MAUI SPORTS: Mainlander Wins Inaugural Kihei Classic Surf Contest

A 38-year-old man from Portland, Oregon won the first-ever Kihei Classic Surf Contest at The Cove on Monday, barely edging out a 58-year-old stand-up paddle boarder who accidentally got in the lineup and kept competing because fans on the beach egged her on.

Joseph Morango was deemed winner of the competition because he finished the most wave rides without crashing into a tourist, visitor, swimming kid, or flotation device left abandoned by anyone else at The Cove on the day.

“I was just trying not to fall, to be honest,” Morango said after the 4-hour event sponsored by Maui Insight. “That final 2-footer was a challenge because it seemed so slow, and there were so many people standing on the shallow ocean floor right in the way, that I felt like I had to slalom a little bit to make it to shore. Now I know how Mikaela Shiffrin must feel on the slopes.”

The judges were impressed.

“Out of the dozens of competitors, that guy seemed to stand out because he kept making it to the shore without getting knocked off by the crowd, or something floating in the water that someone lost control of,” said Pete Evanston, manager of a Boss Frog’s in Kihei and part of the 3-judge panel. “On one wave I actually saw him swerve back and forth, the last because a snorkeler popped his head up out of nowhere.”

Morango had just learned to surf last Thursday.

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About 50 surfers, from experienced long-timers to some who just took a lesson across South Kihei Road, participated in the event aimed at celebrating the long, slow waves and long-boarding at the popular Kihei surf spot.

The judges also were impressed by a contestant who said she didn’t actually sign up for the event.

“I was just stand-up paddle-boarding coming from Kam I, and I needed to go potty so I aimed at the next beach because I think I saw a bathroom over there in the park,” said Joanne Worthy, 58, of Edmonton, Canada. “But I got stuck on this little wave and it just kept going and going and going like the Energizer Bunny. Next thing I knew, the shore was right there, people were clapping, and yelling at me to do it again. So I did.”

Unfortunately, on her last ride Worthy crashed into a kid carelessly lying on a big inflatable sea turtle and could not complete the ride.

In fact, only Morango seemed to reach the beach consistently.

“Next year we’ll try to arrange it at a location where there aren’t so many darn visitors in the water trying to learn to surf, or just walking all the way out there to that rock in the middle,” said Tim Armstrong, marketing director for Maui Insight. “And where did all those abandoned flotation devices come from? Did they have a sale at Long’s or something?”

No contestants were from Maui, Armstrong said. A local walking by the event questioned its purpose.

"What Polock sets up a surfing contest in a spot where people go to learn to surf?" asked Steven Ninau of Kahului. "There must have been 450 people out there this morning."

[Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of Sports reporting by Maui Insight; new story ideas are very welcome]

(Photo by Bruno Joseph via Pexels)