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Dosland's Day In Epic Hansen's Energy Pro Finale
Author: ASP World Tour
Australia's Shaun Cansdell the Top International Finisher With 5th
Honolulu, HAWAII - (Sunday, February 22, 2004) – Banzai Pipeline broke all the records today when it delivered an epic fourth consecutive day of 8-12 foot surf (12-20 foot faces) for the final action of the Hansen's Energy Pro. Never before has a professional surfing event at Pipeline received four straight days of such perfect, large surf. For 19-year-old up-and-coming outer-island surfer Tom Dosland (Haiku, Maui), the rest of his career may pale in significance after today. His experience of surfing and competing at perfect Pipeline this week will not likely be equaled.
Dosland's win of the all-Hawaiian tube-fest final earned him $10,000 and 1500 points towards his Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) rating. Ranked at 153rd in the world coming into the event, Dosland shot to 9th on the WQS today and will next travel to Australia in March in a bid to qualify for the elite level World Championship Tour (WCT) that crowns the world champion each year.
Second place today was Oahu's Mikey Bruneau (Haleiwa), followed by Pancho Sullivan (Haleiwa) third, and Fred Patacchia (Haleiwa) fourth. They received $5,000, $3,000 and $2,400 respectively. Bruneau is now ranked 19th on the WQS, Sullivan 22nd, and Patacchia 34th. The highest placed international surfer was Australia's Shaun Cansdell (Coff's Harbour, NSW), who narrowly missed out on the final to finish equal fifth overall. His result earned him $2,000 and moved him up to 12th on the WQS rankings.
But without a doubt, it was Dosland's day at the Pipe. Like fellow finalist Bruneau, Dosland had surfed all the way from the very first round of competition four days ago - a total of seven rounds for the win. Patacchia and Sullivan had been seeded into later rounds.
"I was just hoping to make it as far as the third round, 'cause that's where the prize-money starts," Dosland told the crowd. "I'm baffled. Oh, and I need a surfboard sponsor. I'm going to Australia next month to compete and I need a surfboard sponsor."
While Tom was hard-pressed to express himself on land, he had no trouble out in the water. A regular-foot surfer (riding with his back to the Banzai Pipeline wave), he was not favored to win the 40-minute final, given that it's far more difficult to surf such large, critical waves on your backhand. But Dosland charged some huge, highly difficult tube-rides with little regard for the odds. Riding a total of six waves in the heat, he came up with two top-scoring rides of 8.5 and 8.33 points, each out of 10, for a winning total of 16.83. A testament to the high performance level of every finalist, just three points separated first and fourth. Bruneau had the top single score of the final - 8.83, and a total of 15.5 points, Sullivan had a total of 14.97 and Patacchia 13.66.
Runner-up Mikey Bruneau, a close friend of Tom's, spoke for every competitor this week when he accepted his runner-up award.
"Pipeline is the best and scariest wave in the world. I was just stoked to surf with just three other guys out in waves like this. It's incredible."
The highest placed non-Hawaiians were Cansdell (Australia) and Californian Chris Ward. Both were eliminated from the four-man semi-final heats in third place, leaving them with a standing of equal fifth overall.
"If you'd told me a week ago that I was going to be the top placed non-Hawaiian today, I wouldn't have believed it," said 21-year-old Cansdell. "I've never done this well in a WQS event and I didn't expect it to happen here at PIpeline. Especially in waves like this - so big and so perfect. It's unbelievable. The Aussies have been really supportive. They've been stoked to see me do well."
Equal seventh after fourth place losses in the semi-finals were Kamalei Alexander (Kauai) and Makua Rothman (Sunset Beach).
In addition to the major awards handed out today, the annual Todd Chesser Sportsmanship Award for the surfer who charges hard and embodies a humble 'aloha' spirit while doing so, went to North Shore surfer Marcus Hickman. Hickman posted some of the highest wave scores throughout the event before he was eliminated in an exceptionally high-scoring third round heat. The award is a memorial to the late Todd Chesser, a fearless big-wave charger and Pipe surfer who tragically died during a big-wave incident in February of 1997. His mother Jeannie Chesser, also a well-known Hawaii surfer, was on hand to make the presentation.
Following up on Daniel Redman (South Africa), who was airlifted from the contest yesterday after a terrible wipeout during his third round heat, he has been discharged from hospital and is expected to make a full recovery from the broken ear-drum and stitches and staples he received to gashes on his head during the incident.
The Hansen's Energy Pro wraps up the winter WQS contest season on the North Shore and competitors will now travel abroad on the ASP World Tour which will return here in again for the final stages of the 2004 season in November.
Television:
A Satellite feed of today's events and highlights will go out tomorrow (Monday, USA & Tuesday, Australia)
For more information, contact Jodi Young 1-808-258-8533
Newspapers can obtain digital images of today's action by contacting:
Mark Berkowitz
Tel: (808) 351-7761
Email: mjberkey@hawaii.rr.com
Website: www.northshorepowerportfolios.com