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DeSoto back on board
After his first three days of competitive longboarding ended in frustration, professional Duane DeSoto was looking for redemption.
The Honolulu surfer found it on the last day by winning the Ocean Club/Cheater Five Classic at the Ala Moana Bowl.
A determined DeSoto dominated throughout the Classic's pro competition yesterday in clean and consistent 2- to 6-foot-face left-handers, placing first in his three earlier heats and then taking the four-man final and the $600 top prize.
"I came off a bad loss (Saturday) at Queen's," said DeSoto, who was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Converse Hawaiian Open that ran from Thursday through Saturday.
"That was choke motivation. It blew my mind to go down before even making the top eight. But I was like, 'Oh, well. It's time for redemption and to just go for it.' I had nothing to lose and everything to gain here."
The Classic was the fourth of five events in this year's Shaka for Steinlager Summer Longboard Series. Some 143 competitors were spread among 20 divisions for the two-day event at one of the premier breaks on Oahu's south shore.
In the 30-minute pro final, DeSoto scored 18.00 points (out of 20 maximum) for his top two rides.
The 27-year-old was in such command of his surfing, he tallied a perfect 10 from two of the three judges on a semifinal ride, and then scored a 9.00 from at least one of the three on three different waves in the final.
But all three were in agreement that his last ride with one minute left in the decider was one of his best -- a left on which he successfully rode through the barrel on his backhand, then did a top turn and finished with a cutback/rebound combination for an 8.83 average.
"The waves were perfect. I couldn't have asked for anything more," DeSoto said. "The waves were good, and actually got better through the day. I was just going with the flow, to be honest. This wave is a real particular wave, and if you know it you can take advantage of it."
Finishing second through fourth in the all-Hawaii pro final were: Joey Valentin (13.67), Scotty Fong Jr. (11.17) and Kapono Nahina (7.17).
Valentin was the only goofy-foot (right foot forward) among the finalists, and used his advantage of facing the waves to score a barrel ride of his own for an 8.33 10 minutes in. And though he couldn't withstand DeSoto's charge down the stretch -- only managing a 5.33 later -- the 35-year-old from Honolulu was still pleased with his result at the contest he considers one of the highlights of the local longboard schedule.
"Good waves, good competitors, good event," said Valentin, who like DeSoto, went down in the quarters of the Hawaiian Open, tying for the highest finish of any of the four Classic finalists.
"The waves today allowed us to mix it up and give the judges a little bit of variety, because the wave offers you the opportunity to get in the tube. A lot of other events, you don't really have that opportunity, especially on the south shore. Bowls is a more intense type of wave."
While most of the Classic's amateur divisions wrapped up on Saturday, a few were concluded yesterday among the pro heats.
Winners included: John Okamura (senior men's final, ages 35-44), Herb Pruse (senior master men's, 45-55) and Dr. Malcolm Ing (super legends, 66-above).
The final event of the SLS is the Ocean Club Pro-Am Sept. 11-12 at the Queen's break of Kuhio Beach.
