There was a light rain falling and the sun was just peaking above the horizon as tents were being set up, and supplies ferried down the steps, for the Live Like Sion Grom Fest at Honoli’i Beach Park on the last Saturday in December. The youth surfing contest was free to participants and was organized by the Sion Milosky Fondation and sponsored by Volcom.
Volcom Hawaii’s Marketing Director, Tai VanDyke and Sales Rep, Clint Moncata were on hand with all the prizes that make these events so popular with the kids. According to VanDyke, “Clint and Volcom came up with the idea to do free, grassroots, surf, skate, and snow events. We are always trying to find ways to bring the fun back into surfing competition and alleviate the financial burden of the entry fee. Thus our slogan, Let the Kids Ride Free.”
With Keith “Bradda Skibs” Nehls of Basic Image handling beach logistics the contest site was up and ready to go with groms signing up for their heats at 7 a.m. The rising sun chased away the rain and the kids got a little bump in the wave heights due to an easterly swell and everybody was ready to go.
Before the action began the competitors, spectators, and staff gathered by Honoli’i stream for the blessing of the event and to remember Sion Milosky by placing a maile lei into the stream to be carried away by the currents. Foundation Co-founder Milo Murguia had this to say about Sion, “He was a family man, a surfer, a fisherman, a man of integrity, and a man of his word. We’re just trying to teach you a little bit about him and teach our keiki how to be more like him.”
The key goal of the Grom Fest is for everyone to have fun, so the rules are relaxed and can change to meet the needs of the competitors. The field of girls was small so some familiar young wahine were out surfing against the boys to get in some extra heats. Shazanie Urubio surfed in 7 heats, mostly out of her ten and under age group, and mostly against the boys, while Rumor Butts finished in 3rd place in the junior boy’s 14-17 division.
Unlike more traditional surfing contests, the Grom Fest featured a beach start, which means when the horn sounds to end one heat it also signals the start of the next heat and surfers who have been waiting on the beach charge through the surf in search of the first wave and a head start on the competition. Some of the resulting “paddle battles” added another level of excitement to the event.
Perhaps one of the most entertaining events of the day was the keiki push-in. Parents were able to push the youngest groms into the waves while they were already standing on their boards. There were some great rides, some fun wipeouts, and a lot of smiles. In the end all the keiki competitors got first place trophies.
While the contest emphasized fun, there were still trophies to hand out and prizes to be won.
In the girls open division, Sophia Carlucci placed third, Milaika Bishaw took second, and Rumor Butts was your winner.
There was a lot of competition in the boy’s 10 and under division. Third place went to Kona Costa, with second belonging to Kalie Rivas, and the first place hardware was captured by Val Costa.
The 11-13 boy’s division is the strongest group on the Island and it showed with some excellent heats. Tamaroa Kalama was the third place finisher, followed by Jackson Dorian in second, with Diesel Butts taking first place with some powerful surfing.
The junior boys 14-17 division is often invaded by those surfing up a division and it isn’t uncommon to see the younger surfers get the win from time to time. Rumor Butts started the invasion by taking third place and beating out a number of the boys. Thirteen year olds Diesel and Jackson swapped their earlier first and second place finishes, sending the older boys home empty handed.
The final events of the contest were the expression session and team event. Hometown hero, Uluboi Napeahi captured both titles, partnering with Jackson Dorian to beat out Solomon Ortiz and Diesel Butts for the team title. Humble as always, Ulu offered to return the twenty dollar expression session entry fee to any of the competitors who wanted it back.
Once the surfing was pau, the groms and their ohanas gathered around the prize tent for the awards ceremony. This is where Volcom and other companies local companies like One Drop surf boards stepped up to make the groms day. Surf boards, skate boards, bikes, fishing poles, and backpacks full of swag were handed to participants with every kid going home with something rad.
The contest also saw the debut of the CheePono Foundation, founded by Konawaena High grad and drummer for the reggae band Pepper, Yesod Williams; the non profit foundation seeks to provide unique opportunities for Big Island youth through surfing, music, and more. Surfers Val Costa, Rumor Butts, Kaninau Lambeth, Kalei Rivas, and Shawn Urubio were awarded 2020 Hawaii Surfing Association memberships to help further their competitive surfing careers.
The Live Like Sion Grom Fest was a great experience for the Big Island surfing community, the organizers, and sponsors. Event organizer Milo Murguia, a native of Kauai, said, “I have never been to Hilo and I am completing blown away by this place (Honoli’i).” Milo closed out the awards ceremony by thanking everyone for attending the first annual Live Like Sion Grom Fest and pledged to be back in 2020.
