[ SURFING ]
Ben Kealoha rode the nose during the pro final of China Uemura's 20th annual Longboard Classic yesterday.
Pros kick off longboard
classicChina Uemura's 20th annual event
features a professional division for
the second year
Hawaii surfing legend China Uemura officially kicked off his 20th annual Longboard Surfing Classic yesterday by running a professional division for a second straight year.
Eighteen pros participated on the first day of the three-day Classic at Queen's, Waikiki, including most of Hawaii's top competitive longboarders, like former world champions Rusty Keaulana and Bonga Perkins, and Uemura's son, Kekoa, the runner-up at this year's world championships.
"The 20th -- I can't believe it. I can feel my 'bolo' head getting burned by the sun, but it's all good," said the 49-year-old China Uemura, who was a successful competitor on the national and international levels in the 1970s. "I was a pro surfer before, and to now also generate a pro contest like this, it's a steppingstone, because Hawaii's got a lot of radical surfers, for when they go surf around the world."
Perkins surfed well enough to make the four-man pro final, but Kekoa Uemura and Keaulana were eliminated in the early rounds.
Just a week ago in France, Kekoa placed second to California's Joel Tudor at the single international pro longboarding event that determined this year's world champion.
"Any dog can have its day, and today's a perfect example," the 21-year-old, fourth-year pro said. "I got second up there, but couldn't even make the semis today."
The 30-minute final featuring Perkins, Duane DeSoto, Ben Kealoha Jr. and Kai Sallas was completed in 1- to 3-foot-face waves, but results from the heat will not be announced until the entire event is completed tomorrow. And there is significantly more at stake than just the Classic pro title, as the winner also takes home $1,400.
Kai Sallas had 10 toes over the nose during yesterday's pro final.
China Uemura chipped in $1,000 to make the total pro purse $2,800, and one of the biggest offered for any pro longboarding contest in the state. Second place receives $650, while third and fourth places get $450 and $300, respectively.
"I feel pretty glad, coming home (from France, where he finished third) and straight into a final. It's icing on my cake, for sure," Perkins, 31, said. "And, China brings everything to the table, not just for the pros, but for the amateurs and charitable causes. He does so much for longboarding, for family. He's been there too."
Sallas, a regular at Queen's, managed to catch a heat-high seven waves during the final. Perkins and Kealoha both caught five. DeSoto, the only one of the four to finish first in all three of his earlier heats, continued hot with two rides right as the heat began, but finished with just four total.
"It was small, but it was fun," DeSoto, 27, said. "We just tried to keep it cool out there, and tried to rip."
While only a surfer's top two waves count toward his final score, Sallas tallied at least three above-average scores with solid rides at the beginning, middle and end of the heat. On the first and last of those rides, the Honolulu surfer executed lengthy noserides followed by cutback/rebound combinations. On the one in between he first carved a big off-the-top maneuver, then followed with a smaller one on the inside.
With having to wait for the results, "there's a little anticipation over the weekend," the 23-year-old Sallas said. "I have no idea (on the results). I hope I don't get last. I surfed OK -- I didn't fall or anything."
Highlights from the others included DeSoto executing a helicopter spin on his first ride, and Perkins executing two deep and drawn-out cutback/rebounds on the biggest wave of the final, a 3-footer that rolled through at the midpoint.
Only 17, Nanakuli's Kealoha was participating in just his second pro final after making his first last month and finishing third.
The Classic continues at Queen's today and tomorrow with Uemura's staples at this event for the last two decades: the amateur divisions and raising money for charity. More than 300 amateurs are competing this year, and proceeds from their entry fees as well as a portion of the pros' will benefit the American Diabetes Association.
