She might be an improbable last woman standing, but Brianna Cope is into the semifinals and the only remaining Kauai competitor at the Los Cabos Open of Surf at San Jose del Cabo, Mexico. Having started the event unseeded in
She might be an improbable last woman standing, but Brianna Cope is into the semifinals and the only remaining Kauai competitor at the Los Cabos Open of Surf at San Jose del Cabo, Mexico.
Having started the event unseeded in the opening Round of 60, the 19-year-old from Koloa made it through three tough heats on Friday to be among the final four in the 6-Star World Qualifying Series event. She will be going up against World Championship Tour veteran Laura Enever in the semis. The other heat features two more CT riders in Oahu’s Coco Ho and Australian rookie Dimity Stoyle. The women’s competition is expected to finish up today.
So is the men’s event, which was whittled down from 24 to eight on Saturday, with Kaimana Jaquias the last Kauai male in the field. Jaquias was impressive all week and advanced with the final 16 into the fifth round, but he was eliminated by Australia’s Dion Atkinson and went out with an Equal Ninth finish, earning $2,300 and 920 points towards his QS ranking.
Jaquias began his Saturday with a second-place finish in his three-man heat. He slammed a 7.50 on his fourth wave to back up his opening 6.33 and hold off Aussie Ryan Callinan in third (10.70). The good performance was slightly overshadowed by the continued emergence of Reunion Island surfer Medi Veminardi, who took the heat win on an impressive 9.23 ride for a 15.66 total.
The Round of 16 heat with Atkinson seemed there for the taking, but the Aussie managed to select the better waves throughout and was the more active of the two. A three-turn 7.33 put Atkinson in the driver’s seat and he added a 6.43 on the last of his nine scores. With just a 4.67 as his top score, Jaquias needed a 9.09 in the final moments to move on. He showed off one great turn and then took to the air for a spin, but he was unable to land it cleanly. It may have been enough with a sturdy finish, but Atkinson could breath easily when he saw surfer and surf board separate.
The final eight feature Atkinson, Veminardi, both Patrick and Tanner Gudauskas, Italo Ferreira, Josh Kerr, Peterson Crisanto and Matt Banting. The Gudauskas brothers will go up against each other in the third quarterfinal heat.
With Cope, Nage Melamed and Tatiana Weston-Webb all in the final 24 of the women’s bracket, Friday’s action featured three rounds of competition. Melamed was first up of the three Kauai wahine and she didn’t disappoint, despite Brazilian charger Silvana Lima seemingly gobbling up every wave that came through. Melamed went back-to-back with a 6.27 and a 7.17 to take second place, earning five scores in the process. Lima had 14 scoring waves, more than her three competitors combined. She won the heat with a 15.90 total, including a 9.33.
Cope and Weston-Webb were then together in the fourth heat, but it was just the South Shore rider and not her North Shore counterpart who made it through. Cope totaled a 13.53 to finish second behind world tour surfer Lakey Peterson (16.23). Tati was unable to get the necessary scores and her 11.07 total knocked her out, along with New Zealand’s Sarah Mason (11.77).
The fourth round would be the final heat for Melamed, but not for lack of trying. She took off on eight waves and needed an 8.26 late, but her 10.83 total kept her in third place, with just the top two in each three-woman heat moving on to the quarterfinals. Big scores from Ho (14.83) and Stoyle (13.76) moved them through.
Cope started off strong and held an early heat lead over Paige Hareb and Oahu’s Mahina Maeda. She was in control for much of the heat, but Hareb earned a 6.60 on her final wave to jump both competitors and win the heat, eliminating Maeda in the process.
As the longest shot left in the final eight, Cope pulled off what may be her biggest career heat win, knocking off Peterson. She was battling back for most of the 30 minutes, but a 6.73 on her fifth wave pushed her into the lead after an earlier 5.90. Things were tight until the final horn and Peterson could not pick up the 5.97 she needed to move back into first. Cope emerged with the 12.63 to 11.57 win.
It’s already the best result for Cope in her QS career and will propel her up the rankings from her current 48th place to somewhere around the top 20. A win over Enever would further improve that position and hoisting the Los Cabos title would be a massive haul. Enever, Ho and Stoyle all sit in the world tour’s top 10, but Cope has earned her spot alongside them this week. Today will be a celebration, no matter how it ends.
