Surf Cat

Peter John (NZL 200) of Paia leans into a turn in a pro division heat Monday in the Maui Slalom Nationals Neil Pryde Slalom at Kanaha Beach Park. Trailing John are (from left) Olivier Jallais of Texas, Geoff Pease of Haiku, Peter Slate of Kula and Mathias Pinheiro of Brazil. JIMMIE HEPP photos

KAHULUI — Being crowned a national champion made for a special Monday for Kula’s Peter Slate.

Slate won the pro division as well as the men’s 40-59 age group in the Neil Pryde Slalom to secure the overall titles in those categories at the Maui Slalom Nationals. His victory included a sweep of the pro division all three days at Kanaha Beach Park.

“Of course having home-court advantage is very helpful,” said Slate, a former competitor on the Professional Windsurfers Association tour. “Windsurfing can go right or go wrong very easily, but to have today go so right like this is really special, so I’m super stoked.”

National champions were determined by windsurfers’ placement in each of the three days of competition.

Slate said that the winds slowed down slightly for the final day of the championship, but were still ideal racing conditions for the competitors.

Peter Slate smiles after winning a pro division heat Monday. Slate went on to win the pro and 40-59 national titles.

“First of all, it’s great to have the event here,” said Slate, who has lived on Maui for the past 25 years. “It gives us an opportunity to participate in the national championship without having to travel.”

While his wins looked like a breeze, Slate knows that the efforts put in to host a “high quality” event is not. The Maui Slalom Nationals were supported by U.S. Windsurfing and organized by Hi-Tech Surf Sports.

“Thank you to the sponsors because, of course, without them we wouldn’t be able to do it,” he said. “The guys have been out there for three days and everybody setting up the course and so, you know, the logistics of it all. … So I just appreciate all the effort that was put into it from everybody.”

Mike Yasak was the semi-pro and men’s 60-and-over national champion. The 62-year-old from Kula added wins in both divisions Monday to his victories Saturday and Sunday.

The women’s title was a battle between Maui’s Angela Cochran and Tamara Bockius, the 2015 champion.

Annie Crombie (NZ 182) of New Zealand leads Argentina Bonilla-Jimenez of Lahaina over the finish line in a women’s heat Monday. Crombie went on to win the sport fleet national title.

Bockius won the Dakine Classic on Saturday while Cochran won the Goya Pro-Am on Sunday, making Monday essentially a winner-take-all scenario for the national championship.

After finishing third behind Annie Crombie of New Zealand and Bockius in the first race of the final day, Cochran answered by winning the last three heats to take the crown.

Cochran has been windsurfing for over 30 years, competing in contests around the world and collecting a few titles along the way. However, she took a break from the sport for a while to raise four children.

Slalom was a nice introduction back.

“It was really fun, I mean, I haven’t done this in 24 years,” she said. “Everybody is so psyched to be here so it’s really fun to be around, and everyone has been super friendly and letting me borrow all their stuff, which has been really nice because I don’t own anything.”

Mark Boersma of Michigan leads Max Gaubert of France in a men’s 19-39 heat. Boersma swept the age division at each of the Maui Slalom Nationals events.

In the sport division, Crombie finished first with 8.0 total points, just edging Brian Marshall by 0.4 points.

Pepe Baumann of Germany won the junior division.

Mark Boersma went home with the men’s 19-39 division national title and also finished runner-up in the pro division.

While Boersma was happy with the age-division win, he had hoped for the pro title. He finished third on Day 1 behind Slate and Peter John, but second on Day 2.

“Peter Slate is world class, so it wasn’t too bad,” he said. “The biggest part is trying to get your starts right, probably the most challenging of it all.”

He finished tied with Slate on Monday at 2.1 points in the Neil Pryde but had a slight hiccup. In the third heat of the pro competition, Boersma went too early, automatically forcing him to take a 10, while Slate’s throwaway score was 3.

Despite coming up short in the pro race, Boersma enjoyed the national event, particularly since he was able to sail in conditions that are not typically found back home in Michigan. Boersma visits Maui every summer to teach windsurfing lessons and compete in the Maui Race Series.

“We had really high wind every single day, that’s some of my favorite conditions to sail in,” he said. “We had competitors from all over the world here, so it was some really good competition.”

* Dakota Grossman is at dgrossman@mauinews.com.

