The stoke is high for the Henry J. Kaiser Surf Team Surf Team as they mark a major milestone in high school athletics. For the first time ever, surfing has officially joined the OIA athletics line up in Hawaii. After a strong showing in the season’s opening contest, Kaiser heads into its second competition on March 30th at Queen’s in Waikiki, a renowned longboarding spot known for its small, but clean, rolling sets.
“There are drawbacks of the longboard conditions at [Queen’s],” describes Senior Team Captain, Hayden Carranza. “It makes it difficult for the short boarders and body boarders to catch any clean waves… because the size is just too small out there.”
The structure of the OIA surf competitions has introduced a new level of intensity from traditional surf competitions. Each school sends out their best athletes in either of the three disciplines, longboarding, shortboarding, or bodyboarding, to compete in heats as in traditional surf comps.
However, each heat is only 15 minutes long, and has six athletes from different schools competing at once. Surfers are scored on their best two waves during their one heat. “The way the meets are set up makes it kind of unfair,” argues Junior Team Captain, Elliana Schiffner.
“You only get one shot to get good scores, and the varied conditions throughout the day, paired with the packed nature and short times of the heats gives certain surfers unfair advantages. It can be hard to perform at your best with the rulesets.”
However, Kaiser proved they could handle the pressure at the first contest, held at Bowls in Ala Moana. Standout performances include Carranza, Harper Mohr, and Schiffner herself, who won their heats: Carranza in Boys’ Longboard, Mohr in Boys’ Shortboard, and Schiffner in Girl’s Shortboard.
As Surfing is in its infancy as an OIA sport, uncertainty remains over how the contests will progress throughout the season. “The contest organizers didn’t know how much demand there would be,” stated Surf Team Coach, Jane McCallister.
“Schools were only allowed to surf athletes in their number one discipline so heats weren’t overcrowded. Based on the demand after that first contest, the OIA decided to divide the island in half, East and West. The upside of this change,” McCallister believes, “is that more surfers will be able to compete as schools are no longer limited to sending out only the best. The downside is that Kaiser will only be surfing in three comps instead of six.”
Kaiser will be surfing at Queen’s March 30th, from 8 AM to 2 PM. Wish them luck as they surf against the other East schools.
