Brazilian rules at Hale'iwa Beach

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

A quick-Silva performance proved to be the key to victory for a Brazilian surfer yesterday.

Brazil's Jaqueline Silva wins the Roxy Pro, carving an open section of a 5-foot wave for a score of 8.83 and a lead she would not relinquish. Bernie Baker • Special to The Advertiser

While the name of the contest may have changed since last year, the champion remained the same. Silva, 22, also won the event last year, when it was called the G-Shock Hawaiian Pro.

"Winning here last year gave me so much confidence," Silva said. "And because I was defending the title, I felt like I had to give more than 100 percent in every heat."

The contest featured the world's best female surfers, although it did not count toward the World Championship Tour standings.

Instead, the event was part of the women's World Qualifying Series (WQS), which helps surfers qualify for next year's Championship Tour. With yesterday's victory, Silva also won the 2001 WQS championship, and is assured a spot on next year's Championship Tour.

"We learn to surf in bad conditions in Brazil," Silva said, noting that Brazilian women have won four of the last five contests at Hale'iwa. "So when we come to beautiful conditions, we try so hard because we don't get to surf in that too often."

In picturesque waves of 3 to 5 feet, Silva consistently recorded some of the day's best scores. She won three heats in convincing fashion yesterday — quarterfinals, semifinals and then the final.

In the four-woman final, Silva's top three waves scored 18.13 (out of 30). In the opening minutes of the heat, she carved across the open section of a 5-foot wave, completing several daring maneuvers along the way. The judges rewarded her with a score of 8.83 to give her a lead she would never lose.

"My plan was not to stay too close to the other girls because I didn't want to hassle with them (for waves)," said Silva, who earned $5,000. "I stayed to the side and the waves just came to me."

Australian Lynette MacKenzie shared a similar strategy, but with different results. In the 35-minute final, MacKenzie caught just two waves, but still placed second with a score of 13.5.

"You only need three waves, so I was hoping to pick off three good ones," she said. "I got two, but that third one never came."

Megan Abubo of Waialua caught five waves in the final, but uncharacteristically fell on four of them. She placed fourth, scoring 11.9.

"I fell on all my big maneuvers," she said. "I was trying to go all out and it backfired on me."

Still, Abubo had the best showing among the women in contention for the world championship, which will be decided during the Billabong Girls contest at Honolua Bay, Maui, next week.

"I got away a lot of rust," said Abubo, who suffered bruises and scrapes on her right shin after one of her wipeouts. "But this wasn't the one that counts. Next week is the big one."

Australian Chelsea Georgeson, who graduated from high school last month, placed third in her first contest in Hawai'i.

Roxy Pro

Final results

1, Jaqueline Silva (Brazil), $5,000. 2, Lynette MacKenzie (Australia), $2,500. 3, Chelsea Georgeson (Australia), $2,000. 4, Megan Abubo (Hawai'i), $1,500. 5 (tie), Rochelle Ballard (Hawai'i) and Maria Tita Tavares (Brazil), $1,200. 7 (tie), Kate Skarratt (Australia) and Keala Kennelly (Hawai'i), $1,000. 9 (tie), Samantha Cornish (Australia), Melanie Bartels (Hawai'i), Pru Jefferies (Australia) and Melanie Redman (Australia), $800. 13 (tie), Sofia Mulanovich (Peru), Layne Beachley (Australia), Neridah Falconer (Australia) and Kim Wooldridge (Australia), $600.

• Garcia advances: World champion Sunny Garcia of Wai'anae was one of seven Hawai'i surfers advancing to the fourth round of the G-Shock Hawaiian Pro, which was also held yesterday.

Other Hawai'i surfers advancing were Roy Powers, Brian Pacheco, Ross Williams, Myles Padaca, Andy Irons and Kalani Robb.The contest will continue when conditions permit.