The thrill is in the ride

Early morning rain and wind, not to mention the choppy 6-foot surf, did nothing to hinder Roy Powers. With a solid semi-final performance, Roy found himself surfing in the finals against big wave legend Taylor Knox, Kieran Horn and Santa Cruz local Adam Replogle. Undaunted by his big name competition, Powers dominated the Men’s event taking 1st overall and then placed 3rd in the Juniors finals. Huntington Beach’s Micah Byrne, another young standout, took fifth place overall in the Men’s competition. Leading the way for the locals was Adam Replogle who placed second, while Knox took third and Horn finished fourth.

The Junior’s Final was a heavily Hawaiian affair, with Joel Centeio leading the pack. Centeio had the highest scoring wave of the Juniors competition ( 9.57) to beat out second place Californian Bobby Martinez. Third went to Men’s champion Roy Powers and Hawaiian Kekoa Bacalso rounded out the final heat in fourth. Meanwhile the women saw some great surfing with Santa Cruz local Joanne Hutson pulling off a win in the semis to advance to the finals, eliminating WCT surfer Rochelle Ballard-Hawaii. Joining Hutson (third overall in the finals) was WCT defending champ Pauline Menczer (Australia), who took first place, South Africa’s Heather Clark (second), and young ripper, Julia Christian of Carlsbad, CA (fourth).