Honolua Surf Competition

As many of you MSGs and Maui locals out there know, Melissa Proud is the queen of the Bay.  Honolua Bay is one of my favorite waves on the island, and Melissa has been charging the bay for two decades!  Melissa even paddled out when Laird and his boys were towing in on a HUGE Honolua day.  She sat near the peak and dropped into 15 foot+ faces.  Most guys wouldn't do that and here's Melissa in her mid 40s charging fearlessly out there!

 

So twice this winter, I have been summoned by Melissa Proud to surf the Bay with her.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to surf with this humble legend of Honolua.   The news of Andy Iron's death, November 3, Melissa and her photographer friend David Darling whisked me to the Bay.  It was 10-15 foot heaving Honolua bombs rolling through a small pack of surfers.  I decided to try out a gun, an outdated board in my quiver.  David took some pictures of Melissa and I under the canopy of trees near the boat ramp.  We paddled out there to avoid getting crushed near the cave.  I couldn't believe how strong the currents were.  When we finally got out to the line up, we were the only two women out there.  Melissa immediately caught an inside wave at keiki bowls, while I cruised outside of the line up with my heart in my throat. 

It took me a solid 30 minutes to get the courage to drop into the biggest wave I've ever caught at Honolua.  Unfortunantely I got closed out by a wall of whitewater the size of a 2 story building. 

My second summons to the bay, was Melissa rallying me to enter a competition held at the Bay by Handsome Bugga Productions (the crew that organizes the women's Billabong Pro, that got relocated to Puerto Rico this year).  I agreed – who wouldn't pay $30 bucks to surf the bay with only 3 other women in a heat?  So I decided to play it mellow and do the women's longboarding division.  I played it so mellow, that I almost missed my heat.  I got hammered by a set of waves paddling out so much that our heat was delayed until I made it to the lineup.  Talk about a stressful start to my heat.  To add to my stress, I had to borrow  a 9'6 epoxy board that I'd never rode.  The contest wouldn't allow my 8'0 in a longboarding division. Needless to say, I had a disappointing heat, but the buzz of surfing Honolua Bay with Melissa and two other women, was priceless.

Here's a few clips of our heat.  Pay attention to Melissa taking off on the bomb set wave, while I was about to get hammered by it on the inside near the cave.  Congrats Melissa for your 2nd place finish!!

  

And definitely check out these EPIC clips of Honolua Bay on Surfline, and Maui's local chargers!  Twin brothers, Tide and Kiva Rivers are shown getting barrelled together at the cave!