[ SURFING ]
Perkins returns from
layoff with a victory
Considering he hadn't surfed in a month and a half, Bonga Perkins had an especially good day yesterday.
At the Hawaiian South Shore Classic at the Queen's break in Waikiki, the former world longboard champion showed no signs of rust -- at least, to anyone but himself -- after being sidelined six weeks because of knee surgery, and won the pro division of the event and $500 in prize money.
"I felt like I had two left feet out there," Perkins, 31, said. "I'm pretty much my biggest critic, so I'd rather compare myself against the best guys in the state, especially when I'm trying to get back in the swing of things. And I guess I surfed pretty good."
"My knee held up good," he added. "No pain, all gain."
The Classic was the first of five contests in this year's Shaka For Steinlager Summer Longboard Series. Nineteen surfers competed in the pro division.
The waves were only knee- to waist-high and the wind blew unfavorably, yet Perkins -- renowned for his big-wave prowess -- showed that his layoff would not prevent him from quickly adapting to and standing out in the small conditions.
The Haleiwa resident also won his three earlier heats in qualifying for the four-man, 30-minute final. Once there, he continued to execute powerful carving maneuvers -- combined with an occasional noseride -- even though the waves had very little power themselves.
"I guess it was kind of good to start out in something small, rather than something big and barreling," Perkins said. "I figured everybody was going for noserides, so I'd just throw my board around a little bit rather than just do the same thing. The judges were seeing noserides all day, so I figured if I could get my board a little over the top, maybe it would give a little flair to my surfing."
The judges apparently noticed. His top two waves in the final totaled 13.00 points (out of 20 maximum), and included a 7.33 he received for a ride about four minutes in -- the highest individual score of the heat. On the ride, Perkins put together a sequence of two vertical off-the-top hits, followed by a cutback.
The conditions actually improved some for the final, as the water glassed off and waves rolled in consistently.
Honolulu's Virgil Sisiam caught a heat-high 10 waves and placed second with 10.96 total points -- his best-ever result in a pro competition (he also regularly competes in amateur divisions). Scotty Fong, also of Honolulu, finished just behind in third with 10.76, while Makaha's Kekoa Auwae took fourth with 9.43.
"This is great, it feels fantastic," said Sisiam, who works both as a beachboy and bellman in Waikiki. "Surfing with these great surfers, like Bonga Perkins and all of these up-and-comers -- I'm 39 years old and all of these guys are really good, so it's tough to keep up with them. I think I was much looser today (than in previous attempts in the pro division), but I still kind of ran out of gas in the end because I'm competing in two other divisions too."
The Classic finishes today with about 150 other participants competing in 19 amateur divisions. The next stop in the series is the Ezekiel Beach Park Challenge at the Tennis Courts break of Ala Moana, June 19-20.