the garden island PO‘IPU — Rochelle Ballard couldn’t have asked for better conditions Sunday at PK’s in Kukui‘ula. “The girls are really good,” Ballard said as she spent her last few days surrounded by family and Kaua‘i girl surfers on
the garden island
PO‘IPU — Rochelle Ballard couldn’t have asked for better conditions Sunday at PK’s in Kukui‘ula.
“The girls are really good,” Ballard said as she spent her last few days surrounded by family and Kaua‘i girl surfers on the lawn of The Beach House restaurant.
“The waves are really nice and with the light wind, it’s perfect,” she said.
Ballard completed a daylong surf camp for young Kaua‘i women surfers Saturday, and the O’Neill Island Girl Junior Pro surf meet Sunday wrapped up the annual event she started several years ago in Hanalei.
The surf meet, with a $5,000 prize purse, brought out some of the best women surfers on the island who took advantage of the 1- to 3-foot waves in light trades at PK’s.
An entourage of photographers followed the surfers, as crews from Nalu magazine and other photographers set up their camps at one end of the lawn in hopes of getting the right angle.
As Kalani Vierra of the Kaua‘i Ocean Safety Bureau monitored the surfing area aboard his Jet Ski, girls in the on-deck heat spent their time talking with the Kaua‘i waterman.
Throughout the morning, the Round of 48 was plied down to the Round of 32 with 16 girls making it to the quarter-finals.
Alana Blanchard served up a spectacular rooster tail on a hard right cut to announce the first-quarter final heat only to be answered by Mia Melamed milking the reform to the rocks. Alisha Gonsalves and Monyca Byrne-Wickey filled that heat.
Ericka Steiner, Sage Erickson, Lani Hunter and Malia Manuel filled the second-quarter final heat followed by Leila Hurst, Ashley Hunter, Kristen Steiner and Andrianna Mendivil filling in the third heat.
Gabby Cope, Savannah Sussman, Coco Ho and Courtney Cabral rounded out the 16 girls who advanced to the quarters.
The quarter finals was spiced up by the culinary crews from Brennecke’s who offered lua‘u-style lunches for both surfers and spectators.
Full results from the meet will appear in a future edition of The Garden Island.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
