TGI Report Honolulu, HAWAII – Kaua’i’s Terry Chung and Titus Kinimaka placed eighth at one of the most dangerous sporting events in the world today. The two surfers, representing Kaua’i, took part in ‘Jaws,’ the infamous Maui Big Wave event
TGI Report
Honolulu, HAWAII – Kaua’i’s Terry Chung and Titus Kinimaka placed eighth at one of the most dangerous sporting events in the world today. The two surfers, representing Kaua’i, took part in ‘Jaws,’ the infamous Maui Big Wave event that had to wait until Monday to get the perfect, 20-40 foot conditions. The pair scored 108 points in the event, good enough for an 8th place spot out of 13 pairs.
And in an event just as daring as ‘Jaws,’ the Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau at Waimea Bay, Kaua’i surfer Braden Dias notched ninth with 253 points.
The two big-wave events were both dependent on a similar swell for competition.
According to sources, ‘Jaws’ unleashed its best, Monday, and made dreams come true for both organizers and competitors alike. Surfing through two rounds of competition with both competitors in each team trading the roles of jet-ski driver and surfer, Garret McNamara and Rodrigue Resende (Hawaii/Brazil) emerged victorious to claim the winner’s purse of $70,000 to be shared between them with a total score of 143.6 points based on each surfer’s top three rides.
Second place went to Californian pair Brad Gerlach and Mike Parsons (132.4 points), and third place was Brazilian duo Carlos Burle and Eraldo Gueiros (130.5 points).
In the Eddie Aikau event off Oahu, six-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater settled a personal score by winning what industry professionals call the world’s most prestigious and honorable big-wave surfing event.
Since first breaking into the world of professional surfing as a teenage kid raised on the small waves of Florida, Slater has felt the need to prove his worth in big waves. He did that, adding another page to his storied professional surfing career that so far none have come close to topping.
Waimea offered a picture-perfect backdrop for Slater’s win with blue skies, smooth-faced waves in the 20 to 30 feet range (full face value of between 25 and 40 feet) and a capacity crowd of more than 5,000 that brought traffic along Kamehameha Highway to a stand-still. Runner-up positions were filled by a pair of Australians – Victorian Tony Ray and West Australian Paul Paterson placing second and third overall respectively.
Top placed local surfer was Big Island’s Noah Johnson, the winner of the 1999 Quiksilver In Memory of Eddie Aikau, who finished fourth. Clyde Aikau, younger brother of the event’s namesake, finished eighth overall.