MAUI SLALOM NATIONALS

NEIL PRYDE SLALOM

Monday’s Results

At Kanaha Beach Park

Men 19-39–1. Mark Boersma 0.7-0.7-2-0.7–2.1; 2. Max Gaubert 2-4-0.7-2–4.7; 3. Philip Soltysiak 4-2-3-3–8; 4. Casey Hauser 3-3-4-5–10; 5. Jay Lee 5-5-6-4–14; 6. Jackson Holden 6-6-5-6–17.

Men 40-59–1. Peter Slate 0.7-0.7-2-0.7–2.1; 2. Jesper Vesterstrom 2-0.7-2-0.7–3.4; 3. Peter John 0.7-2-0.7-3–3.4; 4. Mathias Pinheiro 11-3-0.7-2–5.7; 5. Terry Beentjes 4-2-7-3–9; 6. Fransico Goya 5-4-5-2–11; 7. Geoff Pease 4-3-4-4–11; 8. Xavier Ferlet 3-4-4-11–11; 9. Massimiliano Brunetti 2-7-3-11–12; 10. Rafal Leonezuk 6-6-3-6–15; 11. Jon Cameron 11-5-5-5–15; 12. Terry Alkemade 6-6-6-4–16; 13. Olivier Jallais 3-8-8-5–16; 14. Eric Lemire 11-5-6-7–18; 15. James Cooper 11-10-7-8–25; 16. Daniel Thomas 5-11-11-11–27; 17. Yasunori Tsukamoto 11-9-9-11–29.

Women–1. Angela Cochran 3-0.7-0.7-0.7–2.1; 2. Annie Crombie 0.7-2-3-3–5.7; 3. Tamara Bockius 2-4-2-2–6; 4. Argentina Jimenez 6-3-4-5–12; 5. Camille Erdman 4-5-6-4–13.

Mens 60 and over–1. Mike Yasak 0.7-2-0.7-0.7–2.1; 2. Ben Massenburg 2-0.7-4-3–5.7; 3. Tom Peterson 4-3-3-2–8; 4. Masao Hirota 3-5-7-4–12; 5. Ted Hunter 7-4-5-5–14; 6. Todd MacFarlane 9-6-2-7–15; 7. Christopher Knap 6-8-11-6–20; 8. Takashi Ohata 5-9-11-11–25; 9. Tim Wood 11-11-6-8–25; 10. Greg Thomas 8-7-11-11–26.

Sport–1. Brian Marshall 7-2-0.7-0.7–3.4; 2. Masao Hirota 0.7-5-3-2–5.7; 3. Argentina Jimenez 2-4-2-3–7; 4. Annie Crombie 3-0.7-4-4–7.7; 5. Camille Erdman 4-3-6-7–13; 6. Takashi Ohata 5-6-5-5–15.

Semi-Pro–1. Mike Yasak 0.7-2-0.7-0.7–2.1; 2. Terry Beentjes 2-2-2-2–6; 3. Eric Lemire 4-0.7-2-10–6.7; 4. Jackson Holden 3-0.7-3-4–6.7; 5. Todd MacFarlane 4-3-5-2–9; 6. Jon Cameron 2-10-4-3–9; 7. Ted Hunter 5-6-3-3–11; 8. Massimiliano Brunetti 0.7-10-0.7-10–11.4; 9. Terry Alkemade 7-5-7-0.7–12.7; 10. James Coooper 8-3-4-10–15; 11. Tom Peterson 6-4-6-5–15; 12. Tim Wood 5-4-10-10–19; 13. Yasunori Tsukamoto 3-10-10-10–23.

Pro–1. Peter Slate 0.7-0.7-3-0.7–2.1; 2. Mark Boersma 0.7-0.7-10-0.7–2.1; 3. Fransico Goya 3-2-0.7-5–5.7; 4. Jesper Vesterstrom 3-10-0.7-2–5.7; 5. Mathias Pinheiro 2-2-2-3–6; 6. Peter John 4-3-3-2–8; 7. Max Gaubert 2-4-4-3–9; 8. Philip Soltysiak 5-3-4-4–11; 9. Xavier Ferlet 6-6-2-6–14; 10. Geof Pease 5-5-6-4–14; 11. Jay Lee 9-4-5-6–15; 12. Rafal Leonezuk 4-10-5-7–16; 13. Olivier Jallais 7-10-6-7–20; 14. Casey Hauser 8-10-10-5–23.

