Malia Manuel nudged out Nage Melamed by a point to break up a three-way logjam for the top spot in the Open Women division at the NSSA Hawai‘i, Kaua‘i No. 2 held Saturday at Pine Trees in Hanalei. “Some years
Malia Manuel nudged out Nage Melamed by a point to break up a three-way logjam for the top spot in the Open Women division at the NSSA Hawai‘i, Kaua‘i No. 2 held Saturday at Pine Trees in Hanalei.
“Some years you have to wait until mid-December for the Pine Trees sandbars to click,” Andy Melamed said in an e-mail. “This year, all it took was two north swells over a 10-day period to create some of the best fall peaks and lines for this Hanalei beach break.”
The NSSA Kaua‘i No. 2 meet was treated to a northwest swell that reached upwards of 10-foot faces.
Manuel scored a 7.5 on a one-hit bomber set to seal the spot after Nage Melamed had been flying through mid-sized waves and scoring well until Manuel’s hit on an 8-foot face.
Leila Hurst, settling for third in the Open Women, used inside moves on two open faces to scoot to first place in the Explorer Women finals.
Those moves relegated Melamed to the runner-up berth by just a point and Manuel to the third place slot.
Tatiana Weston-Webb, a 70-pound goofy foot, flirted with barrels and 8-foot free falls to grab the attention of beachbound spectators, but was only able to garner a fourth finish in the class.
She did place tops in the Explorer Girls division, however, ahead of Brianna Cope, Lianna Patey, Kiana Flores, Maluhia and Mainei Kinimaka.
“The conditions were challenging for these younger girls, yet they all managed to do quite well,” said Andy Melamed.
Mainei Kinimaka had locked in first place in the Open Mini Grom division over Malia Faramazi, each young surfer earning every point they scored.
“It should be noted that in years past, Kaua‘i and Maui have always led the pack with new surfers trying their hand at competition in the younger Mini Grom division,” Melamed said. “This year, Kaua‘i’s keiki are not competing which leaves a gap in our island’s overall competition.”
Kyle Galtes and Nathan Carvalho were the standouts in the Open Men’s division, placing one-two, respectively.
An ankle injury affected Dylan Goodale’s timing that dropped him to third, and despite surfing a lot of waves, Koa Smith finished fourth in the division.
Galtes’ vertical hits in critical conditions with mostly closeout waves were the highlight while Carvalho opened everyone’s eyes on a 3-second in-and-out barrel.
Kaimana Jacquias surfed strong and straight up with Kaolii Kahokuloa, Koa Smith and Kaola Carriera following in his wake.
Kalen Galtes found the barrels and lines to capture the first place trophy in the Explorer Boys division.
In the Open Boys division, Melamed said, “Lucas Angulo is giving Dorian Blanchard a run for his money. Both these up-and-coming surfers along with Pierre Graham will be playing see-saw throughout the season depending on the waves, conditions, and luck of Mother Nature.”
Kai Haugland was named the Surfco surfer of the contest.
Melamed noted that Jesse Gugilamana is a surfer who is showing improvement in leaps and bounds.
“Jesse, who showed much promise at last year’s Nationals, has taken his skateboard prowess to deeper water levels and adding some power to his moves,” Melamed said. “Watch out for this kid later on this year. When he learns to manage his heats, his amazing moves will be highlighted and he will be standing on the podium with a smile as wide as a whale.”
For full results, see today’s Scoreboard on the opposite page.
