Tuesday, November 10, 1998
Redman takes
Billabong title
The Australian wins the
By Greg Ambrose
first event of the women's
Triple Crown of Surfing
Special to the Star-BulletinNice guys don't always finish last. Sometimes they finish second. In the final heat of the Billabong Girls at Maili Point, one bomber wave was Keala Kennelly's ticket to freedom.
A first-place finish would get Kennelly off the exhausting, low-paying World Qualifying Series and earn her a slot on the elite World Championship Tour.
With plenty of long, 6-foot lefts peeling across the reef, Kennelly was certain her special wave would come in the final few minutes of this first event of the Triple Crown of Surfing.
When a smaller wave approached, she gave it to Australia's Melanie Redman, and gave away the contest.
"I was winning the whole thing, and I lost it in the last minute," said Kennelly, of Kauai. "I had two solid waves and I was looking for that big finale. I gave her an inside wave, because I didn't think it was going to help my situation. It ended up being the turn of the contest."
It was exactly what Redman needed, the stroke of good fortune to wipe out last year's run of bad luck in Hawaii where she bombed out of every event in the inaugural Triple Crown of Surfing for women.
Redman worked her gift wave as far as she could, slamming off the lip backside as though she was surfing Margaret River, her favorite wave back in Western Australia.
While Redman was earning enough points to win her first contest in Hawaii after a tantalizing second-place finish in the 1996 Roxy Pro at Sunset Beach, Kennelly waited in vain for a last big-scoring wave.
Now Redman is in prime position to do the unthinkable, win the Triple Crown title, which goes to the wahine who compiles the most points the crown's three contests.
"I've been thinking about winning the Triple Crown before I came to Hawaii," Redman said. "It would be special. I felt that I was going to do well all day, but I just tried to catch some waves.
"Everybody surfed well all day, but it was just a matter of who caught the waves. Keala let me have the last wave that counted, that was pretty special."
The victory gives Redman an edge over world champion and fellow Aussie Layne Beachley, who is determined to capture her second straight Triple Crown title.
Beachley was eliminated in the semifinals yesterday when she opted to go right on a wave, and lost valuable time trying to get back to the lineup.
More importantly for Redman, winning the Billabong Girls elevated her to No. 2 on the WQS, which puts her squarely back on next year's WCT.
Redman, 23, had reached No. 10 on the WCT last year, one position short of allowing her to remain on the tour this season.
"The year before I did both tours, and this year was easier, because I only did the WQS. It was almost a good thing when I didn't requalify. Financially it was a burden, but it was better mentally, and I saw more places.
"Next year I will probably do both tours. I don't feel confident enough to only do the WCT."
Maria "Tita" Tavares shocked the crowd by vanishing in the final heat after turning in the event's top performances all morning. The tide ebbed, the lineup changed and she lost her bearings, and watched helplessly as Redman, Kennelly and Serena Brooke carved their unique signatures all over the waves. It was a complete vanishing act for the spunky Brazilian.
After the wahine left the lineup, the boys took over the waves as the Billabong Junior Men's Championship got under way. Hawaii's Andy and Bruce Irons and Jason Bogle surfed their way into the final rounds of competition.
