The Golden Child Call him a prodigy, call him a wonder, call him a breath of fresh air, call him Keanu Asing. Pick a moniker, any of the monikers listed above, and you’ve got yourself a brief-but-accurate description of the best Hawai‘i surfer under 16 today. It’s a bold claim, we’re well aware, and we’re steadying ourselves to be peppered with a slew of naysayers, but after watching Keanu surf his way from the loser’s round to gold en redemption at the ISA World Games in Ecuador (pg. 68), we became true believers of the Ewa Beach local. Couple his gollactic win south of the equator with more than 10 domestic, national and international contest victories this year and it’s hard to find another Hawai‘i junior that can keep the heart-pounding pace Keanu has set. “Yeah, I’ve had a pretty good year,” says Asing humbly when asked about his current stranglehold on the sport.
Fab Five: Hawai‘i’s new guard of competitive surfing
by Jeff Mull Photo: Jimmicane
Kekoa
The Hope
They call him Tank for good reason: the man’s built like a wrecking ball. That’s Mililani’s Kekoa Bacalso for you—an open-handed slap in the face to all of the yoga-ball toting and CHEK doing pros on tour. Give this man a katsu plate, two scoops of rice and some open face and he’ll put on a display of rail work, finesse and power unseen since the likes of Sunny G. years past. Fitness buffs and surfers that can touch their toes, eat your heart out.
Jamie O’Brien is known for being an outside-the-box surfer with his mind-wringing late backside drops at Pipe and rodeo-flip hijinks on the shoulder. And we all know he’s up for new challenges: entering the Turbo Bodyboards Pipeline Pro just to show he is a man of many talents or working with Vince Laforet where he filmed Jamie surfing Pipe switch with a remote control helicopter.
In spring, when professional surfers begin another season anew on the World Tour and Qualifying Series in Australia, North Shore lineups and industry houses empty of their international brethren as the scene tracks its way around the globe over the course of the next ten months. But just because most of the pros are gone, doesn’t mean the waves are on holiday as well. So Volcom girls Claire Bevilacqua and her New Zealand teammate Wini Paul took advantage of a clean, empty Volcom house to set up shop and surf Pipe, giving a little “Woman’s Touch” to the male-dominated abode.
It all started with a girl born in Texas. She was curious and creative and soaked up the world around her. She grew up in Houston and made the long drive with her family to Corpus Christi on the Gulf Coast to enjoy the ocean.
More than once a rainbow appeared around the sun in Ecuador in weather related folklore these celestial, daytime solar halos are said to foretell precipitation. Often the veil of cirrus clouds (clouds that are composed of ice crystals) related to this event is the precursor to approaching weather change and certainly this held true for Salinas, Ecuador, where hundreds of the world’s top young surfers stormed the beach for the Quiksilver 2009 International Surfing Associationís World Amateur Championships.
As if Freddy P. isn’t busy enough trekking the globe for most of the year on the Dream Tour and laying down the smoothest power turns imaginable, he’s got his hands in a different type of non-aquatic surf-related venture. Fred’s not hanging up his boardshorts any time soon, but he is putting his fingers to the keyboard on his new website with partner Andrew Oliver.
Kula Barbieto joins the Naish Stand-up Paddle Team for the 2009 season. Kula is a surfer, avid fisher, certified Hawaiian lifeguard, big-wave charger and has turned her talent into a successful career as an actress as one of the stars of MTV’s “Surf Girls” and numerous other films. Originally from the Big Island, she now resides on O‘ahu to take advantage of the surf and many diverse opportunities the island has to offer.
Summer is here and I’m not ordering a new board. My shortboard has miraculously lasted the winter, sans the same pop it used to have. I could use a new board, but I’m waiting till summer fades away like another sunset to lay down some cashola. Besides, I’ve drug my fins too many times along south shore shallow-reef paddle outs, bumped rails too many times with over zealous shoulder hoppers and had too many close calls with runaway longboards—better my board than my face. And sessions at Bowls, boards be damned.
After running through the waiting period, the ladies lucked out on April 9, 2009 with 2- to 3-foot Pipeline and benefits going to the Girl Scouts of Hawai‘i. The shortboard, longboard and bodyboard event saw an influx of bikinis in the lineup as women from around the world showed up to test their surfing merit at one of the most challenging waves on the planet.
Photo: Heff 
Kekoa
By Kevin Whitton 
Paying rent
By Siri Masterson
Story and photos by Mike Latronic
