The first Qualifying Series contest on the Hawaii surf season is off to a quick start on Oahu. The Sunset Open is just a QS 1,000 contest, but the competitors include some of the state’s best. Any event at Sunset Beach has more prestige attached to it than just points or prize money, so a lot of familiar faces still around during the North Shore winter season are in the field.
The top seeds haven’t had to hit the water just yet, as they have byes into the third round. Round two is almost complete and some Kauai participants are safely through their heats. Danny Fuller took second place in his four-man contest, advancing through with Robert Patterson. Fuller has had his greatest professional success at this wave, winning the HIC Pro in 2014. That earned him a spot in that season’s Triple Crown of Surfing and gave a blueprint for making heats while not necessarily dominating every session. It was his first career win, but he displayed a knack for advancing that could be replicated this week.
The waves weren’t stellar and Fuller managed only a 6.15 two-wave total, but it was enough to continue on. If Sunset isn’t firing, heats like that are going to occur. But figuring out where the points are is just as important as finding the bombs on the big days. Fuller and fellow big-wave stalwart Billy Kemper will be in the same third-round heat, along with Kaito Kino and American Taro Watanabe.
Shortly thereafter, Chris Foster followed suit with a second-place result, totaling 9.55 points on his two waves. Foster moved on along with Ryder Guest and will have a tough matchup ahead of him against Barron Mamiya, Koa Rothman and Sheldon Paishon.
Foster took a small step back in his activity level last season, competing in six QS events. But he’s a regular at Sunset and Pipeline contests and reaching round four would be one of his better recent results.
Both Evan Valiere and Kaimana Jaquias earned byes into the third round, so they’re still waiting on their full slate of opponents. Valiere is currently matched up against Liam O’Brien, one of the few Aussies in the contest. Many of O’Brien’s countrymen stayed home for the Carve Pro, another QS 1,000 that just finished up Saturday in Sydney. But O’Brien and Jack Robinson chose the Hawaiian waters over their homeland. At this point, Robinson is considered an honorary Hawaii regular for his comfort level and skill routinely displayed on the North Shore.
Jaquias and France’s Tristan Guilbaud are still waiting for their two opponents to come through with second-round advancements.
Minimal QS points being awarded hasn’t discouraged some of the best names. Mason Ho, Imai Devault, Finn McGill, Cody Young, Torrey Meister, Kalani David, Sunny Garcia, Kai Lenny, Eli Olson and Ian Gentil are all safely into the third round.
The long waiting period should be to all of their benefits as the winds appear to be precarious over the next few days. But event organizers have until next Sunday to crown a champion, so hopefully we get a few stellar sessions during the week.
It feels like the 2017 season just concluded (because it basically did), but the Sunset Open is always a fun way to open the new year. It has a Triple Crown feel with a little more of a free surf vibe. Whoever comes away with the title will walk away with much more than just the 1,000 QS points on their ledger.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
