THE world’s best female big wave surfers, including Margaret River’s Felicity Palmateer, made history this week as 12 individuals took to the water to compete in a WSL Big Wave Tour event. They competed for the maiden women’s title in heavy conditions at Pe’ahi (Jaws) in Hawaii.
The final saw Paige Alms (Hawaii), Justine Dupont (FRA) and Felicity Palmateer (WA/AUS) take to the water for a 60-minute match-up. Finalists Keala Kennelly (HAW), Emily Erickson (HAW) and Laura Enever (AUS) were unable to compete after sustaining injuries in Round 1. Dupont led the charge, opening her account with a 3.17. Alms was close behind in second place for the opening half of the heat until she found an incredible wave and took off with perfect positioning and was rewarded with 6.00 and the lead. The Hawaiian continued to dominate the heat, putting it all on the line with another impressive ride for a 7.83, one of the day’s top scores. Dupont tried to fight back but it wasn’t enough, and she finished the event as runner-up with Palmateer taking third place.
“I still feel like that was a dream, I can’t quite believe it,” Alms said.
“To have an empty lineup is a real blessing, win or lose. A few of the girls got hurt and I’m bummed that they weren’t out there with us but they’ll be back for more. It was definitely extremely challenging with so much wind, I surf here all the time and the wind today is very difficult.”
This weekend will be a celebration for the Yallingup Boardriders as they reach 25 years as a club and everyone can attend the anniversary ball at Caves House. The big event will kick off at 6.30pm on Saturday night and tickets are still available at Caves House.
Forecast:
Friday looks good with glassy, clean conditions early and a fun 1.6m swell. Saturday should also be clean early with some 10 knot southerly winds and a 1.7m swell. The winds will pick up from the south on Sunday and there will be a new, solid swell pushing up to 3m.
Riding the big waves: Western Australia's Felicity Palmateer at the Pe'ahi Challenge in Hawaii this week. Photo: WSL, Cestari.