Roxy Wahine Classic

San Onofre State Beach, California
11 - 12 October 2003

Roxy Wahine Classic goes off with huge success

Wow! What a fun weekend. The seventh annual Roxy Wahine Classic took place this past weekend on October 10-12, at San Onofre State Beach in California. It all started with a super fun registration party. There were 300 girls from 4 years old to 65 years old who participated in the contest. Each entry got her own official Wahine Classic goodie bag. The bags were a little different from the past year. This year the actual bag was a cloth tote bag designed just for this event instead of the traditional plastic bag with the goods inside. Inside the tote bag were a whole bunch of surprises including a tee-shirt that matched the bag and the whole art theme of this years contest

When it comes to dinner at a surf contest in Southern California, no one does it better than Wahoo's Fish Tacos. Hundreds of surfer girls lined up to fill their plates with chicken or fish tacos and quench their thirst with Snapple, a sponsor of the event.

       

All the chairs in the room were filled with contestants (as well as the standing space), for the information talk about the weekend. Allan Seymour, the Contest Director of the event, told all the girls that the first heat would start at 7:00 am Saturday morning. Allison Hutchings the Events Manager for Roxy and some other Roxy Marketing Team girls held a raffle. The prizes were some Roxy Luggage, sunnies and autographed copies of the Luna Bay books. After the raffle, a special guest appearance was made by Fran Lantz, the author of the Luna Bay books. She told everyone a little bit about herself and her passion for the surfing lifestyle. By 7:30 pm it was time for everyone to go home and get some rest before the big day, but before each contestant left, she had to check the heat sheet to see what time she'd be surfing.

The Roxy Wahine Classic is very special to San Onofre, it is the only time camping is allowed on the San Onofre Beach, and they only let Roxy people camp there. Some of the Roxy Team camped over night. The slumber party had so much fun. I heard that some girls got a little crazy making some weird peanut butter, chocolate and pretzel snack combos. Before bed, all the girls snuggled up together and watched a movie.

Saturday the older girls surfed and Sunday was for the younger girls. Over a dozen Roxy team riders surfed in the contest. A few of our team girls couldn't make it because they were sick so Torri and I had fun filling their spots. It was quite interesting since Torri and I are both shortboarders. I had been on a longboard about 10 times but everyone kept saying to just go out and have fun and that is what I did. One thing I noticed while out there in my heat was that this contest was so different from other contests. For one it is a girl's only contest. And secondly, it is such a relaxed vibe. What I thought was so cool was that in the line up the girls talked to each other. They laugh, they aren't too aggressive, they just want to have fun and be a little competitive while doing so. In my heat, we introduced ourselves to each other while we were waiting in the water for the starting horn to blow.

       

It was so cool to hang out on the beach with all my friends on the Roxy team and watch the contest. I was so stoked to see how good these girls were at surfing. They were so graceful dancing on their longboards. There was a lot of talent like walking the nose of the board, drop knee cutbacks and headstands. On Friday night, there was a full moon, which meant that the tides would be at their lowest and highest of the month. On the high tide it was tricky because the waves would break so close to the shore, causing for a dangerous quick ride. If the surfer took the wave too far into the beach she would get tossed on the rocks. On the low tide, during both the finals, the surfers were so far out and the sun was so bright and glaring that two spotters had to be used to watch the heats. The spotters would look through binoculars to tell the judges what color jersey was up and riding the wave so that they could score them properly. The Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Wahine girls were so cute. I just got a really cool camera from Sony, the cyber-shot U DSC-U60 digital camera. You have to get one. It is waterproof! I took it out during one of the Itsy Bitsy's heats and got some amazing pictures. Make sure to check them out in the photo gallery.

Throughout the day in the Roxy camper, team riders, Roxy staff and friends popped in to get a snack, have a chit-chat or just rest from the hot sun. It was the cool spot to be and all were welcomed to drop in and say hi. Both days Roxy Team Manager Rachael Greff organized an autograph signing with the Roxy team. Tanya Booth, Jen OÕBrien, Veronica Kay, Jenna Grosshans, Courtney Conalogue, Erin Lewis, Julie Cox, Marissa Barry, and Kalani, Oleema and Hana Miller grabbed some sharpies and signed away on the Roxy Wahine Classic posters for all their fans. There was such a long line but girls were determined to wait for an autographed poster.

