Maui resident Jacob Romero shows why he reached national ranking as a bodyboarder, as he maneuvers off a wave lip to get air at Honolua Bay. His store, The Foam Company, is selling a wide line of bodyboards including his specially designed models at a new location at the Maui Mall where a soft opening takes place Saturday. Photo courtesy Dooma

Jacob Romero remembers taking off on his bodyboard on a wave at Honolua Bay, dropping down fast enough to pick up speed and gliding along the wall of water, then swooping up to turn off the lip.

“I hit the lip perfectly,” he said. “I was 10 feet above the wave.”

Romero, who has been nationally ranked as a bodyboarder, is taking his passion for the sport with his wife, Celestial, into a new venture to open a new location for their store featuring bodyboards and accessories at the Maui Mall.

“It was always a dream of mine to own The Foam Company,” he said.

As a touring professional, he’s been sponsored by The Foam Company since 2003, first working with the former owners Alisha and Cary Kayama and then with the new owners Jimmy and Michelle Huff.

He’s also been an employee.

The store, which recently moved from Ka’ahumanu Center, will have a soft opening Saturday. The shop features the Aloha Collection, jewelry line by Aila Maui, clothing by Paradise Now and bikini wear by Evamele. The wide line of bodyboards includes his No. 6 line with a collection of signature models with crescent and bat tails.

“I design the boards and have been riding them for the past 12 years,” Romero said.

With his wife, Celestial, professional Maui bodyboarder Jacob Romero is living his dream of owning The Foam Company. A soft opening for the store at the Maui Mall is scheduled for Saturday. Photo courtesy Dooma

Romero got into bodyboarding at age 14 in waters off Waiehu in places known as “Sandpiles” and “Churches” near the mouth of the Iao Stream and a healthy number of sharks who spawned in the area.

He said he’s seen the sharks when he goes diving at night while using a Hawaiian sling to spear fish and catch lobster.

His first body board was a Morey from Costco, and he’d use his dive fins to catch waves.

He was named the Hawaii champion in 2014 by the International Bodyboarding Association, and ranked seventh in the world in 2015.

He said he trained everyday by bodyboarding and doing core and cardio vascular exercises.

Sometimes on tour, the waves are a foot tall, and other times, they rise in excess of 10 feet.

“You need to prepare for any kind of condition,” he said.

It also requires versatility in styles of bodyboarding in different divisions that include riding a wave in a Jack stance or drop-knee on the board or standing up or laying down on the board and doing a combination of the moves in the open division.

Regular store hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.