Enough Stoked for the whole Family! (results below)
All Photo Credit: Tony Heff / FreeSurf Magazine
Queen’s, Waikiki
HONOLULU (June 7, 2018) Blue skies and mellow two to three-foot waves breaking just offshore greeted 350 excited young surfers ready to showcase their skills. A Hawaiian flag staked a spot in the sand in front of the hula mound where families set up camp for the two-day competition weekend. Ready or not it was time for the 21st Annual T&C Surf Grom Contest presented by Chili’s Grill & Bar.
Surfers ages 3-12 from across the island chain gathered to compete in shortboard, longboard and bodyboard divisions. Growing this year was the ever popular Kokua division which expanded to include seven and eight-year-olds who are not ready to head out solo to Queens just yet. The solid growth of the contest comes from increased participation in this division. T&C Surf Designs’ determination to see more keiki experience the excitement of a surf contest has brought larger numbers to the beach. Many of the open divisions were sold out weeks before the event went down this past weekend. “Seeing so many young keiki sharing their first competition wave at our contest gives me a feeling of pure stoke. Knowing that we were able to give each of the competitors the opportunity to surf and have fun without any pressure is rewarding.” – Craig Sugihara, president and founder of T&C Surf.
MORE DETAILS
Taking place under the Vertra tent was the first Annual Vertra x John John Florence Beach Cleanup at the T&C Grom Contest. Dozens of groms participated in the removal of rubbish from Waikiki Beach with a specific focus on single-use plastics and recyclables. Over two days, thousands of pieces of trash were picked up off the beach and common areas fronting Waikiki Beach. On Saturday, Mike Van Hoenstein collected 986 pieces of trash followed by Hoku Diaz who gathered 870 pieces. In third place was Dakota Shifferley with 220 pieces. Determined to win, Diaz returned to the beach and took top honors on Sunday when he collected 959 pieces of trash followed by Rowan Ana at 477 and Evan Vaughs with 447. Grand prize winners from each day were awarded a John John Florence Signature Product Prize Pack. 2nd and 3rd place prizes were also awarded as well. In fact, every child who brought even a single piece of trash to the Vertra tent received a prize.
