Joe Surf: `Rookie’ Igarashi ranks No. 20 in the world
Huntington Beach’s Kanoa Igarashi is continuing to make strides during his rookie season on the World Surf League’s World Championship Tour (WCT).
At 18, he is the youngest on the tour, and while he hasn’t yet had a breakout performance, he hasn’t had any really bad performances either. He went into the Fiji Pro, underway this week, ranked No. 20 in the world.
He’s won at least one heat in all five WCT contests, including two heat wins in the first contest of the season, the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast in Australia.
He won a three-man heat over Hawaii’s Dusty Payne and Brazil’s Italo Ferreira at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach in Australia.
His head-to-head heat wins include victories over a who’s who list of some of the world’s top surfers: Hawaii’s Keanu Asing and France’s Jeremy Flores in the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast; Australia’s Ryan Callinan in the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro; Australia’s Josh Kerr in the Oi Rio Pro; and Hawaii’s Sebastian Zeitz in the ongoing Fiji Pro.
The win against Zeitz in Fiji was significant in that Zeitz was No. 4 in the world rankings heading into the contest. That victory moved Igarashi into a Round 3 showdown with No. 13 Michael Bourez of Tahiti.
Poor conditions Monday resulted in a lay day for the surfers, who were hoping to return to competition by Tuesday or Wednesday.
Court is in session
Santa Ana’s Courtney Conlogue had her worst finish so far in the fifth contest of this season’s WCT in Fiji, yet moved up to the top of the world rankings.
Reason being, Conlogue was only a few points behind leader Tyler Wright going into the contest, and Wright was eliminated early (Round 2) while Conlogue reached the quarterfinals, where she was eliminated by eventual winner Johanne Defay of France.
The quarterfinal exit gave Conlogue an equal-fifth in the contest, following a first, two seconds and a third in the first four contests of the season. For Wright, the early exit resulted in an equal-13th, dropping her to second place behind Conlogue in the world rankings.
The big story of the women’s contest in Fiji, though, was the performance of wild-card entry Bethany Hamilton. It was Hamilton who knocked out Wright in Round 2, thanks to a 9.00 on one of her scoring waves.
Hamilton went all the way to the semifinals before losing to Defay.
Defay, by the way, won the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach last year.
Hamilton’s performance inspired this Instagram post from Kelly Slater:
“Anyone who isn’t inspired by @bethanyhamilton and her physical attributes after losing her arm to a tiger shark in Kauai some years ago should check their pulse. The hardships she overcomes to perform at the level she does in the ocean is arguably unparalleled in men’s or women’s sport.
“I think everyone should have a full surf with one arm strapped to their side and attempt not only to paddle out but put themselves in position at heavy spots like Pipe, Jaws, and Cloudbreak, and try to get up on a short board. I’m scared to try it myself and ridiculously impressed with her talents.”
App hopes to help humans and sharks
After seeing my column last week on our local sharks, the CEO of “SharkBytes” sent me an email about his free shark research-based app.
The app helps you research when and where shark incidents have taken place globally, but SharkBytes’ goal is more than helping humans avoid getting bitten. It’s also meant to help the sharks.
On the website, sharkbytesapp.com, SharkBytes’ Mission Statement says, “We at SharkBytes aim to improve shark and human relations by educating the public regarding shark related incidents and to increase awareness of the depopulation of sharks.”
The website has interesting articles related to things like developing shark deterrent technology and the effects of wildlife conservation efforts.
JOE HAAKENSON is a Huntington Beach-based sports writer and editor. He may be reached at joe@juvecreative.com.