Home News Pinoi Makalena and Joel Tudor win at the Converse Hawaiian Open
August 23, 2004

Regardless of small swell (1-2 feet) a great display of professional longboarding happened here at Queens Beach in Waikiki at the Converse Hawaiian Open. In the end, Pinoi Makalena took the $4,000 prize for the women's division and Joel Tudor won the same amount for the men's division. Tudor also took the prize in the Surf N Sea nose-riding, men's division, by clocking 14.1 seconds on the nose of the board over two rides. The women's nose-riding event was taken by Julie Whitegon for 10.39 seconds on the nose.

Hydro Epic was in attendance at the event and spoke to many contest spectators and others about our surfboards including the legendary Rabbit Kekai. Rabbit took a Hydro Epic 9'1" longboard and remarked that he had a great time riding it. Kendall Nishimine, Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Hydro Epic said, "It was a great event and we're proud to support it as an official sponsor. Our boards attracted a lot of attention out here so we were definitely stoked!"

The Converse Hawaiian Open is the third of four events making up the US Professional Longboard Championships. The final event will be staged in Malibu, CA, September 27-29.