Aloha everyone. This is a first for this article and I want you to know the purpose is to Promote Women Athletes. I hope you will send me results and info that is important to post. A lot is happening in sports and things are changing fast for Women!

I want to start off by congratulating a girl that calls Hawaii her second home! Aoi Koike won the USBA Women's Pipeline Championship in 6-8 foot Pipeline. She was impressive pulling off an Air, spin, roll maneuver to take the title. Thanks to the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation and the Don and Josie Over Memorial Fund for helping sponsor the event. This was Aoi's second win at Pipeline! A bodyboarder's dream come true. Meanwhile competitor Delore Manus is judging a sort of wave challenge at Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park at the flow rider machine. There is another all girls competition coming up there in June to help support the Kapiolani Womens and Childrens Hospital. Sign up soon girls!


On the Women's Surfing Tour, ASP,  Hawaii's Melanie Bartels started off the season by snapping into 4th place in Australia in the first event on the Association of Surfing Professionals World Tour. The Makaha surfer is a talented trick performer and solid big wave surfer. Peru's Sofia Mulanovich won the event with Hawaii's Triple Crown Champion Megan Abubo landing in a good 8th position. The tour continues with an event at Bells in March. All events are online live, check them out! On the WQS tour Kauai's Bethany Hamilton and Alana Blanchard are charging for Hawaii. These hopefuls are placing well with Bethany in third place overall. Hawaii needs more competitions for our girls to compete in to get the best ratings. The world qualifying circuit has no high point events in Hawaii something I am working on! Please read the resolution drafted by our North Shore district 46 representative Michael Magaoay at the end of this! A giant step forward!

The NSSA Hawaii surf scene is heating up. Regionals happened at Kewalo Basin and the Hawaii team is off to California for Nationals. Results later. Also coming up in surfing is Hawaii's best-kept secret, World Team Competition. Hawaii's World Team has been selected and is Malia Manuel (Kauai), Coco Ho (Oahu), Alyssa Cuison (Oahu), Leila Hurst (Kauai). and Nage Melamed (Kauai) as alternate. The team is in the process of raising money to go to France to compete against 29 other countries. This is the Olympics of surfing. Go Hawaii,  USA.

Kanesa Duncan is still going hard in paddle board  racing, picking up a third place in the Paa Holiday Burn Off. Duncan is hard core, a champion Molokai racer and she surfs too! Congrats!


Water Woman Dane Ward graces the cover of Makai Magazine this month, nice! She is crew with Team Bradley who won the Na Wahine O Ke Kai three years in a row. Team Bradley is composed of elite gals from all over Hawaii including Andrea Moller. Andrea is a pioneer in tow-in surfing. Big guts this girl. Tow surfing is becoming popular for girls too! Recently I saw Malia Kamasugi on her way out of Haleiwa Harbor to ride some 20 footers as well Caron Farnham got a couple bombs. Malia is a soft-spoken dentist charger who was one of the first to take on the big outer reef waves. Farnham a fisherwoman by trade and loves big surf. You may have seen her long hair wrapped up for Triple Crown Work this winter. She knows how to run events and she is also the Contest Director for the Bank of Hawaii North Shore Tow-In Championship. Charge um girls! Also on the big wave front Maya Gabera and a small pack of Women have been challenging the bay this winter. Included in the pack Jenny Useldinger on her big red gun! Average size of the boards they are riding is 10feet. Look for Maya's pink, sleek big wave machine out there! Go girls!

Here is the resolution for those that want to read it. Next time there is a surfing event come out to support the ladies! Thanks to Michael Magaoay, district 46 Representative for working on this for the community!

REQUESTING THE MAYOR, THE CITY COUNCIL, AND THE DEPARTMENTS OF PARKS AND RECREATION OF THE CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU TO ESTABLISH AND IMPLEMENT A FAIR AND BALANCED PERMITTING PROCESS TO ENSURE THAT WOMEN SURFERS AND BODYBOARDERS ARE TREATED EQUITABLY IN THEIR APPLICATIONS FOR PERMITS TO CONDUCT SHORE WATER EVENTS THAT INCLUDE SURFING AND BODYBOARDING CONTESTS FOR WOMEN ON OAHU.
 
WHEREAS, there are many talented and dedicated female surfers and bodyboarders in the State who deserve a chance to participate in a contest of their own at a venue with world class waves and conditions on Oahu; and
 
WHEREAS, Hawaii women surfers and bodyboarders want and deserve equality in the water; and
 
WHEREAS, however, women surfers and bodyboarders are often relegated to less desirable wave venues; women's events lose sponsorship to male events or hold their event by sharing a day under a permit issued to a men's event; women's events are moved to smaller waves at the end of the season or the off season and, all too frequently, are denied permits to even hold their event on Oahu; and
 
WHEREAS, the Department of Parks and Recreation of the City and County of Honolulu is responsible for issuing permits to conduct shore water events, which include surf and bodyboard contests; and
 
WHEREAS, although the City and County of Honolulu has adopted rules relating to conditions for holding surfing and bodyboarding contests on Oahu, it appears that women's events have often been excluded or under-represented in receiving permits to conduct shore water events; and
 
WHEREAS, for example, for the current year no permits were issued to allow women's surfing or bodyboarding contest on Oahu; and
 
WHEREAS, the City and County of Honolulu's permit process for surfing and bodyboarding contests should be conducted more equitably, allowing women in equal opportunity to conduct surfing and bodyboarding events, now, therefore,
 
BE IT RESOVLED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislative of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, the Senate concurring, that the Mayor, the City Council, and the Department of Parks and Recreation of the City and County of Honolulu are requested to consult and work together to establish and implement a fair and balanced permitting process to ensure that women surfers and bodyboarders are treated equitably in their applications for permits to hold women's shore water events on Oahu; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, in working together to establish and implement a fair and balanced permitting process for shore water events, the Mayor, the City Council, and the Department of Parks and Recreation of the City and County of Honolulu are requested to ensure that the process adopted provide for an annual allocation of thirty per cent of all the permits issued on Oahu for shore water events for women's events; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOVLED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor, the Chairperson of the City Council, and the Director of Parks and Recreation of the City and County of Honolulu.

Aloha
Stay Wet,

Betty Depolito

Add Your Own Comment