annual tow-in surfing competition at Jaws, receiving state permits from November 2000 to January 2001 and also November 2001 to January 2002.
Kilborn said there were no major sponsors in the first year, and the winners received a free pizza as a prize.
"We went up to my house, and I bought pizza for everybody," Kilborn said. "Nobody got paid."
Kilborn said in the second year, he picked up Brazilian sponsor Estudios Mega, which paid $168,000 in prize money.
The state proposal to competitively bid for the Jaws contest arose after Carabello asked for a state permit to operate a big-wave contest during the same period as Kilborn.
Carol Shé, the state boating district manager on Maui, said to be fair to both individuals, the Maui office granted Kilborn a permit for two weeks and then issued a permit to Carabello for the succeeding two weeks.
Carabello and Kilborn received alternating two-week permits throughout the big-wave 2002-03 winter season.
The Jaws event was canceled during the 2002-03 winter season because of poor weather and relatively small waves, wave organizers said.
Shé said Calica Hawaii LLC, associated with Estudios Mega representatives, wanted to make sure it had first right to the waves for the 2003-04 winter season and asked state officials to hold a competitive bidding process.
Shé said the state Land Board also adopted rules about tow-in surfing statewide, including safety procedures.
Alexander Reinprecht, manager of Calica Hawaii LLC, said Estudios Mega did not ask for a competitive bid process and only asked that the state find a solution.
Reinprecht said Estudios Mega would not have asked for a solution and participated in the competitive bidding if the state officials had exercised the standard practice of continuing to award the permit to Kilborn.
"There should have been no question who should get the permit to run the event," said Reinprecht.
Reinprecht said although Calica Hawaii won the bid over Kilborn, it plans to run the competition with Kilborn as its event director. "I think that's the fair way to do it," he said.
Ken Bradshaw, a professional surfer and surfboard manufacturer, said he thinks competitive bidding would benefit surfing and give the state an opportunity to obtain revenues from a sports industry that generates more than $3 billion annually.
"It's only fair for the state to generate more revenue at a time when we need money," he said.
Bradshaw said there are a lot of people who want to get into organizing surfing contests who cannot get into promoting the sport because of the "old regime."
Kilborn said other surfing contests have had problems in the past, and he does not understand why the state singled out the event at Jaws for competitive bidding.
"Why just me? That's the question," he said. "It's an unfair practice."
