With four events happening concurrently and Kauai surfers competing in all of them, there is a lot to keep track of at this year’s US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California The contest with the most at stake is
With four events happening concurrently and Kauai surfers competing in all of them, there is a lot to keep track of at this year’s US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California The contest with the most at stake is the women’s World Championship Tour event, the sixth stop of the 2014 WCT season.
Of the 18 participants, four of them are from Kauai, an impressive feat on its own. Malia Manuel and Alana Blanchard are tour regulars and Tatiana Weston-Webb has been an injury alternate for Courtney Conlogue over the past three events. This week, a fourth was added to the list when Kilauea’s Leila Hurst was named the Vans Wild Card for the event. Currently ranked 10th in the women’s world rankings, Hurst has an opportunity to become a regular on next year’s world tour, so getting her feet wet at Huntington – her second career world tour competition – should further prepare her for that opportunity.
The women got through one round of action, but it wasn’t a triumphant day for any Kauai wahine, or many from Hawaii, for that matter. Manuel came out strong in the opening heat of the event and held a lead over Australian rookie Dimity Stoyle and France’s Johanne Defay for almost all of the final 10 minutes. Stoyle needed a 7.04 to jump ahead and found a wave in the closing seconds that earned her an 8.10 score to steal the heat win, sending Manuel and Defay into the second round of head-to-head knockout heats.
Hurst was up next in a very slow heat and held a brief lead before world champ Carissa Moore moved ahead at the 14-minute mark. Hurst gave it a go with under two minutes left, needing a 5.66 to pull the upset, but her effort scored a 4.77 and she heads to the second round with France’s Pauline Ado.
The first round was a grind for Weston-Webb, who had a two-wave total of just 7.87, though that was barely behind eventual heat winner Sally Fitzgibbons’ 8.67. Oahu’s Alessa Quizon found only one small wave in the 30-minute heat and finished with a 2.23 score.
The ensuing heat was higher scoring, but Blanchard was still denied her first heat win of the season. She took third place behind Stephanie Gilmore in first and Oahu’s Coco Ho in second. Lakey Peterson and Tyler Wright were the other heat winners moving directly to round three.
It’s going to be a tough break for at least one of the Kauai girls as Manuel and Hurst go up against each other in the second round. Weston-Webb has a matchup with South African goofy footer Bianca Buitendag and Blanchard will take on Australia’s Laura Enever.
The men’s Prime contest, which started with 96 competitors in the main event, has completed one and a half rounds heading into Wednesday. Kilauea’s Sebastian Zietz is still alive after earning a second place in his first-round heat. Zietz (13.06) and Oahu’s Mason Ho (13.27) held off the competition in their four-man heat, advancing ahead of Billy Stairmand (11.94) and Vicente Romero (10.33). Some stiff competition awaits Zietz in round two as he goes up against Americans Kolohe Andino and Brett Simpson, as well as Brazil’s Hizunome Bettero.
Kilauea surfer Gavin Gillette got the monkey off his back with his first heat win in three events, topping his first-round group to advance with Brazil’s Bino Lopes. Unfortunately, that momentum couldn’t propel him any further as he took third in a heartbreaking second-round heat. Gillette held second place with less than 30 seconds to go when Australia’s Adam Melling, needing a 5.74 to jump into second place, did just that with a 6.63 score. Gillette dropped into third place and watched Melling and heat winner Keanu Asing move on. Gillette takes an Equal 25th for $1,900 and 700 rankings points.
The Women’s Junior Pro started with 24 surfers and is now down to eight, two of them from Kauai. Weston-Webb is working overtime, competing in both the WCT and Junior Pro. She moved into the semifinals with a second place in the Round of 24 and then a heat win in the quarterfinals. One of her fallen competitors was Anahola’s Maluhia Kinimaka in the opening round, who held a late lead but finished third by just 0.77 points in the final moments.
Maluhia’s sister Mainei then took a fourth place in the quarterfinals for an Equal 13th place finish. Koloa’s Brianna Cope, an event wild card, started in the quarters and took second place to move into the final eight.
Weston-Webb will paddle out with fellow Team Hawaii gold medalist Mahina Maeda and Americans Tia Blanco and Meah Collins. Cope will go up against Oahu’s Bailey Nagy, Barbados’ Chelsea Tuach and Japan’s Reika Noro.
The Men’s Junior Pro had just one Kauai surfer among the 64 competing, but Kilauea’s Koa Smith has advanced in his first two rounds, now lined up for a quarterfinal foursome in the final 16. Smith opened with a second place in his first heat, moving on with Hawaii’s Kalani David. He earned the same result in the second round, totaling a 12.36 for second place behind Huntington phenom Kanoa Igarashi’s 17.16 showing. Smith will now take on Australia’s Matt Banting, South Africa’s Dylan Lightfoot and Brazil’s Luan Wood in the quarters when action resumes.
With so much more to go, this US Open has already been a wild one. Hopefully the Kauai surfers will continue to give us reading material through the weekend.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
