Military Surf Contest Wrap Up

OK, so another military surf championships is under our belt and we now look forward to other things to come. In retrospect, although the waves pulled a disappearing act, the event went off as well as it could and a good time was had by all.

It all started this year back in September when I was battling for beach permits and contest dates. The pro surfing tour, the national scholastic events and the Hawaii Amateur Surfing Association events all stood in the way so it was way tough to secure a venue and dates for the event. After securing Waianae Army Rec and deciding the dates for the event, sponsors were solicited, advertisement was coordinated and contest admin began. Once the entry forms were distributed, people from all over the world started contacting me.......thanks to my family for the patience in the midst of a very busy email and phone schedule.

Now, contest dates approach and people from Florida, Virginia, Maryland, Washington State, Northern and Southern California and Okinawa converge on the contest site.......my house looks like "surf central warehouse". There is a good swell and I'm thinking "excellent surf for the contest". The winds started and the swell dropped. I'm hoping the swell sticks around.....I'm losing sleep. Contest Saturday morning I'm up at 0345 and I cannot hear waves breaking....STRESS....as the sun comes up and surfers are registering I see very small waves breaking......the contest must go today, I have people here on permissive TDY status. At least the waves are ridable albeit small. The first day goes off without a hitch and I'm out of the stress mode.

Sunday morning.....back up early......no waves breaking......STRESS again. Surfers begin arriving for the QTR final round. NO WAVES.......AAAAHHHHH. OK, so we go into a holding pattern and eventually put the long boarders in the water to complete their events. Short boarders are left high and dry........finals there must be determined by the rule book so lets go to the score sheets. Results are in and should be published soon if not already. I'm off the hook and hoping we have good waves for the event next year......obviously I lost a few pounds to stress but hey, I could stand to drop a few.

For more contest info or info on the Hawaii Military Surfing Ohana contact the surf doctor at mwflech@aol.com or log onto the HMSO website at www.HMSO.org