LIHU‘E — The men’s division began Wednesday, after the women’s heats had gotten underway Tuesday at the Billabong Azores Islands 6-Star event in San Miguel, Azores Islands. The Open Women’s competition completed two rounds, Tuesday, with the 40-surfer field being
LIHU‘E — The men’s division began Wednesday, after the women’s heats had gotten underway Tuesday at the Billabong Azores Islands 6-Star event in San Miguel, Azores Islands.
The Open Women’s competition completed two rounds, Tuesday, with the 40-surfer field being narrowed to 12.
The three Hawai‘i surfers all had Kaua‘i roots as Alana Blanchard, Bethany Hamilton and Nage Melamed all advanced out of the Round of 48 and into the Round of 24.
Blanchard was the first to move on, taking first in the third heat with a 14.67 point total. She took control early with a 7.67 on her first wave, then added to it wby scoring the top three waves of the heat.
Brazil’s Jacqueline Silva also came through in that heat with a 9.33 score for second place.
The fifth heat saw Hamilton and Melamed both grouped together in one of the four heats in the opening round to feature four competitors. The other eight heats had three participants.
It was Hamilton who set the early pace, scoring a 6.17 on her first wave in the two- to three-foot, clean conditions on display. It was a while before she grabbed a second score that put her in a safe position, but she did so on her sixth wave with a 6.50, giving her a 12.67 heat total.
That was good for first place, as Melamed earned a 10.43 on scores of 4.83 and 5.60 to advance in second place.
South Africa’s Rosanne Hodge (7.66) and Australia’s Amy Stewart (6.00) fell victim to the two Hawaiians.
The second round was not as kind, as Blanchard was knocked out in a stacked heat, with France’s Pauline Ado (12.17) and Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons (11.03) taking first and second, respectively. Australia’s Felicity Palmateer (9.73) joined Blanchard (6.60) in elimination.
The following went down to the wire and resulted in the elimination of Hamilton, though her strong finish was almost good enough to move her into the final 12. Hamilton’s final two waves garnered her scores of 5.00 and 4.60 in a heat where points were at a premium.
That 9.60 was almost enough, though Australia’s Nicola Atherton scored a 6.27 on her ninth and final wave to jump into the lead with a 10.77 total, moving American Courtney Conlogue into second with a 10.23.
Melamed, now carrying the Hawaiian flag on her own, followed with the second round’s highest heat total, coming up with a first-place finish with a 14.40 score.
She scored a 7.67 on her fourth wave, then a 6.73 on her ninth for the top finish. Australia’s Laura Enever also moved on to the third round with a 13.24 tally.
The Round of 12 will now be four heats with three surfers in each, the top two scorers advancing into the head-to-head quarterfinals.
Heat One will feature Ado, Conlogue and France’s Joanne Defay; Heat Two will be three Aussies with Atherton, Fitzgibbons and Claire Bevilacqua; Heat Three is Melamed, Australia’s Tyler Wright and South Africa’s Bianca Butendag; Heat Four will be Enever, Peru’s Sofia Mulanovich and Cannelle Bulard.
The men’s event got underway with 15 of the 16 scheduled opening-round heats completed in the 128-man field.
Hawai‘i’s Kai Barger, Granger Larsen and Kevin Sullivan were among those moving on to the next round. Larsen is coming off of his deep runs at the U.S. Open of Surfing in both the Open Men’s and Pro Junior divisions. He finished the day with the second-highest heat total of 15.17, behind only fellow upstart Miguel Pupo (15.26) of Brazil.
The final heat of the round will feature two more Hawai‘i surfers — Casey Brown and Cheyne Willis.
