With a $25,000 purse, surfers did not pass up the oppurtunity to surf the 3rd Annual Bank of Hawaii North Shore Tow-In Surfing Championship. APT, the Association of Professional Tow-Surfers, started the tour with waves in the range of 12-18 feet, the perfect size to kick off the tour.
Teams were out and about at 6 in the morning getting their jet-ski's ready and waxing their boards for the perfect heat. Team Dustin Barca and Sion Milosky pulled off a 720 to advance from that heat, but did not make it to the semi-finals. Every time was doing their best with each having very high scores.
Later in the afternoon the wind began to pick up and a swell had picked up. The average wave came to about 15 feet with faces in 20-30 foot range.
It was the native Hawaiian's competition all day although Team Carlos Burle and Eraldo Gueiros put up a fight to enjoy second place. Team Makua Kai Rothman and Ikaika Kalama were the surfers of the day pulling out an even 27 in the final heat against Team Carlos Burle and Eraldo Gueiros who had a 20.9. "This is for the Hawaiians", said Makua Kai Rothman, a native Hawaiian. Team Makua Kai Rothman and Ikaika Kalama pulled off the win taking in $9,300 each.
Surfing vocabulary:
Heat - preleminary round before the labeled semi-finals and finals
Tow-Surfing - extreme surfing in a nutshell; the strongest surfer cannot catch a 25 foot wave by paddling himself so a jet-ski is used to help him/her catch the wave like it is "towing" the surfer, but the surfer eventually lets go of the rope to the jet-ski
Face of a wave - how tall the wave gets before crashing; the wave gets to a peak height but then gradually lessens in height.
Swell - a period of time where a lot of very good waves are coming in
Waxing - the board is waxed so the surfer does not slip on the board with all the water coming to the board. It's like griptape on a skateboard, just for a surfboard.
Any questions on anything else in the blog just comment and I'll be sure to tell you.
Oh, how's the font and background?
2 comments:
Did not realize there was so much money is surfing competition.
Surfing has always intrigued me.
Wonder if I'm too old to start?
15-ft. waves!
Maybe too big for a rookie.
Oh yes, there is good money in just competitions, but the real money comes from all the sponsors. They even have people sponosored by surf wax. It's crazy.
You're never too old to start. My grandpa does it and he's in his 70s. It takes a lot of patience though.
15 ft are pretty big. I've seen only a few of those in my lifetime. Folly Beach and Surfside Beach are good areas to get started as a rookie and they are right here in SC!
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