Competitors struggled to find the right waves in the windy and inconsistent 1- to 2-foot surf on the second day of the Local Motion Surf Into Summer contest Sunday at Ala Moana Bowls.
The surfers who advanced were mostly the ones who found two waves to ride in their heats. The shortboard boys, junior men’s and men’s divisions along with the bodyboard men’s division were contested.
Honolulu’s Kylen Yamakawa made his heat by paying off one of his competitors for a wave.
"Davin (Torres-Jaime) gave me a wave for 10 bucks and that’s how I made my heat," laughed Yamakawa. "He caught a wave in the first 10 seconds, so I guess he thought he was going to catch another one, but he never did. He didn’t make the heat, but I owe him 10 bucks.
"I did this contest before and I lost five years straight, never making the final, so I am stoked."
Yamakawa advanced to the final of the men’s shortboard 18-24 division, in second place behind Chris Foster.
Even in the tough conditions, Ewa Beach’s Kaulana Apo found the right waves and surfed them well to advance in first place into the boys shortboard final. The stylish goofy-footer’s top-scoring wave consisted of four big-fins-free top turns and a crisp roundhouse cutback.
"It’s very windy and small out there, so my strategy was to just get busy because it’s kind of slow out there," Apo said. "I really got lucky to catch that one set."
One bodyboard division competitor, 33-year-old Addison Bear of Waianae, had not done a contest in eight years, but chose to enter.
"I like this contest because of the atmosphere and you get to surf Bowls with six guys out," Bear said.
The contest finals are today.