Friendly, familiar faces slid across 1- to 2-foot waves on Thursday during the opening rounds of the 28th annual China Uemura Longboard Surfing Classic at Queens in Waikiki.
Pro-am and stand-up paddle divisions were run with stacked fields.
"It’s definitely a fun contest," said former world longboard champ Bonga Perkins. "A lot of talent and heritage has come out of this event throughout the years and it’s always cool to see the new kids coming up."
The event features a unique format in which each competitor gets to surf four times and the scores of each are added up to determine the winner.
Perkins missed one of his heats, thus he’ll have to rely on three scores.
"I missed my heat this morning, but I can make it up in the other three rounds," Perkins said. "Whether or not I can do it we will see. It’s all fun, though. It’s offshore, sunny, and it’s summertime so what’s not to like about this contest?"
Mililani’s Mike Mullen, 35, came out of a 5-year semiretirement to enter.
"One thing I like about the contest is that it’s a charity event benefiting China Uemura’s surfing foundation," Mullen said. "It’s been a while since I surfed a contest, so it’s cool to come out, see friends you have not seen in a while and talk story.
"It’s a different kind of format that I like," he continued. "There is less pressure because you are not so concerned about making each heat. You get to surf four times regardless of how you do, which is great. You don’t have to worry about showing up in the morning and losing first heat."
Mullen used a combination of old-school nose riding and progressive turns to get scores and is in the hunt for a win going into today’s final two rounds.
Duane Desoto, Kai Sallas, Nelson Ahina and Kekoa Auwae are the top four so far.
In the stand-up paddle division, Makaha’s Nolan Keaulana, 23, was stoked to come out from the west side and enter the event.
"I think this contest is really good and the main reason I am here is to support uncle China," Keaulana said. "I had a good first heat and got off some good snaps off in it."
Keaulana had the highest heat total of the stand-up competitors in the first round.
Saturday and Sunday will feature the amateur and blah-lah divisions.
