Competition ended 4:15pm.

Mahalo to Paumalu for the challenging surf and incredible venue…and to all our sponsors, supporters and spectators.

Finals Day was Called ON and began at 8am Sunday Feb 19th. The WNW is here…and better than expected! Surfs about 3-5′.

Conditions good with brisk E trades. SNN

New WNW-NW and Hanalei buoys (Waimea is out of commission). NW is 5′ 15sec, Hanalei 4′ 14 sec.

Recent Forecast: small NW to slowly rise through Saturday (distant storm near Kurils-Kamchatka); as expected the surf’s not big enough for Saturday. Sunday’s WNW-NW looks good at 3-4’+. SNN

• EARLIER UPDATES

  Pictured: Defending event winner Brisa Hennessy (CRC) will surf against Molly Picklum (AUS) in the first heat of the women’s Quarterfinals at the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach. Credit: © WSL /  Bielmann

  SUNSET BEACH, Oahu, Hawaii (Saturday, February 18, 2023) – A lay day has been called at the )( Hurley Pro Sunset Beach, the second stop on the World Surf League (WSL) 2023 Championship Tour (CT), due to small surf and unfavorable conditions at the North of Oahu’s Sunset Beach. The men’s and women’s Quarterfinals will run first once the competition is called back on. The next call will be made tomorrow, Sunday, February 19, at 7:45 a.m. HST. “Due to further decreasing swell size and poor surf quality, we have decided to call the event off for the day,” said WSL Director of Tours and Competition, Renato Hickel. “A new small swell should start to build this afternoon and into Sunday, so we’re going to keep an eye on it and come back tomorrow.”

  When competition resumes, defending event winner Brisa Hennessy (CRC) and Australia’s Molly Picklum will meet for their second-consecutive Quarterfinal matchup at the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach. Hennessy emerged victorious last year, and Picklum is hungry for redemption. Fellow Australians and World Champions Stephanie Gilmore and Tyler Wright will go head-to-head in Quarterfinal, Heat 2.  Their battle will be followed by five-time World Champion Carissa Moore (HAW) taking on event-threat Gabriela Bryan (HAW). The women’s Quarterfinals will finish with rookie Caitlin Simmers (USA) looking for a big result against Caroline Marks (USA).

  The men’s Quarterfinals will begin with World No. 1 Jack Robinson (AUS) taking on California’s Nat Young for a place in the Semifinals. Quarterfinal, Heat 2, will feature two surfers known for their powerful rail game, Final 5 competitor Ethan Ewing (AUS) and Griffin Colapinto (USA). Current World Champion Filipe Toledo (BRA) will face fellow Brazilian and event-threat Caio Ibelli (BRA) in Quarterfinal, Heat 4. Joao Chianca (BRA) had a standout performance during the Elimination Round, earning the highest heat total of the day. He will now try to overcome Matthew McGillivray (RSA) in the last men’s Quarterfinal. For more information, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com.

Wet Aloha Friday WSL Update below…

Short day of comp for the Girls

Surf went subpar so the event was postponed. It was about 2-3′ barely occ 4′ with wobble.

Women’s Round of 16 Started at 8:03 till about 1130am

Competition Utilized Overlapping Format with 40-minute Heats

• Close Matchups Decide Women’s Quarterfinalists at Hurley Pro Sunset Beach Eight-time World Champion Gilmore Posts Highest Score of the Day Defending Event Winner Hennessy Takes Down Australia’s Fitzgibbons World Champions Moore and Wright Claim Spots in the Quarterfinals Newcomers Simmers and Picklum Find Success in Round of 16

  Hurley Pro Sunset Beach Women’s Round of 16 Results: HEAT 1: Brisa Hennessy (CRC) 8.17 DEF. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 7.50 HEAT 2: Molly Picklum (AUS) 11.10 DEF. Isabella Nichols (AUS) 10.80 HEAT 3: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 14.17 DEF. Zoe McDougall (HAW) 9.67 HEAT 4: Tyler Wright (AUS) 6.96 DEF. Macy Callaghan (AUS) 6.84 HEAT 5: Carissa Moore (HAW) 10.33 DEF. Luana Silva (BRA) 7.63 HEAT 6: Gabriela Bryan (HAW) 9.53 DEF. Lakey Peterson (USA) 8.30 HEAT 7: Caitlin Simmers (USA) 9.80 DEF. Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) 8.83 HEAT 8: Caroline Marks (USA) 12.00 DEF. Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) 7.96 Hurley Pro Sunset Beach Women’s Quarterfinal Matchups: HEAT 1: Brisa Hennessy (CRC) vs. Molly Picklum (AUS) HEAT 2: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) vs. Tyler Wright (AUS) HEAT 3: Carissa Moore (HAW) vs. Gabriela Bryan (HAW) HEAT 4: Caitlin Simmers (USA) vs. Caroline Marks (USA) Hurley Pro Sunset Beach Men’s Quarterfinal Matchups: HEAT 1: Jack Robinson (AUS) vs. Nat Young (USA) HEAT 2: Ethan Ewing (AUS) vs. Griffin Colapinto (USA) HEAT 3: Filipe Toledo (BRA) vs. Caio Ibelli (BRA) HEAT 4: Joao Chianca (BRA) vs. Matthew McGillivray (RSA)

  Pictured: Eight-time World Champion Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) advanced to the Quarterfinals with the highest heat total of the day at the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach. Credit: © WSL /  Heff

  SUNSET BEACH, Oahu, Hawaii (Friday, February 17, 2023) – The women’s Quarterfinalists have been decided at the )( Hurley Pro Sunset Beach, the second stop on the World Surf League (WSL) 2023 Championship Tour (CT), after completing the Round of 16 in four-to-six-foot surf at the North Shore’s Sunset Beach. Today’s matches were extremely close, with many of the heat winners decided by scores in the final minutes. World Champions Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), Carissa Moore (HAW), and Tyler Wright (AUS) thrived, while Tour veterans Sally Fitzgibbons and Tatiana Weston-Webb fell to a new crop of talent.

