CHICKS CAN RIP
COURTESY BRIAN BIELMANN
Kendell Krebs, 13, won all of her heats at the Cholo's Pipeline Pro yesterday at Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore. CLICK FOR LARGE
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Women attack Pipeline
Local surfers shred Banzai Pipeline
By Brandon Lee
Special to the Star-Bulletin
The prevailing sentiment used to be that the Banzai Pipeline was too difficult and dangerous for women to surf.
However, more than 80 female competitors at the third annual Cholo's Women's Pipeline Pro yesterday were willing to continue to try their best to dispel that notion.
With divisions for shortboarding, bodyboarding and longboarding, the competitors challenged waves with up to 10-foot faces at the infamous North Shore break on the first day of the two-day event.
The contest will almost assuredly continue and finish today, according to director Betty Depolito, though it has a waiting period that lasts through next Friday.
"A lot has changed. Girls are surfing a lot better nowadays," Depolito said. "It's still not at the point where they can go out in (18- to 25-foot-face) surf, but I think the sport is growing. Pipeline is an important break for the girls, and they'll continue to get better and better at it."
Shortboarders Bethany Hamilton and Rochelle Ballard were among the notables who won their heats to advance to the last competition day. Both surfers are originally from Kauai.
Once one of Hawaii's top female professional prospects, Hamilton lost her left arm in a shark attack more than three years ago at 13. But she has competed successfully since then, winning an amateur national championship and now having participated in all three Pipeline Pros.
Hamilton notched one of the highest individual wave scores -- an 8.00 out of 10 maximum -- for the day in taking her four-woman heat and advancing to the shortboard quarterfinals.
The conditions "this year have been the best (of the Pipeline Pros) so far -- at least, the morning was," Hamilton said. "Here, I'm just trying to challenge the wave, because the wave is the real competitor."
The veteran Ballard is a member of the women's World Championship Tour, the most elite circuit for women's pro surfing. After the first event of this year's WCT finished a bit early in Australia, Ballard decided to fly back home for a couple of weeks and participate in the Pipeline Pro.
Ballard is widely recognized as one of the best female tube riders in the world. Pipeline is widely recognized as one of the best tubing waves in the world.
Though conditions had deteriorated quite a bit from the morning by the time her heat hit the water, Ballard still was able to do enough to win it and also advance to the shortboard quarterfinals.
"This event is in its beginning stages, and part of that is having a conflict with other events so that you can't necessarily get all the best (surfers) out here," Ballard said. "But it's great for the future of surfing. For some of the younger girls to be able to participate in this event, that is gonna take the sport to the level it needs to be. Critical barrels and bigger waves -- that's the step it needs."
Former WCT competitor Keala Kennelly also moved on to the shortboard quarterfinals by placing second in her first-round heat. The Kauai-born surfer is taking a break from the WCT while working on a film project in Hollywood, but was able to get away from her new gig to participate in the Pipeline Pro.
The total prize purses for the divisions are $5,000 each for shortboarding and bodyboarding, and $1,000 for longboarding.