MAUI SLALOM NATIONALS

Overall Results (Dakine Cup-Goya Pro-Am-Neil Pryde Slalom–Total)

Men 19-39–1. Mark Boersma 0.7-0.7-0.7–2.1; 2. Max Gaubert 2-2-2–6; 3. Philip Soltysiak 3-4-3–10; 4. Casey Hauser 5-3-4–12; 5. Jay Lee 4-6-5–15; 6. Jake Schettewi 6-5-7–18; 7. Jackson Holden 7-7-6–20.

Men 40-59–1. Peter Slate 0.7-2-0.7–3.4; 2. Terry Beentjes 4-3-5–12; 3. Jesper Vesterstrom 2-12-2–16; 4. Geoff Pease 3-8-7–18; 5. Mathias Pinheiro 11-6-4–21; 6. Peter John 19-0.7-3–22.7; 7. Olivier Jallais 6-5-13–24; 8. Massimiliano Brunetti 7-9-9–25; 9. Xavier Ferlet 5-13-8–26; 10. Francisco Goya 15-7-6–28; 11. Dan Ellis 8-4-20–32; 12. Terry Alkemade 9-11-12–32; 13. Rafal Leonezuk 10-16-10–36; 14. Jon Cameron 13-15-11–39; 15. Eric Lemire 16-10-14–40; 16. Daniel Thomas 12-14-16–42; 17. Yasunori Tsukamoto 17-17-17–51; 18. James Cooper 18-20-15–53; 19. Brian Marshall 14-20-20–54; 20. Jerome Samson 20-20-20–60.

Women–1. Angela Cochran 2-0.7-0.7–3.4; 2. Tamara Bockius 0.7-2-3–5.7; 3. Annie Crombie 3-3-2–8; 4. Argentina Jimenez 5-4-4–13; 5. Camille Erdman 4-5-5–14.

Juniors–1. Pepe Baumann 0.7-0.7-3–4.4; 2. Pius Baumann 2-3-3–8; 3. Danika Sailer 3-3-3–9.

Men 60 and over–1. Mike Yasak 0.7-0.7-0.7–2.1; 2. Ben Massenburg 2-2-2–6; 3. Ted Hunter 3-3-5–11; 4. Tom Peterson 4-4-3–11; 5. Todd MacFarlane 6-5-6–17; 6. Masao Hirota 7-7-4–18; 7. Tim Wood 5-6-9–20; 8. Takashi Ohata 9-8-8–25; 9. Greg Thomas 8-9-10–27; 10. Christopher Knap 10-10-7–27.

Sport–1. Annie Crombie 2-2-4–8; 2. Brian Marshall 0.7-7-0.7–8.4; 3. Masao Hirota 5-3-2–10; 4. Argentina Jimenez 7-0.7-3–10.7; 5. Camille Erdman 3-4-5–12; 6. Takashi Ohata 6-5-6–17; 7. Pepe Baumann 4-7-7–18.

Semi-Pro–1. Mike Yasak 0.7-0.7-0.7–2.1; 2. Terry Beentjes 4-3-2–9; 3. Jackson Holder 3-6-4–13; 4. Jon Cameron 2-10-6–18; 5. Todd MacFarlane 5-9-5–19; 6. Massimiliano Brunetti 9-2-8–19; 7. Terry Alkemade 6-5-9–20; 8. Eric Lemire 12-7-3–22; 9. Ted Hunter 8-11-7–26; 10. Daniel Thomas 10-4-14–28; 11. Tom Peterson 7-12-11–30; 12. Yasunori Tsukamoto 13-8-13–34; 13. James Coooper 11-14-10–35; 14. Tim Wood 14-13-12–39.

Pro–1. Peter Slate 0.7-0.7-0.7–2.1; 2. Mark Boersma 3-2-2–7; 3. Peter John 2-3-6–11; 4. Francisco Goya 6-7-3–16; 5. Mathias Pinheiro 4-9-5–18; 6. Philip Soltysiak 5-5-8–18; 7. Max Gaubert 7-6-7–20; 8. Jesper Vesterstrom 12-8-4–24; 9. Jake Schettewi 9-4-17–30; 10. Jay Lee 8-16-11–35; 11. Xavier Ferlet 15-11-9–35; 12. Olivier Jallais 11-12-13–36; 13. Geof Pease 10-17-10–37; 14. Rafal Leonezuk 17-10-12–39; 15. Casey Hauser 13-13-14–40; 16. Dan Ellis 14-15-17–46; 17. Angela Cochran 17-14-17–48.