Chidester, Gomes survive Xcel Pro’s opening rounds

The contest at Sunset Beach marks the start of the big-wave season

At opposite ends of their careers, professional surfers Chas Chidester and John Gomes both woke up yesterday excited to know it was time to Xcel.

The Hawaii pros are part of the international field of 132 surfers participating in the 23rd annual Xcel Pro Presented by No Fear, a 4-star, $75,000 World Qualifying Series contest at Sunset Beach that marks the official start of the big-wave season on Oahu's North Shore.

Both advanced out of their second-round heats yesterday on the first day of competition to move on to the second of three total days needed to complete the contest.

"I'm stoked to have (the contest) in my front yard," said the 17-year-old Chidester, who lives on the North Shore and is in his last year of homeschool before he attempts to hit the pro circuit full-time. "I couldn't be happier to wake up and come surf a heat at Sunset."

Much of what Chidester aspires to achieve Gomes has already accomplished.

He scored monumental victories on the North Shore a decade ago, but now at 41, has decided to start competing again after several years off.

"The Xcel has always been a special contest," said Gomes, who lives in Honolulu. "I've been in it from the beginning. ... It's good for us local guys who aren't on the world tour. Just because we aren't on the world tour doesn't mean we're not (some) of the world's best."

Wave faces at the famed break were in the 8- to 12-foot range yesterday, coming in from a mostly straight, northerly direction and a bit messy at times due to unfavorable winds.

Competition could resume today and perhaps wrap up tomorrow with the current swell forecasted to hold and then reinforced by another right behind it. The waiting period ends Nov. 10.

All 12 heats of the first round and eight of 16 from the second were completed yesterday.

Chidester was seeded directly into the second round, and won his 23-minute, four-man heat with his top two waves scoring 10.90 (out of 20 maximum) points.

He picked up his best individual score -- a 6.50 -- on his second ride, and added a 4.40 on his fourth and final wave of the heat.

Like most in the sport worldwide, Chidester knows the Xcel and the North Shore contest season have long been the proving ground for many young pros. Yet he's also careful not to look too far ahead after his successful opening day.

"It was a bit sloppy out there, but there were some fun ones," Chidester said. "I'm just stoked to make (it out of) this heat and, hopefully, from here on out, everything goes good."

Gomes advanced out of his first-round heat with a runner-up result, then finished in the same position in the second round with 7.60 total points (Australia's Josh Fuller won with 8.07).

In his heyday on the North Shore, Gomes took down the likes of Kelly Slater -- the current and record eight-time world champion -- to win the prestigious Pipeline Masters (1997). He also won the World Cup of Surfing (1993), another esteemed contest at Sunset later in the season.

Inspired by Hawaii surfing legends like Rabbit Kekai and brothers Michael and Derek Ho, he said he decided to try to get back into competitive shape because, "I still have a few good years left in me."

Competing is "in my heart and soul, it's in my blood," Gomes said. "I miss it so much. It's just the competitive hunger in me, and I figured I'd give it one more shot."

Former world champion Derek Ho also advanced to the second day of competition by finishing in second place in the final first-round heat.

Besides Chidester, other Hawaii surfers to win second-round heats were Tom Innes, Liam McNamara and Kaupena Miranda.

Other notable second-round winners include California's Che Stang and Australia's Darren Turner.

With a two-wave total of 15.23 points, Stang had the highest overall heat score of the day. Turner's 9.00 wave in his heat was the best individual scoring ride.

Defending event champion Ian Walsh of Maui was seeded directly into the third round and will be among the big names to hit the water when competition resumes.