It was a marathon day of surfing at Queen’s, with Crystal Dzigas, Kai Sallas and Mahina Maeda coming out on top at the Duke’s OceanFest contest.
Sunny skies and clean 1- to 2-foot waves were on offer for all the competitors to slide across.
It was a typical day at Queen’s, which paid off for the locals who came away with wins in the women’s and men’s longboard divisions.
For Dzigas, it was her second ASP win in a row at the fabled break to go along with her recent win at the Roxy Waikiki Classic in June.
"I am so happy right now. I am super stoked to win again in Waikiki," Dzigas said. "It was really hard out there and I was not feeling too good in any of my heats. All these girls are really hungry for waves and they all want to win. It came down to paddling, so you just have to out-paddle them.
"In the final, I had a nice set where I did a hang 10, did a cutback and finished it off with a hang five."
Another local who won using experience and contest strategy was Sallas, 31, of Waikiki. Sallas won here in 2009 and made the finals the past two years as well. He won the final by catching the best waves, mixing it up with a series of hang-10 noserides and some sharp roundhouse cutbacks.
"This is my home break, where I learned to surf, and I have been surfing here since I was 10 years old," Sallas said. "It feels really good to win out here because this is my wave. I know my competitors were really good paddlers and after I looked at the conditions I knew I had to switch it up. I rode a bigger board, so I knew I could get on those set waves."
Maeda, 14, from the North Shore, won the coveted HIC pro junior division against a stacked field. It was her fourth win in the junior division.
"In the beginning, I had a really hard time out there because it was challenging catching waves," Maeda said. "In the end I only caught two waves, but it ended up being enough. On the waves I caught, I tried not to hop and flow more through my turns. I feel great."
