A world first took place at Waikiki's Queens surf spot Thursday, as the world's top professional women longboarders took to the waves for the first stand-alone Assocation of Surfing Professionals (ASP) sanctioned event: the Roxy Jam Honolulu. There have been other professional women's longboard events in Hawaii, but this was the first ever to not run in conjunction with a men's competition.
The ladies wasted no time in proving they were worthy headliners at surfing's birthplace. On a stage of torquoise, shoulder-high waves and under clear, warm skies, 64 women competed through three rounds of competition today that whittled the field down to 16 quarter finalists.
Today's highest scores were posted by Californian Kassia Meador, 25, in the second round of competition. Ranging from eight to 9 points out of a possible 10 on her two best rides, Meador didn't let on to the jetlag or nerves she was suffering from.
"I haven't surfed out here at Queens for about a year and I was a bit nervous for the first couple of waves, to be honest," said Meador, who is from Carlsbad. "I flew in early yesterday straight from New York. I slept the whole way over and then I couldn't sleep at all last night.
"I love being in Hawaii, though. I was fine after I got a couple of waves out of the way. It's such a fun place to surf. I was glad to get to surf twice today - Waikiki with only a few people out... you don't want to just sit around and have to watch all day! I was stoked to surf twice."
This was also the first appearance of world champion elect Jennifer Smith, 21, from San Diego, CA, who won her first world longboarding title in France last month. Entering at round three stage as the top seed into the event, Smith had three motivated surfers at her heels, eager to lay claim to taking down the world champ. Local Hawaii surfer Jennifer Koki won the heat and Smith advanced in second place behind her.
"I've competed here in Hawaii only twice before and I haven't done that well either time," said Smith. "I just scraped through today - that was a close call. I haven't surfed here in two years. The most difficult thing is judging the waves - where they're going to break and which ones are the best ones.
"Everyone was hungry for the best waves, but it was pretty inconsistent, so you'd end up sitting, drifting out of position, and then paddling like crazy to get into the right position when they came. It's a relief to get past the pressure of the first heat."
While the top scores and the attention might have rested with a Californian pair today, the local Hawaiian contingent who are regulars at Queens are ready to take control of the reigns when competition resumes tomorrow. The quarter finals and semi-finals of the event will take place tomorrow, before wrapping up with the final on Saturday. The Roxy Jam Honolulu is one of the feature events of this week's Duke's OceanFest Celebration taking place at Waikiki.