Haleiwa Goes Off for Reef Hawaiian Pro

Mick Fanning advanced in second place behind heat winner Damien Hobgood. Fanning scored a near perfect 9.33 in his two wave heat tally. Photo: ASP/Cestari
Jordy Smith performing a massive drop-wallet turn to win his Round 3 heat. Smith's exceptional performance earned him a near perfect score, a 9.50. Photo: ASP/Sloane
Julian Wilson winning his Round 3 heat with excellent 8.57 and 9.20 scores. Wilson advances into Round 4. Photo: ASP/Cestari
Dusty Payne advanced into Round 4 of the REEF Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa. Payne posted a heat total of 18.70 points consisting of two near perfect rides, a 9.43 and 9.27. Photo: ASP/Ed Sloane
Raoni Monteiro advanced into Round 4 of the REEF Hawaiian Pro. Monteiro posted a heat total of 17.00 points to place second and advance into the next round of competition. Photo: ASP/Sloane
Vasco Ribeiro of Portugal winning his Round 3 heat, posting a near perfect 9.37 ride to advance into Round 4. Photo: ASP/Cestari
Brett Simpson advanced into Round 4 of the REEF Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa, Hawaii today. In Round 3 Simpson posted a heat total of 14.27 points to place second in the heat and advance into the next round of competition. Photo: ASP/Cestari
Frederico Morais of Portugal winning his Round 3 heat during the Reef Hawaiian Pro. Morais narrowly defeated Conner Coffin to earn his place in Round 4. Photo: ASP/Cestari
Joan Duru of France winning his Round 3 heat. Duru scored an excellent 8.87 to advance into Round 4. Photo: ASP/Cestari

Friday at the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa was one for the books. In pumping waves, the first few rounds of the event had more rides in the excellent range than your average contest – almost 50 waves with a score higher than an 8.0, and a healthy dose of those were high 9’s. It seemed as though the competitors were pushing each other a little harder than usual, and the waves and conditions at Haleiwa were perfect for it.

Though not perfect waves by any means, the imperfections made Friday even more entertaining. The chop and bit of west in the wind direction forced the surfers to find waves that hid sections containing moments of brilliance – and find them they did. A perfect example is Olamana Eleogram’s perfect 10 (below), ducking behind a heavy Hawaiian curtain, then escaping unharmed before getting cleaned up in the Toilet Bowl section. Not to take anything away from Olamana’s barrel, but remember when JJF fell on a wave and still got a 10? Perfect doesn’t mean perfect anymore… it just means awesome.