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A Feature Event of the Duke's OceanFest Celebration
by Howard Swanwick
23/08/2007:// Waikiki Beach came to life at dawn this-morning as more than a dozen tandem surfing teams from around the world limbered up and rehearsed their moves on shore before hitting the water for day one of the World Title of Tandem Surfing, presented by Tsunami's Waikiki. The event is one of the feature events of this week's Duke's OceanFest Celebration, in honor of legendary Hawaiian surfer, waterman and Olympic gold medal swimmer Duke Paoa Kahanamoku. Today's competition featured the entire trials rounds as well as the Masters Division.
The top nine performing teams from today's trials heats advanced through the main event that will get underway around midday tomorrow. Hawaii's Brian Keaulana and Kathy Terada (Makaha) are the defending World Tandem Surfing champions and will make their debut as the top seeds, appearing in heat one of the main event tomorrow. They will surf against trials final winning pair Ryan Reynolds and Jennifer Jacquez, of California, and one other local team.
Today's Masters final was won by local Honolulu team Bear Woznick and Krystl Apeles. Woznick wears several hats this week, both hosting the world title event, and competing in two divisions - the main event and the Masters.
Conditions for today's competition were tricky with waist-high surf that was at times inconsistent.
"Tandem surfing in small waves is like trying to ride a bicycle slowly," explains Woznick. "It's way more preferable to tandem surf in bigger waves, but small waves are a real skill. I always encourage tandem teams to practice in small waves. There is so much fine-tuning of technique that takes place in small waves and that's what sees you through. In training, they will really reveal your weaknesses and show you what you need to work on."
Unlike one person surfing alone on a surfboard, tandem surfing brings together a man and a woman who must demonstrate grace, good style, controlled lifts, and polished wave-riding - similar to pairs figure skating, only on a moving stage. On the technical side, the acrobatic lifts - of which there are 45 officially recognized moves, are rated according to difficulty and the tandem surfing pair must hold each position for a minimum of three seconds while riding the wave and demonstrating style and control. In addition, each individual lift must segue into another, making a sequence, or end neatly with the woman touching down with her feet on the surfboard in order to be scored.
"When you're surfing with your partner, you want to move as if you're one person," says Woznick. "You get scored on your highest and hardest lifts, your sequence of lifts, your style, and your surfing.
"Our winning move today was a cobra - it's the fourth hardest move out of the official 45 tandem surfing lifts, and when you're doing lifts of that degree, you need a really awesome partner and that's what Krystl Apeles was for me today."
While the aloha spirit embodied by Duke and many of the other Waikiki Beachboys who pioneered tandem surfing in days gone by has been perpetuated by today's tandem teams, the level of surfing definitely shows a half-century of growth.
"It used to be that the man was the elite waterman and he'd simply grab a woman off the beach, teach her a few lifts and then take her out to surf," said Woznick. "Today, we're seeing more and more elite women athletes who are highly tuned. For example, Krystl is a gymnast, practices aikido and ballet, and is a stunt cheerleader. I hope the old beachboys who are still down here are watching today are enjoying what we're doing. I don't think they understand how important they are to what we're doing today."
One of the highlights of today's competition was the inclusion of teams from Florida for the first time. Mother-and-son team Brent & Brenda Brint competed in the trials heats while fellow Floridian Lance Maki and his local Hawaii partner Anna Manuel placed fourth in the Masters final. Maki is considered to be the father of tandem surfing in Florida and will host the top teams in Florida for the first time later this year. The first-ever International Tandem Surfing Association (ITSA) sanctioned event to be held in Florida will take place over the Labor Day weekend at Cocoa Beach, as a fundraiser for the National Kidney Foundation.
Second place in the Masters division went to Charles Christensen and Myra Bang, from California, who are technically the oldest pair in the event with a combined age of 101 years. Third place was husband/wife team Mark and Debbie Gale, also from California, who were the defending World Masters Tandem Champions coming into today's event.
The final of the trials division was won by young Californian team Ryan Reynolds and Jennifer Jacquez, who have only been tandem surfing for one year. Tomorrow they will take on the world's best in defending champion pair Brian Keaulana and Kathy Terada, of Oahu, Hawaii.
"We do a lot of club competitions in California, but this is THE contest if you're into tandem surfing," said Jacquez. "It's such a small community, tandem surfing, so it's camaraderie and competitiveness at the same time. It's awesome. Our first goal was just to make it to the main event, so we're very excited to have made it. To be in a contest with Brian and Kathy is amazing. They are world class, so it's something for us to aspire to one day. We're surfing with the best, so it's easier. The expectations are off now."
The first round of the Main Event will take place tomorrow, continue on Friday, and conclude with the final on Saturday.
RESULTS:
World Title of Tandem Surfing, Presented by Tsunami's Waikiki
Top 9 teams to advance to Main Event from Trials:
1. Ryan Reynolds & Jennifer Jacquez (CA); 2. Scott Perez & Shannon O'Neill (HI); 3. Pauly Chambers & Karin Rushforth (HI); 4. Luis Mejia & Asia Carpenter (CA); 5. Jim Wilson (HI) & Ali Rowe (NJ); 6. Jeremiah Woznick & Anna Manuel (HI); 7. Todd Roberts & Haruka Tanaka (HI); 8. Carlos Martinez & Erin Sulkey (HI); 9. Kamaki Worthington & Partner (HI)
Masters Final: 1. Bear Woznick & Krystl Apeles (HI); 2. Charles Christensen & Myra Bang (CA); 3. Mark Gale & Debbie Gale (CA); 4. Lance Maki (FL) & Anna Manuel (HI)
Trials Final: 1. Ryan Reynolds & Jennifer Jacquez (CA); 2. Scott Perez & Shannon O'Neill (HI); 3. Pauly Chambers & Karin Rushforth (HI); 4. Luis Mejia & Asia Carpenter (CA)
Trials Semi-Finals (1st & 2nd advance to final):
Heat 1: 1. Ryan Reynolds & Jennifer Jacquez (CA); 2. Luis Mejia & Asia Carpenter (CA); 3. Jim Wilson (HI) & Ali Rowe (NJ); 4. Jeremiah Woznick & Anna Manuel (HI) Heat 2: 1. Pauly Chambers & Karin Rushforth (HI); 2. Scott Perez & Shannon O'Neill (HI); 3. Todd Roberts & Haruka Tanaka (HI); 4. Carlos Martinez & Erin Sulkey (HI) Trials Round 1 (1st & 2nd advance to trials semi-finals): Heat 1: 1. Jim Wilson (HI) & Ali Rowe (NJ); 2. Pauly Chambers & Karin Rushforth (HI); 3. Sean Remos & Susannah Chun (HI); 4. Matt Callahan & Kat Cichosz (HI)
Heat 2: 1. Scott Perez & Shannon O'Neill (HI); 2. Luis Mejia & Asia Carpenter (CA); 3. Randy Spears & Yumi Hiragami (HI)
Heat 3: 1. Jeremiah Woznick & Anna Manuel (HI); 2. Carlos Martinez & Erin Sulkey (HI); 3. Tim Daniels (HI) & Talin Heurlin (Sweden)
Heat 4: 1. Ryan Reynolds & Jennifer Jacquez (CA); 2. Todd Roberts & Haruka Tanaka (HI); 3. Kamaki Worthington & Partner (name not known) (HI); 4. Brent Brint & Brenda Brint (mother and son team) (FL)
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