During Tuesday’s finals — after the Hawaii surfers had been eliminated — I rooted for the Californians in the World Surf League’s MEO Rip Curl Portugal Pro at Supertubos, Peniche.

Griffin Colapinto, 24, last year’s men’s winner out of Mission Viejo, lost in the quarterfinals, but on the women’s side, championship tour veteran Courtney Conlogue, 30, of Santa Ana and rookie Caitlin Simmers, 17, of Oceanside delivered a thrilling final heat in the big, churning beach break.

Simmers came from behind to win with daring cliffhanger, layback turns, but Conlogue, winner of last season’s Outerknown Tahiti Pro, got the highest scoring wave — a 9 out of a possible 10 — for a long, cavernous tube ride.

For some Golden State perspective, I called Southern California journalist Laylan Connelly, who was named Tuesday to the Surfers’ Hall of Fame in Huntington Beach for her community coverage as beach reporter for the Orange County Register.

“Did you watch that heat? I’m writing it up right now,” Connelly said. “It’s crazy to think Courtney’s a veteran, when to me, she’s still the 16-year-old I interviewed when she won the U.S. Open of Surfing at Huntington Beach in 2009.”

She also watched Simmers win the U.S. Open of Surfing in 2021, and praised the determined youngster’s mettle and calm under pressure at Supertubos, which brought her victory in only her third world tour event.

Connelly’s happy, excited voice reminded me of how I felt watching the two Hawaiian women in the final at last year’s Billabong Pipe Masters, where 12-year veteran Carissa Moore, then 29, placed second behind Moana Jones Wong, then 21 and surfing as a wild card in her first-ever championship tour event.

Five-time world champion Moore, who at age 17 won two events on her rookie CT tour, came back to win this year’s Pipeline event and is tied for world No. 2 with Simmers, behind Molly Picklum, 20, of Australia.

Thinking back to when the current veterans were rookies, “Women’s surfing has evolved so much,” said Connelly, who has been covering the sport for more than 20 years.

Seeking equal opportunity in the male-dominated sport, “Lisa Andersen, Rell Sunn and Jericho Poppler really broke down barriers in the 1970s and ’80s,” she said, though she noted the glaring disparity as recently as the 2009 U.S. Open, when “the men’s winner took home $100,000 and Courtney took home $10,000 — it was really kind of shocking, and I called it out.”

Indeed, March is Women’s History Month, and in observance of International Women’s Day, Conlogue wore former world champ Andersen’s name on her jersey at Supertubos. Moore’s jersey saluted the “kindness” of mentor and fellow native Hawaiian Megan Abubo. Bettylou Sakura Johnson chose Rell Sunn, while Barron Mamiya saluted Wong. Seth Moniz wore the name of his sister, longboard champ Kelia Moniz, and John John Florence paid tribute to his mother and first surf teacher, Alex Florence.

Thanks to the gender equity advocacy of veteran female surfers, “things have evolved over the years, at least on the elite level, to equal prize money, and recently we’re seeing them in events at Pipeline and Teahupoo, where historically women haven’t been able to compete. And then in the Eddie, it was phenomenal, oh my gosh, to see women and men out there, side by side, charging the same waves at Waimea Bay.”

But improvements are needed in other areas, such as sponsorships, “in which women don’t get the same level of pay and support,” and advertising, which would do better “showing off the skills of women surfers rather than how they fit into a bathing suit,” she said with a laugh.

As for recreational surfing, while “it’s so annoying” when encroaching men shoot her “side eyes” looks as they bank on her not making a wave, Connelly’s not intimidated.

“So many women surf these days. Where I go at San Onofre it’s pretty mellow, with women making up at least half the lineup. And nearby at Lower Trestles, men have to think twice because you never know, you could be surfing next to Caitlin Simmers, and she’s gonna smoke you.”

Born and raised in Lakewood, Orange County, inland from the sea, Connelly added she’s writing not just for surfers, but for the 90 percent of readers who don’t regularly get to the coast but are interested in ocean lifestyles, sports and environmental coverage.

“I think you can always relate subcultures like surfing into what’s happening in the greater world — people are excited seeing these young women pushing and succeeding in athletics and business and all the different facets there are in surfing,” she said.

The Surfers’ Hall of Fame is recognizing Connelly’s role in strengthening that connection. In its announcement of her selection, it noted, “Through her writing, Connelly has served as a bridge between the tight-knit surfing community and the outside world (so that) people who have never known the thrill of riding a wave can gain insight on surfing’s unique culture and marvel in stories of inspiration, determination, and successes.“

Connelly’s companion 2023 inductees for the Surfers’ Hall of Fame are surfer Italo Ferreira, the first Olympic men’s surfing gold medalist and a former WSL world champion, and Fernando Aguerre, longtime president of the International Surfing Association, who was instrumental in making surfing an Olympic sport.

Previous Hawaii inductees include Laird Hamilton, Andy Irons, Gerry Lopez, George Downing, Bethany Hamilton, Kai Lenny and Moore, the first women’s Olympic gold surfing medalist.

Since the Surfers’ Hall of Fame’s launch in 1997, supporters “are super stoked to be able to preserve a part of our surfing history in this unique and special way, for future generations to enjoy,” said founder Aaron Pai, who was born and raised in Hawaii. Pai learned to surf at Waikiki, where he frequently returns to ride waves with his large family, including his sons and co-directors, Trevor and Taylor Pai.

The hand and footprints of Hall of Fame inductees are pressed into concrete surrounding a statue of Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, which stands at the corner of Main Street and the Pacific Coast Highway in “Surf City U.S.A.”

Maybe Hawaii can reclaim our primacy in surfing history with a Surfers’ Hall of Fame near the statue of the Father of Modern Surfing and Hawaii’s first Olympic gold medalist, in the heart of the Duke’s beloved Waikiki.