O‘AHU — Some Kaua‘i residents took to the waves on July 4-5 at Sandy Beach’s “Half Point” on O‘ahu for the United States Bodyboarding Association Sandy Beach Pro presented by Dave and Buster’s. There were both pro and amateur divisions
O‘AHU — Some Kaua‘i residents took to the waves on July 4-5 at Sandy Beach’s “Half Point” on O‘ahu for the United States Bodyboarding Association Sandy Beach Pro presented by Dave and Buster’s.
There were both pro and amateur divisions with plenty of local competitors coming away with strong showings. Pono Kaneakua and Pohaku Kekaualua, both from Wailua, surfed well in their amateur divisions, but were unable to reach the final round.
Adam Bice and Kainoa Lum, also from Wailua, were in the pro ranks but their impressive days came up just short of finals appearances.
Alex Brown of Kalaheo took the 13-18 amateur division by storm when his Air Forward in the final round sent onlookers into a frenzy and netted him the division victory. Kekaha’s Matt Holzman represented well by earning a second-place finish, just behind Brown.
In the Pro Open division, Lihu‘e’s Dave Hubbard and Lawa‘i’s Bud Miyamoto staged a strong battle for the Pro Dropknee crown. They went back and forth with big snaps and radical airs in the shallow waters. Hubbard ultimately took advantage of a prime wave and landed two floaters to claim first place. Miyamoto settled for a strong second.
Dave Hubbard’s brother Jeff had a stranglehold on the Pro Open division from start to finish. He dominated the scoring and saved his best performance for the final, leaving little doubt as to the division champion.
With one more event on the schedule, Jeff leads the Pro Open division and Dave is on top in the Dropknee division. The final contest takes competitors out to the east coast from Sept. 1-7 for the Jenkinson’s Pro at Point Pleasant, N.J.
The season’s first of four events was the Pipeline Pro on O‘ahu. The second took place at Huntington Beach, Calif.
