Cole Yamakawa surfed to victory in the second event of the NoRep Board Shorts Hawaiian Surfing Championships on Sunday at Ala Moana Bowls.
For the 19-year-old from Honolulu, the win marks his first in a pro-am division. The waves were in the 1- to 2-foot range with inconsistent conditions, which gave way to some scrappy heats. Bowls is a predominantly left-breaking wave, yet Yamakawa looked to the rights to make his mark. In the final, he came up against in-form surfers Kainoa Haas, Kekoa Cazimero and EJ Mitsui.
"I have been doing a lot of these pro-ams but losing pretty frequently, so it feels super good to win," Yamakawa said. "It was a hard weekend in terms of waves because the swell was super small. It opened up the opportunity to go right, which I was stoked about because I won on two rights, which I think has never happened in Bowls history."
On Yamakawa’s winning wave, he launched into an air 360 and finished up with an end section snap, good for an 8.5 (out of 10) from the judges, first place and $1,550.
Earlier in the contest, Yamakawa defeated his brother, Kylen, making the victory that much sweeter.
Winning the team division was Team Hammerheads, led by Tom Dosland and featuring Makua Rothman and Sage Hulls.
In the team final, the North Shore boys topped Team Flashback, comprised of Love Hodel, Doug Silva and Gavin Sutherland.
"It was a fun little team challenge out there," Dosland said. "We were definitely battling. Our strategy in the final was just to not let the other guys get a wave and catch anything that moved. We are taking this one for the North Shore."
In the coveted longboard division, contest commissioner Kai Sallas came out with another victory. He also won the first event of the series at Kewalo Basin. The final was stacked, with Duane Desoto, Kapono Nahina and Nelson Ahina all vying for the win.
"It was good out there. Luckily, the waves picked up for today with good conditions," Sallas said. "The heats were kind of slow, so you had to be lucky to get a set because that is most of the challenge to winning your heats. My strategy was to get deep to get position, but not too deep where you can’t catch the wave."