San Clemente surfer Kirra Pinkerton earned the Jack’s Surfboard Pro title Sunday, April 7, giving her a stellar start to the competitive year.
The event earns Pinkerton valuable points to enter higher-ranked contests, plus bragging rights for the win in Huntington Beach not far from her hometown.
The Jack’s Surfboards Pro is a World Surf League North America Qualifying Series event and drew more than 100 athletes to surf the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier. Next in the series will be the Bonsoy Gold Goast Pro down under in Australia at the end of this month.
“This is the first event I’ve won in over five years so it feels amazing,” said Pinkerton, in an interview with the Santa Monica-based World Surf League following her win against Zoe Benedetto, who was in from Florida for the four-day competition.
“In a heat like that, I was just stressed the whole time and know Zoe could’ve easily gotten a score,” Pinkerton said. “I think that’s the best way to win is when you’re in full stress mode and it just works out for you.
“Huntington seems to be pretty nice to me and I’ve gotten a few wins here now and I’m pretty stoked,” she added. “This is my first Jack’s Surfboards win and a great way to go into (the Gold Coast Pro), I’m feeling pretty confident right now.”
In the men’s event, fellow San Clemente surfer Kolohe Andino matched up against Peruvian surfer Lucca Mesinas, both former World Tour surfers with years of competing experience, for Sunday’s finals.
The surf went flat for the first 10 minutes of the final round, with Andino taking a slight lead early in the heat.
But in the end, it was Mesinas’ 12.26 heat total that earned him the win, with Andino searching for a score in the final seconds of the heat.
“I’m super stoked and so happy to win this event and keep my momentum going,” said Mesinas. “That heat was really hard conditions and Kolohe started quick and I was just trying to get two waves really quick. That made all the difference.”
For full results, go to worldsurfleague.com
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Jack’s Surfboards Pro kicking off in Huntington Beach; surfers also prepping for Junior Games