Students hit the Valley Isle for first state-sanctioned high school surfing contest
PAIA, Maui. — Zolten Poulsen has surfed at Hookipa Beach for 10 of his 17 years. And it showed Friday, as the Maui Prep senior made the difficult look simple while dominating his first round heat and posting the best score in the quarterfinals of the boys shortboard discipline at the HHSAA State Surfing Championship.
But life has not been easy for Poulsen. His family’s home on Front Street in ...
PAIA, Maui. — Zolten Poulsen has surfed at Hookipa Beach for 10 of his 17 years. And it showed Friday, as the Maui Prep senior made the difficult look simple while dominating his first round heat and posting the best score in the quarterfinals of the boys shortboard discipline at the HHSAA State Surfing Championship.
But life has not been easy for Poulsen. His family’s home on Front Street in Lahaina was one of the estimated 2,200 buildings destroyed in the wildfires of August 2023. They survived and now live near Kaanapali, but they lost everything, including pets that perished.
Zolten found refuge in the surf. “It’s a place I can go to relieve stress and forget about what happened,” he said. It is also a place where he excels, with remarkable consistency.
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