Each day finished around 6:45 pm with an awards ceremony. Roxy's Danielle Beck passed out the trophies on Saturday to the Junior Women, Senior Women and Masters divisions. On Sunday, Rachael Greff passed the trophies to the other divisions: Menhune, Teenie Wahine, Itsy Bitsy Wahine and Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Wahine. The trophies were classic wooden bowls for 2nd through 5th place and an authentic Hawaiian hula girl lamp for the 1st place winner. Danielle announced the retirement of longboard legend Kim Hamrock who placed 1st in the masters division. The Roxy Wahine Classic was the last event that she would surf in. Another special annual award of the Wahine Classic is the "Liz Irwin Spritit of Aloha". This year it was awarded to Janet Powers.

       

Smiles and happy tears were worn on everyone's face during the award ceremonies. It was another amazing year of the Roxy Wahine Classic and a great weekend for families and friends. Congratulations to all the winners! Way to go Team Roxy! See you next year!

Photo gallery

RESULTS:

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2003

JUNIOR WOMEN, 15-19
1 AMANDA HULSIZER SAN CLEMENTE
2 DANIELLE HENSCHEL CAPISTRANO BEACH
3 CASSIE FAIRFIELD CAPISTRANO BEACH
4 ERIN LEWIS OCEAN BEACH
5 CHELSEY YNIQUEZ MIDWAY CITY
6 OLEEMA MILLER SAN CLEMENTE

SENIOR WOMEN, 20-35
1 HEATHER WOLF SAN CLEMENTE
2 JULIE COX SANTA CRUZ
3 SHEVON FRANZ SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO
4 CONNIE HURST HUNTINGTON BEACH
5 HAYLEY NEMEROFF SAN DIEGO
6 CHANDEE CORWIN SAN CLEMENTE

MASTERS, 36 AND OVER
1 KIM HAMROCK HUNTINGTON BEACH
2 JEANNETTE PRINCE CARDIFF
3 JERICHO POPPLER LONG BEACH
4 BECKY HOWELL ELFIN FOREST
5 KATIE CALKINS MISSION VIEJO
6 STACY WILLIS SAN DIEGO

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12 2003

ITSY BITSY TEENY WEENIE WAHINE, 8 AND UNDER
1 PAIGE ORTIZ HUNTINGTON BEACH
2 LENA MELILO OXNARD
3 KANDI PATTERSON CAPISTRANO BEACH
4 KIRRA DRURY OXNARD
5 GRACIE CHAVERS MANHATTAN BEACH
6 LAINE ORTIZ HUNTINGTON BEACH

ITSY BITSY WAHINE 9-10
1 TARA FRANZ SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO
2 JORDYN DeLaVEGA CANYON COUNTRY
3 ANNEKE BARRIE SAN CLEMENTE
4 CATHERINE CLARK VENTURA
5 KIRRA KEHOE SANTA MONICA
6 COURTNEY JOHNSON DANA POINT

TEENIE WAHINE 11-12
1 ALEXA DILLEY ENCINITAS
2 JASMINE LYONS VENICE
3 RACHEL BARRY IRVINE
4 DELANEY GONZALES CARLSBAD
5 NATALIE HAGGLUND ENCINITAS
6 MAGGIE DUNN CAPISTRANO BEACH

MENEHUNE 13-14
1 MARISSA BARRY DANA POINT
2 CHELSIE CORWIN SAN CLEMENTE
3 TAYLOR GONZALES CARLSBAD
4 SAVANNAH STAR ENCINITAS
5 NATALIE POMPA VISTA
6 MEGAN ROGER DEL MAR

"LIZ IRWIN SPIRIT OF ALOHA" AWARD -- JANET POWERS

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