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Nobody was disappointed at Dave & Buster's Sandy Beach Pro, the Hawaiian part of the USBA Body Glove Tour. Surf was between 3-6 feet most of the day, while an enthusiastic crowd watched Brazil's Guilherme Tamega overpower the current world champ, Kauai's Jeff Hubbard, in a close daylong match. Hubbard caught some good early waves which got the crowd screaming at the get go.

During the final heat that lasted about a half hour, it was anybody's guess who would end up winning as the lead went back & forth several times. 18 year old Trevor Kam, a local who surfs Sandy all the time, competed as an amateur but made it into the Pro division final with a $6,000 purse as the prize.

Jeff Hubbard's brother, Dave, won the Drop Knee Pro in a squeaker over Bud Miyamoto, also from Kauai.

I'm especially happy to report that Karla Costa Taylor scored beautifully on an air roll spin and strong combo waves to beat out Claudia Ferrari. Both of these women are from Brazil but call Hawaii home today.

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It was a busy weekend for Hawaii's water lovers...both Kamaaina (those who live here) and malihini (visitors). Weather varied from solid sun to partly sunny. People say we have the most perfect weather on earth. A few scattered showers, but it didn't hurt the ocean any. Some warnings of box jellyfish offshore last week didn't last thru the weekend. Two divers spotted a 10 ft. tiger shark off Alii Beach in Haleiwa a few days ago. Haleiwa is on Oahu's North Shore and home of the Reef Hawaiian Pro. Because of the mostly flat ocean conditions, sea turtles come closer to shore and sharks naturally follow their prey. Lifeguards closed the beach for a day & then reopened it in time for the weekend. Northerly swells provided some moderate surf under pretty windy conditions, but most spots were barely rideable while a few spots picked up waves in the knee to waist high range. Tradewinds whipped up some rough offshore conditions.

At Ala Moana Beach Park, stand-up paddlers and swimmers are co-existing with buoys that the county put in the water to separate each group from the other. It's a bit of overkill since a few skirmishes reported to lifeguards brought out the buoy police.

Sat 7/10 and Sun 7/11 saw flocks of bodyboarding fans at Sandy Beach for the Dave and Busters Sandy Beach Pro, part of the Body Glove USBA Tour. I'll be reporting on the outcome of this two day dynamic event soon, so stay tuned.

And congratulations to Hawaii's own Zeke Lau, a 16 year old from Honolulu who won the High School Varsity Men's Shortboard title at the 2010 National Scholastic Surfing Assn championships in Huntington Beach, California last week. Schools in Hawaii are struggling to legitimize surfing as an interscholastic sport amid safety and liability concerns. Wins by young people like Zeke can only help the future of the sport.

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