“A Super Stupendous Success,” by Ron Haworth, 

Over the years, Makaha has come in for criticism—mostly from Californians and Australians complaining about too many in the heats and all-Hawaiian judging. “How can you have an international contest without international judges?” commented World Champion Nat Young. This year the sponsoring Waikiki Surf Club went to great pains to stifle the critics—including inviting an international panel of judges.

, too, has come in for criticism. Hawaiians frequently have complained that the Makaha report often was told strictly from a Mainland, or Californian, point of view. So this year 

 assigned veteran Hawaiian surf writer Ron Haworth to tell the Makaha side of the controversy. And here is his story about . . .

The 1966 Makaha International really put the damper on criticism that has been heaped on this the most famous meet on the surfing horizon. There was fine surf—from five to twelve feet—excellent surfers from all over the world and an events committee that systematically processed 531 entries better than any IBM machine. And to top a really outstanding contest, the host Waikiki Surf Club threw an “expense no object” luau at the Makaha Country Club with all competitors as honored guests.

A great deal of the credit goes to president John Lind of the Waikiki Surf Club who spearheaded re-vamping the contest. Lind knew criticism, even unwarranted, had to be avoided if the Makaha meet were to resume its one-time position of contest leadership around the world. So steps were taken early aimed at pacifying foreign surfers (considering California surfers as foreign).

A big gripe in past meets was the cry of prejudiced judging that always echoed along the foggy California beaches once the defeated invaders were again dipping chilled toes in friendly lapping waves along that brown coast. Why, they complained to any sympathetic ear, does almost nobody ever win at Makaha from east of Kole Kole Pass? Another gripe well chewed over each year concerned the shoulder-to-shoulder heats.

So judging and size of the heats were changed. At great expense, the Waikiki Surf Club imported three judges to work with the two Hawaiians: a Californian, a Peruvian, and an Australian. Heats were limited to six surfers—a big difference to past years when as many as twenty-five scrambled for a wave!

After six days of competitive surfing, the impartial international jury found Hemmings and Downing superior over the senior men; Hawaiians Abellira, Aikau, and Blears leading a junior sweep; and pert Makaha resident Martha Sunn second only to the invincible Joyce Hoffman.

Last year “hometown” judging had Hemmings and Downing reversed! Obviously then, (if we can surmise A + B = C) the Hawaiians are better acclimated to Makaha’s surf. The bigger the surf, the more elementary this sum becomes. You don’t become a skydiver by free falling out of bed every night, or a big-wave rider by hanging ten cuticles in California’s Red Tide.

Said champion Fred Hemmings three days before his third Makaha victory (one as a junior), “Makaha is different than any other spot. It offers a huge outside bowl and a small, hot inside section. You don’t learn all there is to know in a two-day warmup and familiarization course.”

Felipe Pomar commented after his semi-final heat victory, “It takes a lot of surfing to get the feel of Makaha: a very special and difficult place to ride.” But world champion Robert “Nat” Young brought Makaha down a notch. Commented the Aussie, “I don’t like Makaha’s waves.”

From the international judges came glowing comments. Australia’s John Shackley: “I’m very impressed with the organization and hospitality of the Waikiki Surf Club. I can find no fault with this contest.” Peruvian judge Carlos Rey: “There is nothing wrong with the Makaha meet.” But perhaps more important and most significant are the valued opinions of California’s Les Williams. “I’ve found the quality of the surfers equal to the best of mainland surfers, and I think the operations of the meet comes up to the best standard on the Pacific Coast. That includes the Huntington Beach Championships, the top meet on the Coast.”

As far as the surfers themselves were concerned, it was a super-stupendous success. But how could it be anything else with good management and top quality surf? The opinions of all competitors were capsuled by George Downing: “The surf couldn’t have been better if punched out with buttons.”

The biggest surf came up opening day, and head official Wally Froiseth was quick to announce senior men preliminaries. Some 220 senior men in 19 heats paddled out into fine surf that held steady through the morning and into the afternoon. The breeze was light and off shore. Each heat had twenty minutes. Surfers were judged on their best three waves. Scoring was compiled under the rules set forth by the International Surfing Federation.

Survivors into the semi-finals included Ben Apia, Joey Cabell, Jackie Eberle, Trevor Elms (Australia),Tiger Espere, Johnny Fain, Fred Hemmings Jr. (day’s high scorer), Kealoha Kaio, Buffalo Keaulana, Rabbit Kekai, Blue Makua Jr., Rusty Miller, and Jock Sutherland.

But there were the disappointed, and the fallen included Charlie Galento, Barry Kanaiaupuni, Bill Fury, Bobby Cloutier, and David Nuuhiwa. Nuuhiwa was in one of the tightest heats of the day and finished tied for third with 78 points, four points behind heat winner Nappy Napoleon. The old general had trimmed the fresh recruit.

The 38 survivors were joined in the semi-finals by these seeded competitors: Corky Carroll, Nat Young, Felipe Pomar, Mike Doyle, Jeff Hakman, Leroy Ah Choy, Mike Barland (France), Francisco Aramburu and Miguel Plaza (Peru), Paul Strauch Jr., and an unknown Ewa Beach surfer named Enomoto. Three-time Makaha champ George Downing was seeded through to the finals because of his Makaha victory in ’65.

The semi-final heats—in eight to ten foot surf—were lengthened to thirty minutes. Heat one drew Doyle, Hakman, Young, Ah Choy, and Pieper: heat two, Miller, Hemmings, Pomar. Sutherland, and Keaulana! Sixty tense minutes later, these ten were narrowed down to Doyle, Young, Hemmings, Pomar, and Downing, who until now hadn’t been wet.

