I had met Jason Tanglin a few months back in Waikiki foil surfing. I followed him on Instagram and @foilfever is his tag. I had put out a post that I would be in Hawaii in August and he responded with Aloha and that I meet him to foil. He is such a nice guy and you can feel his passion for the sport. After our session we talked story and exchanged theories and opinions of foiling. He told me about the series of competitions he was planning. He had a vision of the sport and where he thought it was going. He seemed committed to advancing the sport in a good way with safety and respect being important components of foiling etiquette. I was impressed with his commitment to furthering the sport. I wanted to be a part of it but the competition was only for Hawaiians, so I wished him luck. I did not pay attention to the dates since I figured I would not be at the event. I saw his post on Instagram about The Kalapaki Bay Challenge, I looked at my schedule which is made many months in advance and I was off. I researched flights and everything aligned. I’m a firm believer in Karma and everything just fell into place.

Friday, I woke up early and switched tail wings to my new Armstrong 232 to give it a try. I walked over to the break to be greeted by some larger sets rolling through the lineup. I paddled into the lineup and was greeted by familiar faces. We all foiled together encouraging each other with hooting and hollering. I foiled for an hour and a half before getting out. Jason was there in the parking lot with Chris. We went to breakfast to refuel and talk some story like relatives you haven’t seen for a while do. It was great. Since I am not so young anymore, I walked back to my room to nap for a while to get ready for my evening session. The waves were getting a little bigger at this point, but nothing so intimidating that you could duck dive under a big set easily. It was close to 5 pm and time for the beach clean up event so I came in. There were a lot of people there and it was great to see that my fellow foilers cared about keeping the earth clean. We all picked up trash, with a lot of cigarette buds all over the place. I was surprised that so many people smoked on the island. The place looked better after our efforts. I watched as Jason gave a competitor update and information on the schedule for the next day. We were all excited.

Saturday morning, I was at the beach before light. The event was in the canoe house on the southside of the bay overlooking the break. I helped until it just started to get light out and then snuck out to the beach to get a few waves before the event started. I had an hour before the competition started. I paddled out in the dim light to find I was the only one out. I felt the pressure again since there were a bunch of people including much better foilers than me on the shoreline and most likely looking at what I was doing. I tried not to look like an idiot. I foiled by myself for about thirty minutes. The wave was the same as the days before. Shifty and bumpy, but good if you knew where to be. I was able to get a bunch of waves since I was alone and could sit where I felt I should instead of in relation to others around me. The wave is a right-hand break that then backs off on the inside to become a swell that shifts around. You can foil all the way to the beach through the washing machine section. I would get out before that section to pump back out in the deep channel that is to the right of the break. This is such a great set up since it allows you to pump or paddle to the side of the break, that is out of the way of your fellow foilers and surfers, back to the lineup. If you are a great pumper then you can pump way outside to find a swell before it forms up to break. This allows for you to be in a perfect position to play the wave. I could pump to the inside breaking wave and do a roundhouse to get back into the wave but could not make it out beyond the lineup. I had a great session with waves to pick and choose from. It was what I had become used to foiling back home. The time for the first heat was getting close so I came in to dry off and change into some cloths to watch the event. I did not want to miss any of it.

The first heat I was nervous the whole time. I have been to a few surf events and was bored with the time between waves which could be a long time. Foiling is very different. Your wave selection is important but unlike surfing you can make something of a not so perfect wave or pump to a better wave. The competition allowed one to pump back out for a second wave, but you could not pump into a third or fourth wave. I thought that was a great rule. During the first heat I felt sorry for the judges since there were multiple occasions where two to three foilers were up and foiling. Some going in and some pumping out. This made it very entertaining since there was rarely a time that no one was up and foiling. Heat one was history and the first one to win the very first heat was Mateo Ell. You made history! During the second heat it started to down pour, and I mean barely able to see the competitors type of heavy rain. I was worried but in about 10 minutes it was gone, and you could watch again. Each heat was full of action and firsts. The men’s division went first and the was followed by the women’s division. The women were charging, and you could feel the all-out effort. The SUP division was fun to watch with all the airs and radical turns they were doing. The SUP’s were allowed to use foot straps so they could pull off things the prone guys could not. It was impressive. Controversy did not pass the contest by. In the men’s division Henry was named the winner of the heat and although he foiled well it was not nearly the same as Mateo. We all scratched our heads at the results. It was contested by Mateo’s dad and rightly so with the discovery that the judges had swapped the two riders scores and Mateo was the winner of the heat and would move on while Henry did not. Poor Henry went from king of the world to reality check with in five minutes.

The finals of the women’s and SUP divisions were amazing. Foilers were going for it which resulted in either a big reward or very small score depending on if they made it or not. Consistency was key and you could tell that they were physically fatigued in the later rounds. Foiling is very physically demanding, much more so than surfing. One hour in the water on a foil is much more demanding than the same on a surfboard. I cannot remember getting off a wave surfing and being completely out of breath, but this is the norm for a foil ride.

The men’s division final was thrilling. Every one of the guys out there were great foilers. Out of those four I cannot say that one was so much better than the others. It was close and I had no idea who had one, which I could guess in the early heats.