Maui surfer prevails at Pipeline
Advertiser Staff
Carol Cunningham photos
Tom Dosland, of Ha'iku, Maui, won the Hansen's Energy Pro in 8- to 12-foot surf yesterday at Banzai Pipeline on O'ahu's North Shore.
Tom Dosland barrels through the 8- to 12-foot surf at Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore.
Dosland scored 16.83 points in the four-man final to win $10,000 and earn 1,500 points toward his Association of Surfing Professionals World Qualifying Series rating. Ranked 153rd entering the contest, Dosland soared to No. 9 on the WQS ratings and will next travel to Australia in a bid to qualify for the elite World Championship Tour.
"I was just hoping to make it as far as the third round 'cause that's where the prize money starts," said Dosland, who competed in a total of seven rounds. "I'm baffled."
Dosland charged several huge tubes in the 40-minute final and was awarded 8.5 and 8.33 points on his two top-scoring rides.
"I was just hoping to make it as far as the third round 'cause that's where the prize money starts," Tom Dosland said.
Three surfers from Hale'iwa took the next three spots. Mikey Bruneau scored 15.5 points and won $5,000, followed by Pancho Sullivan (14.97, $3,000) and Fred Patacchia (13.66, $2,400).
"Pipeline is the best and scariest wave in the world," Bruneau said. "I was just stoked to surf with just three other guys out in waves like this. It's incredible."
Marcus Hickman, of the North Shore, was presented with the Todd Chesser Memorial Award "for the surfer who charges hard and embodies a humble aloha spirit."
Meanwhile, South Africa's Daniel Redman, who was airlifted to the hospital yesterday after a wipe out in a third-round heat, is expected to make a full recovery from a broken ear drum and gashes to his head. He was discharged later in the day.
