Posted on: Wednesday, October 6, 2004

HOMEGROWN REPORT
Surf's up on the Eastern shore

By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Clay beaches, 65-degree temperatures, inconsistent swells, shorebreak, and murky, green water ... so what?

That's not stopping students from Hawai'i on the East Coast from surfing.

"I tell my friends I'm going surfing right now, and they're like, 'What, are you crazy?' " Kailua native and Princeton sophomore Laura Melahn said. "It's a surprise to everyone; they definitely don't expect it."

Melahn is one of many members of surf clubs at Ivy League universities, and with the Ivy League Surf Association, they found ways to connect with one another and surf even the toughest conditions.

Princeton senior Sean Vitousek, from Kamuela, is president of his school's club. The Tigers just captured the fifth annual ILSA Invitational on Sept. 25, their "unofficial league championships," he said.

The Invitational was the last competition of the season before winter begins, because "yes, it does snow on the beach up here," Vitousek said.

Surfers from Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Brown, M.I.T. and Boston College traveled to Narragansett, R.I., for the ILSA competition.

"Everybody at the contest is really grounded and normal," Vitousek, a 2001 Hawai'i Prep graduate, said. "They just happen to be really good at what they do, and really intelligent.

"I meet people at Princeton who are completely out there and I just can't relate to them at all. But the surf contest is filled with normal guys who just happened to find their way to an Ivy League school."

He said the Ivy League meets help bring together old friends as well as new ones, as evidenced by the attendance of Melahn's classmates Katie Gelber of Harvard and Kim Kolt of Cornell at last month's event.

Vitousek said the surf meets are informal and usually judged by one surfer each from Princeton, Harvard and Yale.

"Basically, we judge ourselves," he said. "While they're judging it and people are surfing, the teammates will root for them to get a better score.

"If someone has a mean wipeout and it looks really cool, we'll probably increase their score. It's not standard criteria for judging."

He said although most of the club members are athletes, heavy competitiveness usually doesn't emerge, even though they are going up against some of their main rivals.

"When you are out in the water, or even out of the water, you really want to beat them," Vitousek said. "But you take a step back and realize it is a surf competition, the waves are nothing special, and our surfing is nothing special, so we take it really light-heartedly."

Vitousek, who is a member of Princeton's volleyball team, is joined by Melahn, who competes for Princeton's cross country and track and field teams.

"Knowing that I can surf here brings a part of home to school with me," said Melahn, a 2003 Punahou School graduate. "I think the surf team is more of an outlet for relaxation and having fun."

Vitousek said most of the members of the ILSA are from Hawai'i or California, and brought a love of surfing with them, but not necessarily the proper equipment.

"Before, people wouldn't even bring their boards to campus," said Vitousek, who shipped his short board to New Jersey. "We only had two boards my freshman year. Now we're up to six or seven right now."

Not having the proper gear proved to be a problem for Melahn, who didn't have a wet suit.

"It's really cold, and for our little contest thing we had, I didn't have one," she said. "I borrowed one from our University Geosciences Department."

Harvard sophomore Brent Kakesako (Iolani 2003) also doesn't have a wet suit or board, but finds a way to surf because it provides a way to get out of the city and "helps me clear my mind."

And being a part of a surfing club is an added bonus.

"The guys help each other out," Kakesako said. "You make new friends, and it is kind of cool to talk about something that I'm used to talking about with people back home."

But most things are nothing like Hawai'i, according to Kakesako, who is joined on Harvard's team by 2002 Iolani graduate Kim Ono.

"The whole East Coast, the water is nasty, and the beach isn't a beach, per se, it is kind of clay-ish," said Kakesako, who is on Harvard's wrestling team. "The water is way colder. When the swells come, it is few and far between."

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2457.