The surf gods smiled on Quiksilver's Surf Shop Challenge presented by SURFER Magazine, dispelling the flat spell that had gripped the Hawaiian Islands for two weeks straight. After a phenomenal early summer of some of the best hotdog surf the islands' southern shores had seen in years, the wave-well ran dry. Then from the depths of the ocean sprang some super-fun Southern Hemi juice for the nine teams fighting it out for island supremacy at Quiksilver's Surf Shop qualifier.

One hundred miles away, on the island of Kauai, the Hanalei Surf team found themselves at Lihue Airport, boards and bags in hand and nowhere to go. Overbooked Friday morning flights blocked the team from arriving for the action at Oahu's Kewalo Basin, epicenter for the day's surf action. The team called in their regrets, packed it up for the drive back to their North Shore, and left the QSSC's officials to re-set the timers and get this party rolling.

Round One saw Town and Country's Surf Factory team blaze an intense hour of high-scoring maneuvers that set the pace and the scale for the entire day ahead. Their 52-point total upped them and 2nd position Pacific Vibrations (50.6) ahead of H.I.C. (39.1) for automatic slotting into the mid-day Finals. In Heat Two it was with a dropping tide that Town and Country's Surf Shop team rallied a 45.5 win over Kauai's Tamba Surf Shop (43) and Local Motion (26.8) to move them into Round Two. Heat Three saw Team Boardriders (48.4) go mano-a-mano against Maui's Hi-Tech Surf Sports (45.6) for the final slot in Round Two. Only two teams would join Pacific Vibrations and T & C Surf Factory. Boardriders and T & C Surf Shop walked the walk for the 4-team Finals berth.

Quiksilver's Director of Sales for Hawaii, Glen Moncata, sized up the action at the lunch break: “We do so many amateur and pro contests in the islands in a year's time and it's these kids who are always either on stand-by to even watch one of the meets or tied down to their jobs at their shops across the state. This meet gives all of these kids who have been friends for years and years a great format with the tag team system and the ‘Double Whammy' point bonus to really put it on the rail.”

Pacific Vibrations - HI Champions

Moncata continued: “The strategy is a little bit different from a normal contest, so they've got to think a bit more. The Double Whammy thing works great 'cuz the team picks their Double Whammy rider to pick his best ride immediately, throw his hands up to the judges for double scoring and let the numbers ride, along with the other point totals for their team. The format's new to us and that's why a great surfer like Macy Mullen tore the place apart in his heat, called in his worst wave for Double Whammy points and rode two more BETTER than the one he chose for scoring!”

The Finals were off and running at 1 p.m., under one of the most beautiful south Pacific afternoons you could dream up -- air at 85 degrees and the deepest of blue oceans barely a few degrees less than that. Light trade winds, rising tide and a new southwest swell painted a perfect palette for the dream session's one-hour battle. The ultimate winning team from Kona, Hawaii, the little Pacific Vibrations surf shop, ran away with the best waves and highest scores. Designated Double Whammy rider Casey Brown ripped the lid off one set wave for a 9.7 (out of a possible 10 point max) that got doubled to the other scoring points. Their total 52 points took them to the top of the leader board with Boardriders in 2nd with 42.4, T & C Surf Factory 3rd with 41.7 and T & C Surf Shop coming in 4th with 35.4.

Pacific Vibrations team rider Makai McMichaels spoke for teammates Casey Brown, Kapena Miranda and Mikey Bruneau with an explosive “It was the most fun ever!” after the awards and photo session were complete. “For me it was the win of my life!” said Makai. “I graduated from Kona and I work at my parents' surf shop. It's been there 28 years and I'm only 24! My teammates really pulled together, Casey was our MVP and we had all these strategies out there (in the lineup) and we just kind of took to that. He really got down with the Whammy -- he really nailed them. We switched it up a little for the Final, but it all worked out pretty good.” Looking forward to that trip to Trestles next month? “Definitely! Very excited, I hope my parents will let me quit my day job for a week! I might have to pull an arm and a leg, but we're going!”

Quiksilver's Glen Moncata commented, “This event really is a challenge at all ends of the format. Whichever team wins this event will have to practice a lot before their California trip and get a strategy down, against the other mainland teams that have a jump on us over here. That way when they get to the Boost Mobile Pro in September for their specialty event they'll be tuned and ready to take on the best over there. Airfare and lodging is part of today's win so they won't have anything else to think about except how to kick butt and bring back to the islands the First Place $10,000 Grand Prize. That's NOT chump change and they won't have to share it with their boss, either!”