The tradewinds groomed waves at Sunset Beach for the second day of competition at the 25th annual Xcel Pro surf contest.

Conditions improved drastically from the first day of the 4-star World Qualifying Series event, despite the surf dropping to 12- to 16-foot wave face heights. The northeast swell provided distinct takeoff spots, unlike the first day of the event that resembled a surfing Russian Roulette. Pick a peak. Spin the chamber. Paddle hard. Pull the trigger. And hope for the best.

  Xcel Pro contestants, like defending champ Joel Centeio, 25, were stoked that Sunset was a lot more organized and allowed them to ride shorter boards to increase their maneuverability.

“;It's a little bit smaller and cleaned up a bit, so I chose to ride a little smaller board,”; said Centeio, who rode a 7-foot Arakawa instead of the 7-3 he rode earlier in the event. It's pretty much firing Sunset: 6-to 8-foot (Hawaiian wave heights), offshore and can't ask for much more in a 10-day waiting period.”;

Centeio was content with his performance yesterday, when he won his third-round heat and posted the highest scoring wave of the contest so far—a 9.5. He was awarded the high score after finding an elusive, gaping tube on a double-overhead wave.

“;As I got that wave, I did that first turn to set it up and luckily, got a good barrel,”; said Centeio, who won the World Junior Championships in 2000. “;It's tough to find barrels out here and make it out because that end section clips so hard.”;

Ola Eleogram of Hana, Maui, also found a decent barrel in the third round yesterday. On top of getting shacked, he surfed loose and aggressive to win his heat, hitting the lip with power and laying down full rail turns. The source of his aggression was from a frustrating warm-up session on Tuesday.

“;It came from (yesterday) morning when I couldn't do a turn out here,”; said Eleogram, who beat O'Neill World Cup of Surfing defending champ Makuakai Rothman, former world champ Derek Ho and North Shore standout T.J. Barron in the most stacked heat of the day. “;I just wanted to go out there and smash it!”;

Eleogram got into that heat as an alternate and faced a hectic travel schedule to get to the North Shore. He wasn't originally entered in the Xcel Pro because he just got back from a 6-star WQS event in Portugal on Monday.

When he landed on Maui from Europe, Eleogram drove 2 hours to Hana because he thought that entry into the Sunset contest was impossible. After finding out that he could enter the Xcel Pro, Eleogram drove back to the airport and hopped on a plane to Oahu at 10 p.m. Monday night. He finally reached the North Shore at 1 a.m. Tuesday, woke up at 6 a.m. for a pre-contest surf and got in the event at noon.

Although it was an arduous journey, Eleogram's performance yesterday is a necessary boost of confidence for the 22-year-old going into the winter season.

“;I've been on a losing streak, so I just wanted to go out there and give it my best and show them where I'm from—I'm from Hawaii so I should do good out here,”; he said. “;I feel stoked to make a heat at Sunset, it's good confidence for the 6-star (O'Neill World Cup of Surfing) and this is good practice.”;

According to Xcel Pro officials, there is a 50-50 chance that Eleogram and the rest of the contestants will resume competition today. With the current northeast swell declining and no other swells forecasted for the next week the contest may need to run. Contest officials will make a decision by 8 a.m. today.