Surf tour starting out swell for the rededicated Moore

The four-foot high campanile-like trophy the winners hoist at iconic Bells Beach in Australia every Easter might be the most venerable piece of hardware in pro surfing today.

For sure it is the most distinctive, with the well-known mantra — “you’ve gotta win it to ring it”  — that goes along with it.

And with Carissa Moore’s victory in the Rip Curl Women’s Pro on Monday, came a cherished opportunity to let it toll loudly.

There was symbolism in that as the Honolulu native regained the No. 1 spot in the Association of Surfing Professionals Women’s World Tour rankings after a year’s absence, ringing out the disappointment of 2012 with renewed confidence for 2013.

With two contest titles and $114,500 in official earnings in three appearances this year heading into this week’s New Zealand Surf Festival at Taranaki, the 20-year-old Punahou School graduate has regained the form and, apparently, the focus that made her the sport’s youngest world champion pro two years ago when she dethroned four-time titlist Stephanie Gilmore.

Never mind that there aren’t too many, especially her age, who could look with regret upon 2012, a year that still carried a No. 3 world ranking and produced a six-figure income. Yet, in going winless on the ASP Tour last year, “I felt like I really didn’t show up with my best self to any of the events,” Moore said in an email to the Star-Advertiser. “It was definitely a transition year.”

A year of sometimes learning the hard way, including watching Gilmore win back the ASP title for 2012 in Biarritz, France — the place where Moore, Hawaii’s first women’s world champion in 30 years, had triumphantly clinched hers the year before — drove home the point.

“It was definitely a challenging moment handing over the ASP title and trophy to Steph in France last year, but she earned it,” Moore wrote. “She surfed the best and smartest all year, so I can’t take away anything from that.”

But she could look at her own preparation and performance in a period of remarkably frank self-appraisal and rededication. “I learned a lot about myself and the way I take competing,” Moore wrote. “(As) hard as it was, I think it was really good for me. It got me to take a real good look at my goals and what I needed to do to get there.”

During the offseason, Moore said, “My approach to training had changed. Instead of maybe making excuses for myself, I just started doing it and really wanting to be better.”

The biggest difference, Moore will tell you, “is that I’m happy and just have a good mind-set. I have really been enjoying traveling to each place and surfing. Trying my best to live in the moment and take each event as we go.”

This year, Moore said, “You know, I don’t really focus on winning as much as just performing at my best and surfing smart. I feel like if I do that and have fun, the rest will fall into place.”

So far in 2013 that philosophy has come with a ringing endorsement.

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Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.