[ SURFING ]
Bethany Hamilton, at top, turned out of a cut back in the longboard Jr. girls competition during the China Uemura Wahine Surfing Classic yesterday.
‘Chicks’ ruling waves
at China’s surf classic
Girl power.
It's the concept on full display at China Uemura's eighth annual Wahine Surfing Classic presented by Rip Curl.
One of the biggest all-female surfing events in the U.S., the Wahine Classic is being held at the Queen's break of Kuhio Beach, Waikiki. Girls of many ages -- and 232 of them in all -- ruled the waves yesterday on the first of the event's two competition days.
"I know a lot of girls that can kick the boys' butts at surfing," said Jenna Fear, of the Big Island. "So, it's true -- chicks rule."
The 18-year-old Fear was participating for the second time at the Wahine Classic, and yesterday, was one of 22 surfers entered in the event's first-ever pro/am longboarding competition. The competition offers a $2,650 purse.
Waves were small and hard to come by yesterday, but that didn't prevent Fear and the rest from strutting their stuff when they did snag a ride.
The University of Hawaii-Manoa student surfs just for fun right now, but she did well enough yesterday to make it through two rounds of competition before falling in the semifinals.
"This is great for the progressiveness of women's surfing. And especially that they have a pro longboard (competition); there's really not a lot of pro contests for longboarders," Fear said.
With amateur longboarding divisions, and then also shortboarding and bodyboarding thrown into the mix, the event championed by Hawaii surfing legend China Uemura will conclude today with the finals of 16 total divisions.
Besides giving female surfers great opportunities to shine and enjoy a normally packed break to themselves, proceeds from the Wahine Classic also benefit The Sex Abuse Treatment Center of Kapiolani Medical Center.
"The more years that I do this, the more girls come out," Uemura said. Besides female surfers from throughout the state, "I have girls from Florida, I have Californians, (surfers from) Tahiti, Australia and Japan. It's good to have women from all over the world -- longboard, shortboard, bodyboard and the pros."
Uemura posed with contest participants at the Duke Kahanamoku statue in Waikiki.
There is a pee-wee competition, for surfers ages 10 and below, in all three disciplines of wave-riding at the Wahine Classic. But perhaps the most special division at the contest is a competition called the Battle of Da Kupuna, for women 50 and over.
This division, running for the second time at this year's Wahine Classic, came about after Uemura and surfer Franny Palama had a conversation about creating something just for women her age.
Palama, 54 and from Hilo, is pursuing her doctorate in architecture at UH, but also makes time to surf with six of her 10 grandsons, whom she lets know that "it's a privilege to surf with their grandma."
The division has "been awesome," said Palama, a participant both years. "For me it's an honor and a privilege to surf with the women in my heat."
Though it can be said of the event in general, this division, especially, is less about who wins than about fun and solidarity among females who surf. Da Kupuna participants have an unwritten rule that each surfer in their heats must catch a wave before they all head back to shore together.
These women began surfing back when it was almost the rule that they would be the only one out among a slew of men. Now, scores of females can regularly be found in lineups and competitions.
"This is an awesome journey for these young women," Palama said. "One that I think will be so memorable for a lifetime, and that has been shared with both the older women and the younger girls. I've learned so much from them. Women have come a long way, and there's room for much more."
