A bright spot in a dark time for a North Shore town — that’s how Waialua students felt making history as the first-ever girls’ state champions in surfing.
The Waialua High and Intermediate School Surf Team won the shortboard and longboard divisions at the Hawaiʻi High School Athletic Association Surfing State Championship earlier this month.
It comes as the community is still recovering from devastating flooding caused by back-to-back Kona low storms.
HPR spoke with winning shortboarder Skai Suitt, winning longboarder Hanae Rose, and their coach Spencer Suitt, who happens to be Skai’s dad.
The entire event was broadcast, and after each heat, the winners would participate in an interview, giving them a taste of what the big leagues feel like.
Both Hanae Rose and Skai Suitt told HPR that everyone should join their school's surf team.
“Going into my final, I was up against all seniors, so I was the youngest person in that heat,” Rose said. “So anyone can do it, even if you're young, just believe in yourself and just push through the heat and getting my last final wave, it comes down to even that, so never giving up till the end, that definitely matters a lot.”
“Our names are like the first-ever girls shortboard and longboard champs,” Suitt said. “So it's gonna be like that forever. Like, if someone looks back, it's like, ‘Oh, those girls are from Waialua, and it means a lot.’ So, I really hope girls that are coming up in any school on Oʻahu, or any school across the islands, they want to join their school surf team.”
Waialua had been severely impacted by the storms, leaving the team unable to conduct practice, but they were determined to travel to Maui to represent their town.
The team shared that bringing the trophy home to their community meant a lot to them.
"We wanted to show people that Waialua has talent, and to come up top with the girls team trophy, it meant a lot to us, and we got to bring it back to our school, to our community, and to bring joy and uplift everyone; it meant a lot," Suitt shared.
"I just knew I wanted to bring it home for Waialua," Rose said. "Because our town is so small, but throughout all the volunteer work and just seeing how much rubbish we had to clean and everything like that. Our community is so small but so strong, and it was just really beautiful to see everyone coming together."
This story aired on The Conversation on May 29, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Hannah Kaʻiulani Coburn adapted this story for the web.
