To the casual beach-goer visiting Kohanaiki last weekend, the increased activity might have seemed like just another surfing contest. Upon closer inspection the boards were all long, and the competitors all wahine.
The contest in question was the mostly annual — nine contest in 11 years — Tomboy Bombshell Wahine Classic. The brainchild of apparel company Tomboy Bombshell owner, Keli Campbell, the contest was established to promote women’s surfing and encourage community involvement. The event in Kona was aimed at encouraging teamwork and camaraderie between wahine surfers while promoting confidence and a healthy lifestyle.
The contest features a unique team format and some interesting scoring options. The teams of six riders each, surfed together in a heat with individual scores being tallied for a team total.
While the waves were small and inconsistent on the day of the contest, the smaller sets made it possible for the competitors to capitalize on some of the unique scoring opportunities set forth in the Tomboy Bombshell rule book. While traditional scoring methods were used to evaluate skill, style, and wave quality; tricks, board hop-ons, headstands, shared rides, and dramatic dismounts were encouraged!
Perhaps the most exciting of all the scoring options was the “booster wave”, during the last five minutes of their heat, if all six competitors were able to ride the same wave they got an extra five points. If the surfers were able to link hands during the party wave then they got the “double booster” score and 10 extra points.
Tandem riding was a popular way to score more points with several mother daughter teams putting on a show for the sizable crowd.
In the end team Pink-a-Boo faced off against team Orange Crush for the contest championships with team Pink-a-Boo capturing the victory, and bragging rights until next year.
With the beach clean-up complete and the contest over you would expect the day to start winding down, but that was when one of the most anticipated events of the contest kicked off. The men’s bikini division was a single heat, winner take all, contest in which male competitors donned bikinis in order to participate. It was quite a sight to see the boys take to the surf wearing bikini tops with the bottoms pulled up over their board shorts.
The Lambeth boys — dad Jesse, Pohaku, Kaninau, and Keali’i — were able to get four surfers up on two boards in a tandem formation and were crowned the winners.
With another successful contest in the books, Keli Campbell was quick to point out that it takes a village to pull off this type of event and she was very thankful for all the support from the community and especially Mel Behasa and Pacific Vibrations surf shop.
The Tomboy Bombshell Wahine Classic celebrates surfing, wahine and a love for the aina. If you weren’t lucky enough to be at the contest this year, put a reminder in your 2020 calendar and make it a point to be on the waves or the beach when the contest rolls around next year.