AccesSurf Hawaii hosted the Hawaii Adaptive Surfing Championships last week at Queen’s Beach.
The second of four stops on the Association of Adaptive Surfing Professionals world tour came to Oahu last week. Surfing professionals from all over the world are competing in Australia, Hawaii, Costa Rica and California this year, and these surfers rely on each other and loads of volunteers to get on and off the water.
began hosting the in 2019 and later joined as a stop on the AASP tour. The nonprofit organization was founded in 2006.
Volunteers and fellow competitors move Tomoki Fujiwara of Japan onto an all-terrain wheelchair on the first day of competition May 13 at Queen’s Beach in Waikiki. The device uses large, balloon-like tires to float over the beach. Fujiwara finished 2023 in ninth place in the Prone Assist division. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024)A surfer鈥檚 prosthetic leg waits for its owner while he competes in an Any Knee Kneeling heat May 14. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024)Volunteers move Buster Kawasaki of Kapolei onto an all-terrain wheelchair after his first Prone Assist heat May 13. Another volunteer wrangles Kawasaki’s surfboard. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024)Kevin Olenick, left, of San Diego, keeps his eyes on the water as his son Parker Olenick gets a hug from his mother Samantha Olenick before his Unassisted Prone heat May 14. San Diego State University recruited Parker as its first para-surfing athlete. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024)Tomoki Fujiwara of Japan heads out to the staging area with a volunteer for his Prone Assist division heat May 13. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024)Mark 鈥淢ono鈥 Stewart cuts back during his Any Knee Kneeling heat at Queen’s surf break May 14. Stewart is the defending champion in this division. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024)Faith Lennox of Maui rides a wave during her Upper Limb Standing mixed heat May 14. As a newborn, Lennox lost her forearm after a crushing injury. She underwent numerous surgeries during the first nine months of her life. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024)Eric Lazar of Koloa prepares to compete in the Prone Assist division May 13. Lazar finished eighth overall last year. The Kauai surfer was injured in a 2003 dirt-bike accident. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024)Bailey Van Den Hooven of Australia returns after his first heat in the Prone Assist division May 13. This was Van Den Hooven’s second AASP event. He started his professional surfing career in March at The Blackmores Australian Pro Adaptive Surfing Championship in Byron Bay, New South Wales. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024)Volunteers escort Jose Martinez after his first heat in the Prone Assist division May 13. Martinez is the defending Prone Assist champion. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024)Faith Lennox of Maui returns to the beach after her Upper Limb Standing mixed heat May 14. Lennox has been a Kazuma Surfboards team rider and Hawaii Adaptive Surf team athlete since 2018. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024)Naomichi Katsukura of Japan, center, jokes with Charles 鈥淐haka鈥 Webb, right, on May 13. A heavy-duty carpet is rolled atop the sand for regular wheelchair tires and to address other mobility issues. Katsukura competes in the Above Knee Standing division. Webb surfs in the Wave Ski division. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024)Any Knee Kneeling competitors Mark 鈥淢ono鈥 Stewart, wearing a red rash guard, and Masafumi Kobayashi, wearing a white rash guard, reunite with Wave Ski division surfer Spike Kane after the Any Knee Kneeling heat May 14. The three competitors shared a house at the first Association of Adaptive Surfing Professionals competition of the year in Australia in March. (Kevin Fujii/Civil Beat/2024)
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