Chase Burnes won two divisions in the Pohai Na Keiki Nalu (Gathering of the Kids) surf meet at Launiupoko Park, Saturday.
A record 223 entries competed in 11 divisions in the biggest surf conditions in the 22-year history of the event. Surf heights were consistently in the four to six foot range.
Burnes claimed the 7-8 shortboard, the second biggest division with 25 surfers, and the stand-up paddle 9 & under class.
“It was fun catching waves,” said Burnes, a Haiku School second grader-to-be. “Stand-up paddling was fun doing my turns because I had speed.”
Kelsen Snyder won the 6 & under, the biggest division with 42 surfers.
Eric Roberson and Ty Simpson-Kane were repeat winners in different divisions. Roberson won the 9 & under longboard after winning the 7-8 shortboard last year while Simpson-Kane claimed the 9-10 shortboard after taking the stand-up division a year ago.
The contest also raised over $5,000 for the Trucker Dukes family of Haiku. Trucker is a two-year-old who is being treated for neuroblastoma at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
A year ago, Joshua and Shauna Dukes were watching their three oldest chlldren, Indiana, now 9, Mac, 7, and Jedidiah, 6, compete at Launiupoko while Trucker was an active 15-month-old running around the park. Mac had won the 6 & under shortboard while Indiana was fourth in the girls shortboard.
“We didn’t even know Mac won,” Joshua recalled. “He got wana in his foot and cut his side open, and he missed half his heat.”
Spectators will never forget how Mac was screaming in the water, and his dad swam as fast as he could to reach his son, and bring him to shore.
That meet raised over $2,000 for Cristany Rayce Bilan, a five-year-old Lahaina girl with leukemia. Bilan is nearly cancer free and will have her final chemotherapy treatment in October.
Four months after the surf meet, the Dukes learned that their youngest son had cancer. After initial treatment on Oahu, they decided to go to Sloan Kettering.
“They do aggressive surgery”, Joshua said. “They removed part of his liver, an 11 hour surgery. The problem with this cancer is it’s highly aggressive, it comes back chemo resistant.”
Shauna is staying with Trucker in New York City while Joshua continues to work as a fireman in Kihei. Joshua took the children to visit Trucker and their mom in New York for a month, returning three weeks ago.
“I miss him,” Indiana said. “Trucker has this toy medical kit. He would have me pretend that I was the doctor and he was the patient and I would tickle him.”
The surf meet was a nice distraction for the Dukes family even though Indiana and Mac did not make the final, and Jedidiah opted not to surf his heat.
“We live for this stuff, we’re a beach family,” Joshua said. “They’d be at the beach every day if I let them.”
Other winners included Otis Buckingham (bodyboard 9 & under), Ramon rode (bodyboard 10-12), Finn Spencer (stand-up paddle 10-12), Ocean Macedo (longboard 10-12), Axel Rosenblad (11-12 shortboard), and Kayalani Mullen (shortboard girls).
Results
Bodyboard
9 & under
1. Otis Buckingham
2. Jai Strerenthal
3. Jeune Hollar
4. Kaleb Silva
5. Zolten Paulson
6. Hudson Hollar
10-12 years
1. Ramon Rode
2. Kristian Silva
3. Stryder Olsen
4. Tristen Brown
5. Shane Taylor
6. Coby Kaplan
Stand-Up Paddle
9 & under
1. Chase Burnes
2. Cash Berzolla
3. Marley Franco
4. Ethan Simran
5. Nainoa Holland
6. Kingston Panebianco
10-12 years
1. Finn Spencer
2. Slater Fleck
3. Kai Jenkins
4. Ty Simpson-Kane
5. Caden Granum
6. Ryder Tremble
Longboard
9 & under
1. Eric Roberson
2. Chrislyn Simpson-Kane
3. Tamryn Taoka
4. Dawson Nuese
5. Taj Pitts
6. Stever Roberson
10- 12 years
1. Ocean Macedo
2. Axel Rosenblad
3. TyTy Kirby
4. Slater Fleck
5. Chase Anderson
6. Max McGuin
Shortboard
6 & under
1. Kelsen Snyder
2. Marley Franco
3. Zolten Paulsen
4. Jack Howard
5. Kassius Wallace
6. Mylo McKinney
7-8 years
1. Chase Burnes
2. Rafi Neri
3. Otis Buckingham
4. Justin Robinson
5. Roran Mullen
6. Dylan Sloan
9-10 years
1. Ty Simpson-Kane
2. Gabriel Girardin
3. Jake Maki
4. Chase Anderson
5. Cyan Botha
6. Coby Kaplan
11-12 years
1. Axel Rosenblad
2. Ocean Macedo
3. TyTy Kirby
4. Jack Hedden
5. Ramon Rode
6. Max McKuin
Girls
1. Kayalani Mullen
2. Cecilia Buckingham
3. Stella Valdez
4. Imani Caserta
5. Tia Rista
6. Chrislyn Simpson-Kane
Photo Credit: Tom Cooper
Eric Roberson, winner of the 9 & under longboard
Tamryn Taoka, 3rd in 9 & under longboard
Kayalani Mullen, girls short board champion
Indiana Dukes, Trucker’s sister
Ty Simpson-Kane, winner of 9-10 short board
Axel Rosenblad, 11-12 shortboard champion
Finn Spencer, 10-12 stand-up paddle champion
Chase Burnes, 9 & under SUP champion
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