Health conscious older folks take in the sun and the breeze on the walking path. Photo-shoot participants in wedding attire and boisterous kids give each other space in the sand.

In the water, a few surfers ride three- and four-footers.

It’s a little too early for aroma from the grills, but that’s coming soon.

Magic Island is at its blissful best on this Saturday morning. But a small cluster of tents and an empty grandstand hint at something out of the ordinary on the horizon.

The structures are festooned with the initials WSL and the First Hawaiian Bank and Mastercard logos. At 11 a.m. no one is within 50 feet — except two young boys posing for a photo in front of a wall where it says Priority Destinations Pro.

That’s the name of the World Surf League’s Qualifier Series event here this week. The waves at the Ala Moana Bowls surf spot were not deemed worthy of competition on Saturday, the second of the eight-day holding period.

So, it was public recreation as usual, not a spectator sport, at the place that is actually a manmade peninsula called Magic Island. The empty meet headquarters was a reminder that surf meets are at the mercy of, well, the surf.

“I think they were worried about the wind expected later in the day,” says Zo Relator. “That might mess up the waves.”

Relator’s 16-year-old son Kaleo is among the many young guns entered in this meet, the first of the Hawaii and Tahiti qualifying series that continues at Sunset Beach in October.

There’s prize money, with $2,500 to the winners and $10,000 total prize pools in the men’s and women’s competitions.

Just as valuable or more to some are points that can lead to advancement up the WSL ranks.

The top seven in points at the end of the series advance to the WSL’s 2023 Challenger Series. After that it’s just one more step to the big time, the Championship Tour.

The competition is fierce, a field of 96 this week that also includes former CT members. Among them is Ezekiel Lau, a two-time third place event finisher on the CT, and winner of a $100,000 prize on “The Ultimate Surfer.” Lau’s victory on the reality show last year also regained him some access to the Championship Tour.

There are all kinds of other ringers.

Kai Lenny of Maui is the most intriguing to many. He’s already a member of the Surfing Hall of Fame based on his mastery of big waves, and it seems anything he touches having to do with water or wind turns to gold. Now he’s going for a spot on the WSL’s Championship Tour.

The women’s field of 24 is also full of star power, where the top six point-getters at the end of the qualifiers get to the Challenger Series. Big names like Bethany Hamilton, Brianna Cope and Coco Ho are set to compete this week.

Liana Blackstone dreams of being among them one day. On this morning, she’s happy to be in the surf instead of watching her idols from the shore.

“She’s 12 going on 25,” says her grandfather, Zeke Smythe. “But only surfing for six months, so she’s still in awe of the pros.”

Shion Crawford, 17, is a recent Waialua High graduate.

He’s also a national age-group surfing champion, and is among the 32 men who get a bye into the round of 64. The bye is an advantage, but it also means even more waiting around than most of the rest of the field.

“I feel pretty good,” Crawford said. “The main thing is you always have to relax and take it heat-by-heat.

“Patience is a key. When you find out it’s not on for a certain day, you can’t worry about it, you just look at the forecast for the next day and prepare for that one.”

Once you finally to get to start to compete it’s time to forget about hesitating, he said.

“I’ve been surfing here a lot since I was a kid,” Crawford said. “One of the important things is getting into rhythm, and that’s hard to do if you’re out there waiting too long. Ideally, each wave and each ride is better than the one before it.”

Waves in the five- to six-foot range were projected for today, with more good stuff on its way Monday. So it’s likely the contest is a go — and Magic Island will probably be a lot more crowded than usual, even for Father’s Day.