Hawaii surfer Kai Sallas, who was born and raised in Waikiki, has claimed his first career Longboard World Title by winning the Original Sprout Malibu Longboard Championship on Monday in Malibu.
Sallas entered the event ranked No. 2 after an excellent year on the 2023 WSL Longboard Tour.
Sallas beat Britain’s Ben Skinner in Match 4 of Monday’s finals. Sallas opened the match with a 9.10 on his first wave, then tacked on an 8.77 on his fourth. Skinner surfed 11 waves compared to just five for Sallas. Skinner made a strong push with a 9.50 on his eighth ride, but couldn’t manage to close the gap as he lost to Sallas by just .04 points, 17.87-17.83.
After beating Skinner, Sallas advanced to face fellow Waikiki surfer Kaniela Stewart in the title match. Sallas scored a near-perfect 9.57 on his second wave, before finishing with a 5.00 on his third ride for a total of 14.57 points. Stewart claimed the first heat with 15.77 points despite surfing just two waves. Sallas evened the score with a 7.50 and 7.43 on back-to-back waves to claim the second heat with 14.93 points (Stewart 11.10). In the winner-take-all third heat, Sallas scored an 8.60 and 6.83 (15.43) to beat Stewart (14.24) and win his maiden World Title.
On the women’s side, American Soleil Errico won her second straight World Title after beating Waikiki’s Kelis Kaleopaa. Errico scored 13.50 points to take the first heat over Kaleopaa (7.73). The second heat was more competitive, but Errico (15.83) ultimately outscored Kaleopaa (11.90) to finish the sweep.
Errico, who won her first World Title in 2018, joins Hawaii surfers Honolua Blomfield and Rusty Keaulana and Americans Taylor Jensen, Cori Schumacher, Joel Tudor and Colin McPhillips as a three-time WSL Longboard Champion.
Chaminade finishes perfect road trip
The No. 18 Chaminade women’s volleyball team put the bow on a 4-0 road trip to start the month after beating Stanislaus State 25-20, 19-25, 25-20, 25-17 on Monday at the Ed & Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena.
Making her first career start, Heavenly Campbell led the Silverswords (17-2, 5-2 PacWest) with a career-high 16 kills on .306 hitting. Greta Corti had 15 kills and nine digs and Ahjack Malual added 14 kills, 10 digs and four blocks.
The Silverswords hit .217 as a team, while holding Stanislaus State to .119 hitting.
After four straight games on the road, Chaminade will head home to host Hawaii Pacific on Thursday at McCabe Gym. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. after an alumni match.