Surf Clothes -- Toes on the Nose KAWEHI WHITFORD TEAM RIDER

Rabbit Kekai
Kirsten Allred
Dane Perlee
Shelly Hayden
Tony Caramanico
Paul Steinberg
Kevin Miske
Jesse Timm
Joy Monahan
Tory Gilkerson
Kawehi Whitford
Rani Bartlett
Paul Scholten

2004 Surfing Season:
I opened up this year's surf competition season with China Uemura's Rip Curl all Wahine contest held at Waikiki Queens Beach. I took 3rd in long and short board.

I was also in Long Board Magazine and Converse Pro-Am Contest, also held at Waikiki Queens Beach. This was a great contest because I got to see the world's best wahine long boarders and the best thing was that I got to surf against the best. There were about 6 amateurs in the field. I don't know how many professionals entered but this was a great experience. I took 3rd place in my heat and did not get to the finals, but that's okay.

This year I surfed for the first time in the NSSA, with the top surfers in the state, where the competition is a lot harder. As the season began, I found that I can surf against the best. This was a year of traveling from island to island and surfing some of the best spots in the state. Lessons I learned were to adapt and overcome some of these surf breaks and adjust to the areas of difficulty and meet the competition requirements. I made it to the regional final and placed 3rd in both long and short board events, and made the cut to the nationals held in San Diego.

I also surfed the HASA surf competition, placing in the top 2 for long boarding and top 3 for short boarding. HASA takes the competition all around Oahu, so we have to get used to all the breaks. My favorite breaks on Oahu are the west side Makaha Beach, Haleiwa, Ehukai, and Sunset Beach.

At this year's Rell Sun Menehune 2004 contest, I took 1st place in the short board event and 2nd in the long board. This was my last year to compete in this event because of the age group, which is 12 and under. This competition is held during the winter months at the end of November and the first two weekends of December.

In 2005, I'd like to do better in my all around approach to both long and short boarding. My favorite of the two is long boarding. I hope to surf my 13-ft koa board during the opening ceremony at the Converse Pro-Am Duke Kahanamoku Contest, just like the father of surfing some years ago. I also hope to get to the Pipeline Open for girls 13-15 years old. I've been training at Sunset Point with Brian Suratt, he's getting me ready for the vertical drops, so I can take the pipe.