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SURFING THE NATIONS
FOUNDATION
Newsletter Issue # 16
- May 2007 - Freedom Surf Contest |
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Surfing The Nations hosted the
"Freedom Surf Contest":
surfing for a drug-free Hawaii, Mother's Day weekend,
May 12th and 13th, 2007. This contest was made possible
through a grant from the City and County of Honolulu to
promote drug awareness, education and prevention. Mayor Mufi Hannemann was there to present Surfing The Nations
with the $5,000 check, and recognize them for their
efforts to keep Hawaii drug-free. The event held a total
of nineteen short / long board, and body board
divisions. Surfers entered the contest from all over the
world. The contest was held at Queens Beach, in Waikiki.
The weather was beautiful aside from a few light showers
on Sunday and relatively flat swell. Despite the wave
height, competitors still managed to have a great time
surfing against one another. "The surf culture in Hawaii
is like a family", says Surfco's David Skedeleski (www.surfcohawaii.com).
An estimated 140,000 people were present at the event
over the weekend. There was a lot going on during the
contest hours; there was great surfing with new heats
every 15 minutes, live music, speakers, and booths with
literature on the repercussions of drug and alcohol use.
Both Lieutenant Governor Duke Aiona and Mayor Mufi
Hannemann were present on Saturday to promote, and
challenge local surfers and kids to live a drug free
life and to pursue a healthy lifestyle
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 Contest Results
The event had over 160 competitors from the keiki to the
legends. The first heats started at 7:15am on both days.
The competition was high, even though the waves were
small. The surfers had their work cut out for them with
so little to work with. All of heats were entertaining,
however some specific surfers shined. Kawehi Whitford
placed first in the girl's short board final, and
finished runner up to Meagan Godinez in the girl's long
board final. Another surfer, who walked away with more
than one trophy, was boy's division Nelson Ahina III.
Ahina placed first in the boy's long board finals and
third in the men's open long board final. Surfing the
Nations also had many of our own surfers and high school
youth group enter the contest. Some of the STN family
placed and took home a trophy! From our high school
group, in the Open Body board division Reno Champ placed
fourth and Mackenzie Yoshida placed second. They even
surfed with hula skirts on! Sean Sugihara, also from our
high school youth group, placed third in the Boy's Short
board division, and Galen Mizinaka placed second! In the
Senior Men's Short board division our very own Niklas
Eriksson took fifth, and in the Men's Short board
division Stevie Suzuki took third! Great job guys!!
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Contest Guests: AccesSurf Hawaii
During the contest, STN was able to network with a lot
of different people, building relationships, and
hopefully will work with them in th e future. The first
heat on Saturday was surfed by a group called Access
Surf Hawaii. This group of people came together in March
of 2006 to provide water sports activities for "any person
with a mental or physical disability."
Access Surf
Hawaii is also an advocate for the disabled and
development of equipment and education for adaptive
surfing. It was awesome and encouraging to speak with
vice president Rich Julian who was paralyzed by a drunk
driver that collided with him 17 years ago. He is
thankful for the opportunity to pursue the passion he
has for surfing once again. If you would like to learn
more about this organization, or where you can get any
of the adaptive surfing equipment log on to
www.accessurfhawaii.org.
 Spotlight
Surfer:
Tatiana Weston-Webb
An up and coming grommet, Tatiana Weston-Webb from
Kauai, surfed in the Girls short and long board
divisions. She is eleven years old and did well
considering the wave conditions. She placed fourth in
the Girls long board competition. She is a bright young
lady and loves Jesus.
During the contest, Surfing The Nations staff member
Alysia Tarpley was able to spend some time with Tatiana
and ask a few questions, here is what Tatiana had to
say:
Q: How long have you
been surfing?
T: 3 ½ years
Q: Who got you into
surfing?
T: My dad and brother. I
saw them do it, so I tried it. I love it!
Q: Who is your
favorite women's surfer?
T: Keala Kennelly and
Heather Clark
Q: What's your
favorite wave?
T: Pakalas!! It's a perfect
left and I'm goofy foot!
Q: If you could meet
anyone, who would it be and why?
T: God! Because He is so
powerful! He created the earth and surfing! He's so
cool. I love Him!!!
Q: If you could surf
any country where would you go?
T: Indo! My dad's been
there and says the waves are awesome and the fishing is
good! I love boats!
Q: What is your
contest history?
T: I've surfed in the
Haleiwa Menehune, NSSA, HSF Kauai, Rell Sun, and I won
the Iron's Brothers contest this year!
"Thank you Tatiana for your time and great job! Surfing
the Nations will be sponsoring Tatiana and will be a
part of her surfing dream! Good luck girl and God bless
you!"
- Alysia
Tarpley
 Thank
You Everyone
Surfing the Nations would like to thank the City and
County of Honolulu, the Office of the Mayor, and Mayor
Mufi Hannemann for supporting this event and making it
possible! We look forward to working with you in the
future! Also thank you Joey Akaka and Raymond Shito for
all of your time and effort in putting this contest
together and making it a success! Thank you to our
special guest, Christian Surfers Federation Director
John Lindsey, for coming out from California and
supporting a drug free Hawaii! Another special thanks to
Jamie Ballinger, pro surf-photographer, for coming out
and shooting the event. Log on to
www.hawaiianwatershots.com
to view or purchase pictures taken at the 2007 Freedom
Surf Contest. Thank you to all the volunteers that
helped out and put in many long hours. Thank you to all
of the sponsors of this event for contributing time,
effort, and resources. We couldn't have done it without
you! Thank you to all of the organizations that came out
and set up informative booths to teach our people about
drug and alcohol prevention and how to live a healthy
lifestyle.
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Overall, the Freedom Surf Contest, hosted by Surfing the
Nations was a complete success and fun for all ages!
Surfing the Nations was able to encompass their motto
this past weekend and were truly "Surfer's Giving Back."
Surfing the Nations is grateful for the opportunity to
host an event close to the heart of the islands and use
Hawaii's beloved sport of surfing to reach people of all
ages and educate them on the serious matters of drug and
alcohol abuse and prevention. We hope to be a part of
helping Hawaii become drug and alcohol free and pray
that this event changed hearts and lives forever. This
contest was the first Drug Free surf contest that
Surfing the Nations was privileged to host. Thank you to
all the competitors, sponsors, and volunteers for making
this surf contest a success! If you would like to learn
more about Surfing the Nations and what they do in
Hawaii and all over the world, log onto www.surfingthenations.com
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Make a Difference by Partnering with Us
Credit Card Donations may be made online using our
secure Egivings system:
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TO SUPPORT SURFING THE NATIONS |
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TO
SUPPORT THE PURCHASE OF OUR NEW HONOLULU PROPERTY |
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TO SUPPORT OUR SPONSORED BANGLADESH SURFER: JAFAR ALAM |
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Surfing The Nations Foundation
P.O. Box 29393 Honolulu, Hawaii 96820
Office - 808.838.SURF(7873)
Fax - 808.838.7875
Email - info@surfingthenations.com |
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