Surfing fans at Alii Beach Park in Haleiwa on Saturday were waiting for one last definitive wave to decide the Hawaiian Pro, but it never came.
Instead, Australia’s Wade Carmichael, on the strength of two powerful rides early in the four-man final, emerged as the contest’s champion and grabbed the early lead in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing standings.
Carmichael got a big assist from a 15-minute lull. During that time, any of the three others could have surged ahead with a high-scoring wave. When some sets started rolling in during the last five minutes of the heat, there were no waves of consequence as the competitors tried to gouge out whatever they could on the meager offerings.
"My goal was to get the best, not necessarily the biggest, waves," Carmichael said after collecting the $40,000 top prize. "All I wanted to do was get my turns in and add some big carves and big snaps. Just stick to my game plan. I made the quarters in this event last year and ended up making mistakes. This one, I just did my best to try and claim the heats and it worked. Since I turned pro, I’ve wanted to win a (WSL) Qualifying Series 10,000 event in good waves. And it happened in Hawaii. You can’t really beat that."
The QS is the World Surf League’s feeder tour. As the winner of the Hawaiian Pro, Carmichael earned 10,000 points and moved up 41 spots to 12th in the rankings. The top 10 in the QS get a ticket to next year’s WSL world tour.
"For about 15 minutes, it went completely flat," said Brazil’s Filipe Toledo, who had an astounding 360 aerial for a 9.50 but couldn’t back it up with another solid wave and finished second at 14.83 to Carmichael’s 15.40.
Two Hawaii surfers — Ezekiel Lau (19th on the QS) and Dusty Payne (17th on the QS) — finished third and fourth in the waist- to head-high waves.
"I was talking to Dusty (during the lull) and we were saying, ‘All we need is one. Just one wave,’ " added Toledo, who is in a dogfight with Australia’s Mick Fanning and fellow Brazilian Adriano de Souza for the WSL world tour championship that will be decided in the third Triple Crown contest, the Billabong Pipe Masters in December. "I’m happy with second place and it gives me confidence heading to the last event (at Pipeline)."
Toledo is skipping the second leg of the Triple Crown — the Vans World Cup of Surfing that starts next week at Sunset Beach — to focus on the tour finale.
Carmichael pulled off five power turns on his first scoring wave, a 9.07, and added a 6.33 with a floater and a few carves that, unbeknownst to him at the time, secured the winning points.
Lau admitted to wave-selection mistakes.
"I lost my cool, getting too excited and going on waves that I shouldn’t have gone on," he said. "Wade got the better of the exchanges."
The top surfer in the three events combined — the Hawaiian Pro, the World Cup of Surfing (Tuesday through Dec. 6), and the Pipe Masters (Dec. 8-20) — will add his name to the list of legendary Triple Crown champions since the series started in 1983.