  8X World Champion Stephanie Gilmore Bounces Back at Sunset, Through to Quarterfinals Eight-time World Champion Stephanie Gilmore is back in winning form, overtaking event wildcard Zoe McDougall (HAW) in their Round of 16 matchup. After several throw-away waves, Gilmore found her rhythm and posted the highest heat total of the day, a 14.17 (out of possible 20), to overtake the lead. She will now face two-time World Champion Tyler Wright in the Quarterfinals. “From watching on the beach, you think it’s so small, then when you’re out there, you’re thinking, I should probably go on this wave,” said Gilmore. “My strategy was just to surf as much as I could. Seeing where the judges would go and how high they’d go on a really small wave. In the end, I had priority, so I had to sit and wait for something decent, and I was lucky that both Zoe and I had a couple of opportunities on some good size sets.”

  Defending Event Winner Hennessy Takes Down Australia’s Fitzgibbons Defending event-winner Brisa Hennessy (CRC) is one step closer to upholding her title after a narrow Round of 16 win over Tour veteran and season wildcard Sally Fitzgibbons landed her in the Quarterfinals. Fitzgibbons was in the lead, but with two minutes left on the clock, Hennessy found one more opportunity to take the win. “When I first paddled out, I was really stoked because I love Sunset Point, but it kind of changed at the beginning of the heat,” said Hennessy. “The first heat is kind of the guinea pigs, so you have all the nerves and not knowing what to expect. You have to go in with no expectations at Sunset and be able to adapt.”

  World Champions Moore and Wright Claim Spots in the Quarterfinals Two-time World Champion Tyler Wright was uncomfortably close to elimination in her Round of 16 match with fellow Australian Macy Callaghan (AUS). With just over a minute left, Wright got the score she needed to advance by a tenth of a point. Wright is now on her way to another solid event finish after her runner-up result at the Billabong Pro Pipeline last week. Five-time World Champion Carissa Moore looked confident in her Round of 16 matchup against injury replacement and former CT surfer Luana Silva (BRA). She now looks to better her 9th-place finish here at Sunset Beach last year by making her upcoming Quarterfinal heat against Hennessy.

  Newcomers Simmers and Picklum Also Find Success in Round of 16 Molly Picklum (AUS) found herself in the Quarterfinals after a close matchup with fellow Australian Isabella Nichols. Nichols controlled the majority of the heat, but Picklum stayed calm under pressure and was able to earn her highest score, a 6.10 (out of a possible 10) in the last minute to take the win. Picklum will now meet Hennessy for a second consecutive time in the Quarterfinals here at Sunset Beach. Hawaii’s Gabriela Bryan will also make her second consecutive Hurley Pro Sunset Beach Quarterfinals appearance after a big Round of 16 win over Tour veteran Lakey Peterson (USA). Bryan will need to keep her momentum going in order to take down five-time World Champion Moore in their Quarterfinal matchup. “Conditions are at the weird devil-size, but there are waves everywhere,” said Moore. “It’s very confusing, so I just took normal Sunset out the window and surfed what was in front of me. For Luana (Silva), this is her backyard, so I knew I had a really tough match up ahead of me, and even though she needed a 6.33, I knew she could get that easily, so I was pretty nervous.”

  A battle between Tatiana Weston-Webb and young phenom Caitlin Simmers (USA) unfolded in the Round of 16, Heat 7. At the 10-minute mark, Simmers found an opportunity to attack with her progressive style and garnered a 4.97 to take the lead. In the dying moments, the ocean did not cooperate with Weston-Webb, and her last wave came up short of the requirement. The heat win is a massive achievement for rookie Simmers, and she now looks for an even bigger event result. The day’s action finished with a back-and-forth showdown between two of surfing’s young stars, Caroline Marks (USA) and Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW). The two traded the lead in the opening minutes, but at the halfway mark Marks capitalized on her incredible backhand to garner a 7.00. Sakura Johnson was left chasing a big score as time expired. “It’s been an interesting last week with the flu and a crazy earache, so I haven’t even been surfing that much,” said Marks. “I didn’t really know how I was going to surf out there, but thankfully I was able to find a few waves, and my board felt nice, and I’m really stoked. I’ve come up against Bettylou Sakura Johnson before, and we had the same matchup at Pipe. I have a lot of respect for her, and I’m sure it’s the first of many amazing battles.” For more information, please visit WorldSurfLeague.com

EARLIER UPDATES BELOW Hurley Pro Sunset Beach Women’s Round of 16 Matchups: HEAT 1: Brisa Hennessy (CRC) vs. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) HEAT 2: Molly Picklum (AUS) vs. Isabella Nichols (AUS) HEAT 3: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) vs. Zoe McDougall (HAW) HEAT 4: Tyler Wright (AUS) vs. Macy Callaghan (AUS) HEAT 5: Carissa Moore (HAW) vs. Luana Silva (BRA) HEAT 6: Lakey Peterson (USA) vs. Gabriela Bryan (HAW) HEAT 7: Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) vs. Caitlin Simmers (USA) HEAT 8: Bettylou Sakura Johnson (HAW) vs. Caroline Marks (USA)