[ SURFING ]
Uemura gets close
Aston Classic victoryHe edges Auwae, who won
the overall series championship
with his performance
Two professional longboarders with the first name Kekoa made the final yesterday at the Aston Hotels Surf Classic. And both finished as winners.
In 1- to 2-foot waves with an occasional bigger set at Queen's Beach in Waikiki, Honolulu's Kekoa Uemura edged Makaha's Kekoa Auwae by just a half-point to win the Classic, the last event of five in the 2003 Hawaiian Longboard Federation series. The finals of the Classic's 12 amateur divisions will be held today.
A professional division was held at four of the events, and with yesterday's victory added to one in June, the 20-year-old Uemura became the only two-time winner this year.
"Can't ask for anything better," said Uemura, the 18th-ranked longboarder in the world. "Queen's is great. I grew up surfing over here."
Though he suffered a narrow defeat to Uemura and ended up with his third runner-up HLF finish this year, Auwae's consistently strong performances and 3,250 total points earned him the overall series championship. He didn't win an event this season, but Auwae was the only competitor to qualify for all four pro finals.
Auwae finished second in the series standings last year.
"That (final) was pretty close. I did good, though," the 19-year-old Auwae said. "I won the battle. ... I got second (in the overall standings) last year and first this year. It feels good."
Honolulu's Joey Valentin placed third at the Classic, while Auwae's older brother, Kamu, took fourth.
Uemura caught seven total waves in the four-man, 30-minute final. He received his highest scores (only a surfer's top two rides count) from the pair he snagged within the first five minutes -- an 8 and an 8.33, for 16.33 total points out of 20 possible.
On the first wave, he successfully transitioned from hanging 10 toes over the nose of his board to a critical cutback/rebound combination, having to plant his left arm deep into the wave upon completion of the maneuver to prevent a fall. On the second, he logged about a five-second count riding the nose on a solid 2-footer, before milking it through the inside section.
"We had a half-hour, so that's a lot of time," Uemura said. "A lot of good waves came in -- I think one of the biggest sets of the day came in -- so ... I thought it was just up for grabs."
That two-wave set arrived about 11 minutes into the heat, and Kekoa Auwae received the highest single wave score of the final -- an 8.83 -- for successfully riding the first one. But he could do no better than a 7 the rest of the way, finishing with 15.83 points.
Valentin averaged 14.5 points for his top two rides, and Kamu Auwae averaged 11.83.
Valentin finished second in the overall standings, 300 points behind Kekoa Auwae. But a win at a non-series event back in February, combined with his HLF results, allowed him to finish as the top-ranked longboarder in the Association of Surfing Professionals Hawaii this year.
Also of note, Uemura is the only one of the four finalists participating on the World Longboard Tour, and will continue practicing at home until leaving in early November for the WLT season-ender at Raglan, New Zealand.
The Classic victory "gives (me) a little confidence," he said, but "I still need a lot of practice."
At No. 2, former world champion Bonga Perkins is the highest-ranked Hawaii surfer on the WLT. Perkins is in California this weekend competing for the U.S. Championship.
