Menehune Mayhem
Monday, May 16, 2022
I spent yesterday at the Menehune Mayhem competition at Ho’okipa Beach Park. This is a surf competition for kids established a number of years ago by pro-surfer Ian Walsh. The thin sliver of a beach that Ho’okipa is was packed, with all visitors and competitors being focused on one end of the beach where the competition was taking place. With little space to sit, I was perched on the water line, a victim to any big waves that broke that day.
By lunchtime the sun was beating down. It was hot. My body had had enough and after three hours I headed home. My body and mind felt refreshed from the fresh air and the bracing water, it was cold, and invigorated by the power of the ocean even if the breaks were small that day (just as well for the kids).
The word Menehune comes from Hawaiian mythology. The Menehune are a race of dwarf people,
who are said to live in the deep forests and hidden valleys of the Hawaiian Islands, hidden and far away from human settlements. The Menehune are described as superb craftspeople. They built temples (heiau), fishponds, roads, canoes, and houses.1
