good morning. wanted to sleep in today but couldn’t. just got too many things to do before i leave so better start now. waves came down in town. looking cloudy and windy so i’m not too excited to go surfing. maybe get wet this afternoon. check out some of the photos from yesterday. have a nice day…..

when the finals started, it was all business. judges mike shimooka, hayato maki, and derek wong made sure the right guy got the right score. great judges and nobody was complaining….

i’m still tripping out on how fast this contest was put together. it’s incredible how when people pitch in, things get done. it would take months to plan something as big as this. but when you have everybody participating, things get done fast. and right….

girls finals. kelia moniz 2nd, alissa quizon 1st…

under 12 grom finals. joshua moniz 2nd, shun murakami 1st….

under 16 finals, eala stewart 2nd, and isaiah moniz 1st…

we had a trophy and prize money for most inspirational surfer of the contest. cassidy kuakini won it hands down. why? because he lost early but still held his happy face up and supported his friends that were still in the contest. that’s class man. good job cassidy…

seth moniz won the trophy for best ride of the contest. in round 1, he took off, got a super long deep barrel, came out and did 2 huge turns… i gave him a perfect 10 point ride…

seth became the youngest contest director in the world 3 days ago. he worked hard to put the get the groms together, make the heats, get the trophies, and pretty much run the contest. for all that hard work, he won the prize of “outstanding surfer” donated by todd mitsui. it was the DS guitar hero. anybody would be happy with that….
**once again, thanks to everybody who helped out with this contest. the vibe was so awesome and i’ve never seen the kids happier….

good evening. gosh, what an awesome day!!! we had our 1st annual go-naminori contest down at kewalo’s all day today. the groms were stoked, the parents were stoked, and everybody that came by were stoked. 18 top grom competitors going man on man heats all the way to the finals…. here is tony moniz briefing the kids in the morning…

top hawaii judge uncle mike shimooka was heading up the judge panel. it was a great idea to let the kids judge each other so they could learn how to get a good score. all the kids did a great job judging and they all learned something today for sure….

my brother was manning the barbecue grill. hamburgers and hotdogs for everyone….

darren tatsuno, ronnie yamada, and so many others came out to support the kids. tony moniz took video all day so the footage must be awesome. going to take the tape with me to japan and make a DVD. can’t wait…

doing a contest like this ain’t easy. but when you get the support from the locals along with the parents, it’s much easier. we even had a permit to do this event. check it out….
**gosh, i’m too tired to post more photos. you’ll have to wait till tomorrow. shun and i are super tired so lights out. good night……
**oh, just wanted to take this time to thank EVERYBODY who made this happen. thanks to our sponsors: GO-NAMINORI, FAITH SURF SCHOOL, DOVE WETSUITS, TSSC SURFBOARDS, CONTEST DIRECTOR SETH MONIZ, VERTRA, RIP IT ENERGY DRINKS, IN4MATION, NICK MITA, AND TODD MITSUI. AND WANTED TO THANK THE PARENTS, MIKE SHIMOOKA, HAYATO MAKI, PAKANA, RONNIE YAMADA, BOBBY HIGA, DARREN TATSUNO, TRINKO, DEREK WONG, MOM, MY BROTHER, THE MONIZ FAMILY, FOR ALL THIER HELP. i hope i ain’t missing anybody. if i am, sorry, i drank too many of those sports drinks. oh, and thanks to the people who read my blog and came down to watch the contest. if it wasn’t for all of you, this couldn’t have happened… next year? not big plans, HUGE PLANS…

good morning. 5:30am tuesday morning. just seen a chest high set at bowls were 8 guys are on it already. looks pretty inconsistent but when the sets come, they come. there’s going to be a solid south swell all week long. winds are blowing around 20mph offshore so clean conditions in town. ok, i gotta get going. big event today. it took us a whole 3 days to plan but the big day has finally come. the 1st annual go-naminori kids festival is on today at kewalo’s. we got 20 of hawaii’s top grom competitors competing for big money. the kids will be ripping so come down and cheer them on. WCT style format with 3 man first round heats followed by man-on-man heats. finalist will be getting a fat paycheck with 8 trophies and prizes to give away. gosh, it’s going to be so fun… see ya down there…
**by the way, wanted to say hello to shun’s mama and papa….

hi mama, shun is fine and is on the way to the contest to kick some ass. he’s been surfing really good these days and practicing really hard. he’s on the right track to becoming a very successful pro surfer. it’s unbelievable how focused he is about this contest. he’s so excited too. kawaii….

wow, nice couple. and nice kids…. see you guys next week in japan…
**and last, got this email from bol in bali this morning saying “padang water full of oil now..its sucks”.