Despite the seemingly endless winter weather, a quick glance at the calendar reminds us that, yes, it is actually May. Lots of rainy days (at least here on the North Shore) and strong winds have made it feel a lot
Despite the seemingly endless winter weather, a quick glance at the calendar reminds us that, yes, it is actually May. Lots of rainy days (at least here on the North Shore) and strong winds have made it feel a lot more like December than the cusp of summer, but don’t be fooled. The swells in vibrant Hanalei are dying down and waves at all north-facing shores are saying their final farewells.
So a few of the North Shore’s most fearsome wahine have headed elsewhere to get their fix, this week staking claim to some waves down in Taranaki at the New Zealand Surf Festival. Three contests are running simultaneously with the biggest being the 6-Star Women’s event. It is the third 6-Star competition of the season and seventh overall event of the 2014 Women’s Qualification Series season.
Also running are Pro Junior Men’s and Pro Junior Women’s events.
The Women’s QS contest began with 76 competitors and five Kauai surfers among them. Heading into today’s action (which is Saturday in New Zealand), 24 women remain and three still from the Garden Isle. Hoping to continue improving upon their world rankings were Leila Hurst, Nage Melamed and Tatiana Weston-Webb. Thanks to their already impressive resumes, all three were able to start the event in the fourth round with 48 surfers left in the field.
Some other big names joined them with byes into the fourth round, including Bethany Hamilton. But Kauai’s soul surfer took third place in her opening heat and was unable to advance further. Plenty of World Championship Tour experience is scattered throughout the event, with the likes of Pauline Ado, Laura Enever, Sage Erickson, Paige Hareb, Silvana Lima, Dimity Stoyle and Nikki Van Dijk trying to add the maximum number of points to their yearly world ranking totals. All of them advanced to round five.
After Hamilton was eliminated in the second heat of round four, Melamed got the Kauai contingent back on track in the very next heat. It was a global group, as she joined the lineup with France’s Alize Arnaud, Brazil’s Jacqueline Silva and New Zealand’s Grace Spiers. By the close of the heat, Melamed and Arnaud had distanced themselves from their competitors and the Hanalei product came away with the heat victory. Her 13.15 heat total included an 8.40 score that would go down as the second-highest scoring wave of the fourth round. Arnaud’s 11.85 total was enough to eliminate Spiers (6.20) and Silva (3.45).
It was then a long wait until Tati hit the water in the 11th heat. She was going up against talented Chelsea Tuach of Barbados and the Aussie pair of Philippa Anderson and Cali McDonagh. The heat was competitive among all four, but Weston-Webb finished with the two best waves and totaled a 13.50 for the victory. Tuach was the only of the remaining three to find a decent backup score, nabbing a 5.50 and a 5.25 for second place (10.75). Anderson (9.15) and McDonagh (8.35) finished in 25th and 37th places, respectively.
Hurst then took part in the day’s final heat, joining Van Dijk and fellow Aussie Mikaela Greene, along with New Zealand native Bianca Sansom. Kilauea’s Hurst left little doubt that she belongs with the best the QS has to offer, scorching an 8.25 score on her way to a 14.25 total and the heat win. Van Dijk also maintained a decent lead over her competitors to advance in second (11.75), eliminating Sansom (9.15) and Greene (8.10).
Kauai’s Brianna Cope entered the 6-Star event, but was unable to advance out of her third-round heat, which was won by Silva with up-and-coming American Tia Blanco taking second place.
Oahu’s Moana Jones has advanced to the fifth round, taking a second in her fourth-round heat. She and the remaining Kauai trio are all guaranteed at least Equal 19th place points (543), but advancing one more round sees that figure jump all the way to 920. Winning the contest means 3,500 points and $8,000 in prize money.
Both Cope and Weston-Webb also entered the Women’s Pro Junior event and each reached Friday’s third round. Cope finished Equal 13th, while Tati advanced into the quarterfinal, where she will go head-to-head with Australia’s Keely Andrew for a spot in the semis.
