Congratulations, Carissa!

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Friday - March 09, 2007

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Carissa Moore blasts off the top with flair and
record-breaking performances at the tender age of 14!

HOWZIT,

SURFERS AND BEACH-GOERS!

It was really, really fun this past week of surfing on the North Shore. Our mornings and evenings have been clean and glassy with plenty 5- and 6-foot perfection. The only drawback was onshore sea breezes, which occurred when the land heated up. It has been hot and muggy - the perfect excuse for getting wet.

Why these conditions? The trades left for a while, due to a ridge (long area of high pressure) very near the Islands. This has left us with light and variable winds with dry air. Just don’t get used to this - a cold front will be dampening our atmosphere this weekend and teasing us with South to SW konas. Oh, well, we can’t be spoiled all the time, right?

Typically, the ridge is far above us, making for 10-20 mph ENE trades with those occasional wind-ward and mauka sprinkles. Not right now though.

Surfers love that sunny morning glass; plus, it’s rare to have so many days in a row like we had. Another stoker is that the waves have been plentiful and in that “fun zone” of 4- to 6 feet. These were created by a bunch of small scale “fetches” of wind from a series of storms off Japan. The mix has tasted sweet, indeed. Oh, did I mention the full moon? We are so blessed.

Speaking of blessed: There’s a local 14-year-old girl who’s blessed with an abundance of talent and competitive skill. Hawaii is blessed to be able to call her our own. Most of you may have heard of Carissa Moore, but get ready to hear more of Miss Moore.

I was blown away when I heard the news that Carissa placed second behind Chelsea Hedges (formerly Georgeson) in the first major professional event of 2007, the Roxy Pro in Australia. She’s just a kid, but this isn’t kid stuff - this is world-class surfing competition. Carissa is only 14 ... she has accomplished what no other 14-year-old - let alone 15-, 16- or 17-year-old - has ever done.

And check this out : Along the way to the final, Carissa beat the greatest female surfer of all time, seven-time world champ Layne Beachley!

And not once, but twice!

In most events at this level, you get a second chance to redeem yourself in the dreaded second round, while winners head straight to the third. But it was there in the third round of heats that fate would have the youngest surfer ever go up against the greatest ever,and win - again! Decisively, too (15.66 out of 20 to 9.34)! By the way, since she’s not “on tour,” Carissa had to surf through the trial rounds before getting into the main event (take one guess who won).

This is the stuff of legend.

After winning that third round, Carissa walked up to Layne and thanked her for the chance of surfing against her.

“She’s such a polite girl,“Beachley said. “When we were coming in, she was like,‘Thank you so much for surfing against me,’ and I was like,‘Well, thank you so much for smashing me!’ Carissa had nothing to lose out there, nothing to prove, and she went out there with such confidence.”

“I was just excited to be out there,” Moore said after the final. “I was a little nervous,but just excited. I’m totally stoked with the turnout, and I’m just really happy for Chelsea (Hedges) - she did awesome. Just being able to surf out at Snapper with some of the best girls in the world, it was just really nice.”

Ah,nothing to lose ... everything to gain! What a beautiful place to be. By the way, Carissa’s middle name is Kainani, which means “Beautiful Ocean.”

Congratulations, Carissa - Hawaii is so proud of you!

The boys will have a winner for the Quiksilver Pro in Coolangatta, Australia ... Plus, the Cholos Women’s Pipeline Pro presented by the U.S. Army and JN Automotive ... and I’ll post all results on SURFNEWSNETWORK.COM. More to come about the chickenskin event called “Surfers Healing"at Ali’i Beach Park last Friday, which taught autistic kids the joys of surfing.

GQ, dropping in 4 U!