The finals ran 45 minutes, with scoring on the best of five waves. Five of the greatest surfers had Makaha to themselves with sets at 12 feet.

What transpired during that time will be remembered and debated long into the summer. Everyone but Young paddled straight out to the blowholes, desiring to pick up the largest and longest rides. Nat sat in close, planning to rip apart the hot inside waves. His idea, apparently, was to catch more waves and build his score in the hollow walls and on the tricky shoulders as he had done so well in the semi-finals.

Later, after Young squeezed into a fourth-place finish one point ahead of Pomar, his strategy was picked over like a three-day-old Christmas turkey. Many experts felt Young’s unwillingness to scramble in outside waves and his decision to use a nine-foot three-inch hot dogging board cost him dearly. One reporter had Young knocked from his board ten times in the finals. And Young was not a welcome sight for those who caught the wave outside and then had to contend with a late takeoff by Nat. Words were passed between Nat and another finalist.

But it’s doubtful any change in Young’s strategy would have denied Hemmings’ victory—he was too hot. On one of his better waves, Fred dropped into the bowl and hot dogged through the trampoline-like shorebreak. Hemmings showed a repertoire that ran the gamut from spinners to nose riding, and finally riding backwards through a critical section while grabbing the rail!

Commented Downing later at the luau, “Hemmings never looked better. The placings were creditable, except I would have reversed Young and Felipe. With five waves in a set, there was no need to take somebody else’s wave.”

And what of Nat Young? Is the unflattering image he projected due to his youth and dizzy climb to fame, or has a world championship turned his curly head? Certainly he was never in the running for the Kahanamoku Sportsmanship trophy. It is said nice guys don’t win, but this year’s winner of the Kahanamoku award was a gentleman named Felipe Pomar, a big- wave surfer who can beat you on any given day with the right wave. In doing so, he proved ability and dignity can be bedfellows.

“I was disappointed,” Felipe remarked on the beach after having words with Young in the water, “that Nat hasn’t matured and kept in step with his unquestionable surfing ability. He appears to be the same poor loser I beat for the world championship in Peru. . . . As for Makaha . . . it’s the ultimate challenge for surfers when big and an ideal site for the true international flavor. It ranks in magnitude with the World Contest—every bit as bright.” Pomar added, “There has always been a certain group of California surfers who complain about Makaha. Actually, these complainers aren’t suited to Island conditions. Judging at Makaha has always been above reproach. . . .”

Rusty Miller commented, “I can find no fault with the judging this year, but I didn’t like having to compete against a lot of kooks. And why should I have to work my way up to the preliminaries? After all, I was the United States Surfing Association champion last year. It cost me a lot of money to come—for what? So I could surf against kooks?”

This year’s USSA champion, Corky Carroll, was seeded into the semifinals. He didn’t advance beyond them. Miller got into the quarterfinals. Boiled down, why should any surfer who surfs endlessly in the California shorebreak be treated to a Makaha seeding where the surf is so vastly different?

“I don’t like Makaha,” said Nat Young after his good showing in the semi-finals. “My idea of a good wave is a five-foot beach break. But I’m not worried; I do what the waves demand. A surfer has to adjust to meet the conditions.”

Of the judges, only Shackley of Australia omitted Downing from the top three. Hemmings made every ballot. Both Hawaiian judges passed completely over Young, and this is significant because of the five judges, they know better than any what to look for at Makaha. Evidently Young’s shorebreak ability left them unimpressed. Shackley later termed the finalists “terribly even, which is what you’d expect with men of this class.”

The women’s competition was held in small but well-formed surf. Leading the record field of 55 wahines was world champion Joyce Hoffman, Australia’s Phyllis O’Donnell, Joey Hamasaki, and 13-year-old Margo Godfrey of La Jolla. (Strangely, Hawaii is woefully weak in wahine surfers.)

It was all Joyce. Her wave control wrung “Oohs and Ahhs” from beach onlookers as she worked Makaha’s inside sections till they wanted to bleed. Her turns, fade-backs, climbs and drops and nose riding was on an equal to rides turned in by the junior men. Joyce’s best five waves were all in the sixties, and no other finalist hit a single sixty-point wave! Makaha’s Martha Sunn and Aussie O’Donnell were nip and tuck for second and third. Happy-go-lucky O’Donnell’s first words after hearing the placings were, “Where are the trophies? What do they look like?”

The final day was given over to ten tandem teams. The surf was six to eight—the biggest ever for this event. Always a crowd pleasing spectacle, the tandem was more so in the overhead surf. Tried and tested Pete Peterson, 54, came home the winner, while Mike Doyle finished well out of the money. Doyle was out after his third straight Makaha tandem trophy, but it was one record which got away.

“This meet established a togetherness,” summed up Wally Froiseth at the awards luau, a cold Primo in his hand, “that has benefited Hawaii. And I know the visiting judges will go home with a lot more respect for our type of judging and handling of the Makaha meet.”

1) Fred Hemmings, 2) George Downing, 3) Mike Doyle, 4) Nat Young, 5) Felipe Pomar

1) Reno Abellira, 2) Clyde Aikau, 3) Jim Blears, 4) Bob English, 5) Mike Purpus

1) Joyce Hoffman, 2) Martha Sunn, 3) Phyllis O’Donnell, 4) Margo Godfrey, 5) Joey Hamasaki

1) Pete Peterson and Barrie Algaw, 2) Bob Moore and Patti Young, 3) Leroy Ah Choy and Vivian Thomas

1966 Makaha International Surfing Championships

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