Ben Massenburg of Kula heads to a win in a men’s 50-59 division during a race at Kanaha in 2009. The 66-year-old Massenburg, a former emergency room doctor at Maui Memorial Medical Center, is back on the water after being diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer. — HARRY WIEWEL photo
Ben Massenburg may be the most avid windsurfing racer on Maui, but five months ago, racing in Saturday’s Maui Slalom Nationals at Kanaha Beach Park was the farthest thing from his mind.
The 66-year-old from Kula, who had been an emergency room doctor at Maui Memorial Medical Center for 25 years and another five years at Kaiser, was coming to terms with his own diagnosis, stage 4 throat cancer.
“I noticed a little lump in my neck,” Massenburg said. “After the screening, I knew I had to come up with a treatment plan.”
He had help from his son Benjamin, a surgeon at the University of Washington, and his wife, Juliana.
“We stayed in Seattle with my son who arranged a lot of my care,” Massenburg said. “He set me up with great physicians.”
Massenburg
“I wasn’t able to swallow or wasn’t able to taste. For eight weeks, my nutrition came from a feeding tube,” he said as he pulled up his T-shirt to reveal a feeding tube scar halfway up his abdomen.
“Three days after I got my feeding tube out, I went windsurfing for the first time. It was great to be in the water again. I feel the most at ease when I’m on the water.”
It was that feeling that led Massenburg to move to Maui with Juliana in 1989. He had been an ER doctor in his hometown of Norfolk, Va.
“In the 1980s the guys that I used to go surfing with back in Virgina picked up this new sport called windsurfing,” Massenburg said. “We didn’t have much surf, really didn’t have much wind. I picked up windsurfing and became very much in love with the sport. I spent most of my free time learning to windsurf then traveling to windsurf. I realized the best windsurfing was on Maui.”
“I was working in the hospital where I was born so it came as a big shock (to my family) when I took a job that was offered to me on Maui. It’s been a blessing ever since.”
Masao Hirota (11), Ben Massenburg (159) and Todd MacFarlane (HI 11) round the first buoy in a men’s 60-and-over heat of the Goya Pro-Am last year at Kanaha Beach Park. — HARRY WIEWEL photo
Massenburg has won plenty of races during the past 29 summers competing in the Maui Race Series at Kanaha, but Year 30 could be really special.
“I’ve regained a lot of my strength,” Massenburg said. “My caregivers have said I’ve responded incredibly well.”
But despite regaining some strength, he knows he has a long way to go. He’ll be competing against 10 windsurfers in the 60-and-over division, and 13 others in the semi-pro ability level class. He has no expectations.
“It’s just a blessing to be involved in the event. I’ll see how I feel and pick my races to enter.”
The Dakine Classic, running on Saturday, is the first event of the Maui Slalom Nationals. The Goya Pro-Am will take place on Sunday, with the Neil Pryde Slalom being the final event on Monday. The slalom national champions will be decided by all three events. Racing each day will start at 11:30 a.m., with a skipper’s meeting slated for 10 a.m.
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