Well, Brad entered his first surf competition this past weekend. It was a longboard competition which means the boards have to be over 9' (I think...don't quote me on that!). He was pretty excited about it, I was a bit more leery. He figured it was a good omen when he went to register at a bar Saturday evening, and the guy at the registration table was wearing a Kansas City shirt. They got to talking and I guess this guy's girlfriend lives in KC and so he visits there quite often. Anyway, he was entered, and the only other thing to do was go make some bets with his friends that he wouldn't come in last in his heat.
The competition started at 7:30 Sunday morning (I think this was the first time we've used our alarm clock since we've been here!). Luckily, one of the guys picked Brad up, so the boys and I could head out to the beach a little later. Unfortunately, we arrived about 15 minutes after Brad's heat, so we missed his surfing. Brad didn't care, he was so excited that he placed 3rd out of four in his heat! He was on cloud nine the rest of the day.
Even though we missed Brad's surfing we had a fun morning hanging out at the beach, it was beautiful weather and the water was so clear. The competition lasted until late in the afternoon, but the boys and I only managed to stick it out until noon. Brad went back in the afternoon to watch the finals and stick around for the prizes (everyone that surfed got one). Brad won a hat (that will be staying in NZ, it's quite homely), and when his name was called, they announced him as "Dr. Brad, the only surfer from Kansas in the competition"...Brad is still reveling in the afterglow of his first surf competition.
* Sorry, no pictures of Brad since I missed his heat!
