Furthering her efforts for a full-time spot on the World Championship Tour, Princeville’s Tatiana Weston-Webb moved up five slots in the rankings after finishing runner-up at the Supergirl Pro, Sunday in Oceanside, California.
The huge number of participants created the largest women’s surf contest of the year, as more than 100 wahine hoped to collect big points from the 6-Star World Qualifying Series event. Tati, 18, came through the large pool of riders and was oh so close to a title, losing out to Sage Erickson in the final moments.
After starting the day in the Round of 12, Tati won her heat against Coco Ho and Dimity Stoyle, then knocked off young Oahu surfer Brisa Hennessy in the quarterfinal. She had to take on another Hawaii surfer in the semis, knocking off Ho with the two best waves of any of the four semifinalists.
In the final, Tati held a lead over Erickson while the ocean remained relatively calm. There weren’t many multi-maneuver waves and one strong carve was getting respect from the judges. As the goofy-footer from Kauai held a 10.50 to 9.90 lead, Erickson needed a 5.34 to jump back in front. With just a couple minutes left, Erickson hopped on a set wave and snapped a turn heading towards the pier that was instantly recognizable as the best wave of the heat. She earned a 6.83 to move in front.
On her last effort to pull out a miracle, Tati tried to do a reverse on a small wave but couldn’t stay on her board and washed into the soup. Erickson’s 12.00 to 10.50 victory netted her $8,000 and 3,500 points to leap three spots in the WQS rankings and into second place for the season.
Second place was still a huge haul for Tati, who picked up 2,640 points and $4,000. The points bring her up from 11th into sixth place in the WQS standings. The top six non-WCT qualifiers make it to the following season’s world tour. Silvana Lima, Erickson, Alessa Quizon, Laura Enever and Malia Manuel hold the top five spots. Enever and Manuel would qualify with their WCT results, so Tati would be the fourth WQS qualifier.
Manuel reached the quarters, also losing to Erickson. She is now ranked fifth in both the WCT and WQS rankings. The quarterfinal appearance netted her 1,560 points and $1,100 in prize money.
Erickson certainly earned her title, having to go head-to-head with Manuel, Lima and Tati in her final three heats.
That’s a tall order for anyone in the world, but Erickson seems poised to rejoin the elite tour after having been a full-time member in 2012 and 2013.
Hanalei’s Nage Melamed is in 10th place in the WQS standings after her Equal 25th in Oceanside. Four competitors ahead of her have a good chance to re-qualify on their WCT merits, so Melamed is right on the cusp of the Top 17. The two upcoming 6-Star events this month in Europe will continue to clarify that picture, along with the chances of Kilauea’s Leila Hurst (15th in WQS) and Koloa’s Brianna Cope (17th).
Up next is the Swatch Girls Pro France, which gets underway on Aug. 20, followed by the Pantin Classic Galicia Pro on Aug. 26.
For the men, one of the year’s most anticipated contests begins Friday with the Billabong Pro Tahiti, the seventh stop on the World Championship Tour. Kilauea’s Sebastian Zietz will paddle out in the very first heat, taking on Kelly Slater and Glen Hall in the non-elimination opening round.
•••
David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
