Kaua‘i surfer Malia Manuel took her opening Round 1 Heat and advanced directly into Round 3 at the Nike U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, Calif., Tuesday. The opening round of the final stop on the 2012 Association of
Kaua‘i surfer Malia Manuel took her opening Round 1 Heat and advanced directly into Round 3 at the Nike U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, Calif., Tuesday.
The opening round of the final stop on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals Women’s World Championship Tour unfolded in clean, 1- to 3-foot waves, states an ASP release.
“The U.S. Open is a unique event where we have to stick to more of a set schedule rather than a typical waiting period and we knew we’d be running this morning,” said Dave Shipley, ASP Women’s World Tour head judge. “There are clean conditions out there for the start of Round 1 and we expect some standout performances from the girls.”
Manuel’s top two waves scores were a 7.33 and a 6.70 for a total heat score of 14.03. The Kaua‘i surfer, also the ASP Women’s WCT Rookie, defeated Courtney Conlogue from the U.S. who earlier won the Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic in Australia in April and Sarah Mason of New Zealand.
Carissa Moore of O‘ahu also captured her Round 1 heat to advance directly into Round 3, posting the single highest wave score of the day with a 9.00 and backed it up with a 7.83 to end up posting the highest heat score of the day.
The Honolulu surfer defeated Sofia Mulanovich of Peru and Justine Dupont of France.
Visit www.aspworldtour.com for more information. Visit www.usopenofsurfing.com for a webcast of the Nike U.S. Open of Surfing.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
