The first stop on the ASP Women’s World Championship Tour gets underway next week at the Roxy Pro Gold Coast (March 1-12) in Queensland, Australia. But the Aussie waves have already featured many impressive performances this winter (summer down under),
The first stop on the ASP Women’s World Championship Tour gets underway next week at the Roxy Pro Gold Coast (March 1-12) in Queensland, Australia. But the Aussie waves have already featured many impressive performances this winter (summer down under), a number of them from some of our very own Kauai wahine at two prominent events.
About to embark on her third consecutive season on the WCT, Wailua’s Malia Manuel has put together a great opening act for 2014. Last year was a tough one for Manuel in WCT events, where she finished the season in a disappointing 13th place after a sixth-place finish during her 2012 rookie campaign. But her dominance in the World Qualifying Series events put her back on the world tour and she seems to be setting the same tone for 2014 WQS events.
The Hurley Australian Open (Feb. 10-16), a 6-Star WQS event, featured 72 women hoping to jump towards the top of the world rankings and set themselves up for a 2015 world tour bid. Manuel produced some of the week’s best heats on her way to a semifinal berth. She came up one heat short of the final, ultimately losing to Oahu’s Alessa Quizon in the semis. Starting in the Round of 48, Manuel won her first two four-women heats, then topped her three-woman heat in the Round of 12 before besting Australia’s Nikki Van Dijk in the head-to-head quarterfinals with the second-highest heat total of the event (17.90). Quizon, who will be a WCT rookie this season, then got the better waves in the semifinals before defending world champion Carissa Moore stopped Quizon in the final (17.10 to 15.80).
Manuel was not traveling alone at the Australian Open. I mentioned that she scored the second-highest heat total of the week. The highest was notched by Princeville’s Tatiana Weston-Webb, who had a terrific 2013 and almost claimed a WCT spot of her own. Tati’s 17.97 total in the Round of 48 included scores of 9.40 and 8.57. She then came up just short of advancing from her Round of 24 heat, scoring a two-wave total of 12.00 to place her in third behind Ella Williams (12.20) and Moore (16.77).
Kilaeua’s Leila Hurst had a great result, making it all the way to the quarterfinals before dropping her head-to-head heat with Moore. Hurst started in the Round of 60 and advanced to the final eight, notching an opening win and strong seconds the rest of the way.
The Equal 5th will make for a good foundation in her world ranking.
Equal 5th was also attained by Hanalei’s Nage Melamed, giving Kauai three of the Aussie Open’s final eight. Melamed began with a heat win in the Round of 48 and followed with a tight second in a fierce Round of 24 heat, advancing with WCT veteran Pauline Ado. She and Manuel each made it out of their Round of 12 paddle before Nage fell to Quizon in the quarters.
Princeville’s Alana Blanchard had a short event, being called for an interference in her Round of 48 heat and finishing fourth. Blanchard will be back on the WCT for the fourth time after receiving the ASP’s wild card for 2014.
Hanalei’s Bethany Hamilton made the trip to Queensland and advanced out of her Round of 60 heat with a second-place finish before a fourth in the Round of 48. Koloa’s Brianna Cope began in the Round of 72 and took second in her opening heat, but she was barely edged in the Round of 60 as her 11.80 total kept her in third behind Mikaela Green’s 11.84.
The same group of Garden Isle riders continued to relish the Australian competitions, moving on to the Hunter Ports Women’s Classic (Feb. 17-23) in New South Wales. Manuel was again the star of the show.
Not only did Manuel improve upon her Equal 3rd, she rose to the top and grabbed the title. In yet another 6-Star event, Manuel again faced Quizon, this time carving to the championship with a 15.00 final heat total. She arrived after head-to-head wins over Sage Erickson in the semis and Silvana Lima in the quarters. Manuel won every heat along the way, including a 19.13 total in the Round of 48, which set the tone for her huge week.
Melamed again reached the quarterfinals, falling just short against Quizon after huge performances in the Rounds of 48 and 24 and just enough in the Round of 12 when her 10.60 total scraped by Paige Hareb’s 10.50. The two quarterfinal results are a great start to 2014 as Melamed looks to improve upon last season’s world ranking of 28.
Tati won her Round of 48 heat at the Women’s Classic, but took fourth in the Round of 24 after being called for an interference. Blanchard advanced with a second place in the Round of 48, but her 13.54 tally in the Round of 24 was a hard-luck elimination behind both Ado and Hareb. Cope survived two rounds and reached the Round of 48, including a 17.50 heat win in her second go, but was then eliminated as Ellie-Jean Coffey and Blanchard advanced. Hurst could not duplicate her success from the Australian Open and was also knocked out in the Round of 48.
Manuel and Melamed have been the stars so far, but having seven surfers featured prominently in events so far away provides a big representation for our small island.
• ‘My Thoughts Exactly’ appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays in The Garden Island. Email David Simon your comments or questions to dsimon@thegardenisland.com. Follow David on Twitter @SimonTGI
