Reef Hawaiian Pro Day 3

Events Held: 4 Mens heats of the round of 96 and Womens to the final
Conditions: Solid, sloppy and full of current
Nature’s Call: Heavyweight uppercuts today
Predictions: Drinks on Megan tonight

It was hard to keep your eyes off the water today. A woman was crowned Reef Hawaiian Pro champ at Haleiwa. Hank Gaskell got a shack at Log Cabins that everyone’s talking about. Mikala Jones and CJ Hobgood ruled Rocky Rights. Dane Reynolds, Julian Wilson and Jeremy Flores slipped under the radar at Ehukai and sliced it to pieces. And Aussie Damien Wills hit the reef with his head at Logs. It was your typical day on the North Shore, which is of course, anything but typical. With slightly mixed up, 8-foot swell topping out, there was plenty to go around. Super-sessions were aplenty and again you see the beauty of the North Shore season. All of this within a small stretch of sand that houses the worlds best waves.

The big story of the day though was for the local girl, Haleiwa’s own, Megan Abubo and her performance in front of all her family and friends. From the start of the day you could see a glimmer in her eye and pep in her step. She was comfortable. Relaxed and oh-so-confidant. “I have an advantage here for sure,” she said with a sly smile. “I don’t want to give away my strategy but I definitely have a game plan I’ve been sticking to.” And after posting the contest first perfect 10, which she was able to back up with a 9.3, setting the pace for the highest heat total of the entire event with a 19.30, there was no question her strategy was working. And she needed every ounce of that knowledge to deal with the conditions.

The waves at Haleiwa were little temptresses today. Alluring but devastatingly difficult. With plenty of size, most competitors were stoked they were letting the girls have a go today, since they usually get second pickings after the guys. Layne Beachley even thanked the contest director for letting them surf at the peak of the swell.

But out in the lineup it was a whole different ballgame. Current raced out to sea taking any jersey-clad competitor it could with it. Wave faces were hacked up and scalped white for the majority of the day, forcing the girls to step it up in the challenging conditions. And boy did they. Big Island girl Leilani Gryde and Megan Abubo were standouts throughout the day. But in the end Megan’s local knowledge was too much to handle. She consistently picked off the best waves with the smoothest faces.

The final, which featured Leilani Gryde, Karina Pertroni, Megan Abubo and Layne Beachley started slow. Abubo found herself playing catch up behind Layne Beachley for most of the heat until she picked off one of those Haleiwa gems that take true local knowledge to find. She then tore an 8.3 out of it and never looked back.

Under a flurry of flower petals, Megan hoisted her new hardware high. She then thanked the entire community of Haleiwa. “I really want to dedicate this to Jeannie Chesser,” the stoked Abubo said. “It was so good to hear her voice in the commentary box this morning, it gave me a lot of strength. And I also want to thank all the guys and girls at Haleiwa I surf with everyday. I wouldn’t be hear without you all.”

And just like that Megan wins the Reef Hawaiian Pro and simultaneously finds herself in the driver seat for the Vans Triple Crown Title.

You’ll no doubt find Megan spending an excessive amount of time at Sunset in preparation for stop number two, The Roxy Pro Sunset Beach.

[Car Rentals provided by Advantage Rent A Car.  Check out www.advantage.com for more info]

[Stay tuned to www.SURFINGMagazine.com for daily updates from the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, and tune in to www.TripleCrownofSurfing.com for all the live webcasts]

 

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