Summer Sunburns

The 24th annual Local Motion Surf Into Summer presented by Billabong went off on Memorial Day weekend in classic Town fashion with trade winds, sun and, most importantly, waves. Surf Into Summer is known as one of the biggest amateur contest in Hawai‘i, and likewise attracted some of the biggest amateurs from across the state.

Big name or not, all contestants were given the chance to surf Ala Moana Bowls with five other guys—not 50—for at least fifteen minutes, more if luck and skill collaborated.  
The surf gods gave a quick blessing to the event, as first day competitors scored two- to- three foot waves with the occasional four-foot bomb. Even a few Big Bowlers rolled through in the afternoon when the swell was peaking. 

Unfortunately by the second day, the swell dropped to one-foot with a very occasional two- footer, leaving very few launch ramps for bodyboarders and weak walls for the masters and senior men to throw tail at. By the third day, sunburns had caramelized two times over and all hope for head-high surf had dwindled into a reality of maybe a wave a heat, but hey, at least there were waves. In some instances, final heat outcomes were judged on single wave scores.

Despite the lack of waves, competitors managed to link turns down the line along the South Shore’s most coveted gem. The Moniz kids doubled as built-in wave magnets and four of them surfed all the way to the finals: Joshua and Seth taking first and second in the menehune division, Isaiah placing fourth in the boys division and Kelia winning the girls shortboard division. The rest of the finalists were a mix of the rest of the islands, with appearances from Kaua‘i to Big Island. Congratulations to all competitors and mahalo to Local Motion for another great send off into summer surfing. —Noa Myers


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Rip Curl spliced together another batch of international surf clips to hype up the adventurer in all of us in form of its newest movie, Somewhere…, which parlays nicely with the company’s callout as The Crew On The Search. The movie doesn’t necessarily follow any plotline like, but stimulates your visual receptors with a secret-spot collection of clips from around the world. Though loosely tied, the movie still maintains all standards of a decent surf flick: you’ll definitely want to get wet afterwards.
The adrenaline inducing segments feature all the usual Curl Rippers somewhere across the globe, leaving viewers to argue amongst themselves as to where the helpless lip resides that Mick Fanning is dismantling to miniscule water droplets, or where Tom Curren is pulling into a macking, meaty tube on his son’s 5’6” surfboard (although the answer to the latter is rather easy, if anyone saw the 2007 Rip Curl Search WCT event). Rip Curl also chose to feature a few surfers outside their team of rippers and the philosophy of Australian rocker Angry Anderson to spice things up a bit. After all, it’s almost sinful to have a shot of Bruce boosting a huge air and not run it. 
This is not to say that the likes of super-grom Owen Wright’s mature bag of maneuvers and Taylor Knox’s Chuck Norris certified roundhouses aren’t entertaining enough, but Rip Curl steps outside the box and gives the same importance and elevation to the spot as to the surfers charging. How many of these unnamed locales have you been to? Pack your bags. —Noa Myers



Fit For A Queen

The 12th annual China Uemura Wahine Classic took over Queens and Kuhio Beach in Waikiki on Saturday and Sunday, June 7-8, to the beautiful sight of classic three-foot rights peeling gently down the line. With lots of luck and good karma on their side, the event was a success in more ways than one.

With a blast of south swell hovering just below advisory levels, the conditions couldn’t have been any better for a Kuhio Beach event. Over 200 competitors turned up for the highly anticipated women’s event. An outlet for young up-and-comers, longboarders and stand up paddle surfers, the event was almost shelved because of a lack of sponsors.

But China couldn’t let that happen, a missed opportunity for female surfers, and at the last minute he was able to get Armstrong Produce, 88 Tees and Steinlager on board to pull off the event. Unfortunately, this year’s turnout was slightly sub-par, most likely due to the high price of airline fare and the competitive contingent of ladies that fly in from the mainland, but on the other hand, there were plenty of local girls on hand to walk the nose with style and lean into a few turns of their own. —Kevin Whitton



Kauaian King of the Groms

In overhead and punchy Kewalo Basin surf, Kaimana Jaquias surfed with determination, focus and absolutely ripped, conducting a virtual clinic on fins-free surfing for the other competitors. The 15-year-old won seven skins for a $700 first place prize and even grabbed an extra two bills for taking the Future Fins Specialty Award, “Most Futuristic Surfing.” Last year’s king, or queen, Carissa Moore and Ezekiel Lau both tied for second with four skins each and $400 each, as well. Ezekiel also came away with the DC Shoes “Highest Single Point Total” Specialty Award and $500. Keanu Asing and Matty Costa both tied for third with three skins and $300 each. Let’s see what the King of the Groms has to say about his win:

FSM: What’s a skin and how do you get one?
Kaimana: A skin means you win the heat. The format is weird, but it’s a lot more fun. You keep surfing heats against people.

FSM: How did you pull off the Most Futuristic Surfing award?
Kaimana: I didn’t think I won, I was just surfing regular. I thought Zek would win, he was surfing real good. But I did one maneuver, a throw-tail reverse, that must have won it.

FSM: Do you listen to music to amp up?
Kaimana: In between heats, for like five minutes, I’d grab my friends Ipod and listen to whatever he had.

FSM: Was there any motivation to dethrone Carissa Moore?
Kaimana: It was in the back of my mind. It would have been fine if she won again, she rips, but all the guys didn’t want another queen of the groms. We wanted to take the throne back.
—Kevin Whitton



Oakley Split Thump Giveaway

FreeSurf Magazine has teamed up with sunglasses mogul Oakley to hook you up with a free pair of Oakley Split THUMP shades. Oakley Split THUMP is your favorite pair of sunglasses with the added benefit of an MP3 player. Listen to music virtually anywhere with speakers that come out when you don’t need them. Optimized with High Definition Optics®, the sunglasses are designed to fit in your world and the MP3 player is there to rock it.

Enter to win by writing a caption for this photo of Oakley team rider Dustin Barca. Send your caption in an email to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . In the subject line type: Oakley Split Thump giveaway. Include your name, address, phone number, age and occupation in the body of the email. Or, send in your caption with the same information as above to FreeSurf Magazine, Oakley Split Thump Giveaway, P.O. Box 1161, Haleiwa, HI 96712. Entries must be received by August 31, 2008 to qualify for the drawing. The winner will have his/her caption published with the photo in the next issue.