Watch: North Shore Local Goes Near Perfect On First-Ever Sunset Barrel
On a clean, bluebird day on the North Shore, the opening round of the women's Hurley Pro Sunset Beach finally hit the water, and it seems fitting that local star Bettylou Sakura Johnson would kicking things off with a bang.
Dialing into a pristine set wave on the west bowl, Sakura Johnson leveraged her lifetime of experience at Sunset to setup a wide open barrel. Pulling in deep and hanging behind the curtain, she came flying out and finished the ride with a massive turn on the closeout section at the end of the wave.
"Honestly, that was the first barrel I've ever really gotten out her," Sakura Johnson grinned after the heat. "Taking off on that wave, I didn't know if I could even fit a turn in because it was running, so I was just like, I'm going to tuck in and hopefully punch out ... that wave was a dream."
The judges thought it was a dream too as they awarded her a 9.17 for the effort. Sakura Johnson would go on to win the heat on the back of that score, beating Australian India Robinson and Brazil's Tatiana Weston-Webb. It was the biggest single wave score of the round.
Other notables through opening day at Sunset included Pipe Pro winner Caity Simmers, who's into the quarters and could potentially face rival Aussie Molly Picklum in the semis if both women win their next heats. Defending world champ Caroline Marks is also into the quarters and has been looking strong with her backhand attack.
Based on the current surf forecast for Sunset Beach, the event could wrap up as early as tomorrow. Stay tuned for more from the North Shore.
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With more than 25 years of writing about surfing, the ocean and action sports, Jake Howard continues to share stories, profiles and issues that shape the surfing world. One of the premier subject-matter experts in the field today, he's savvy in the ways of print, digital and social media, his breadth of work is expansive. Getting his start writing Surfline surf reports and recording the phone reports for 976-SURF in the late '90s, Jake served as the managing editor for Surfer Magazine in the early 2000s before moving on to launch RedBullSurfing.com and cover surfing for ESPN and the X Games. Over the years, Jake has also enjoyed time behind the edit desk at The Surfer's Journal, as well as the World Surf League, where he worked as the Senior Editor for a number of years. Beyond producing editorial content, Jake has served as a digital marketer and copywriter for iconic surf brands such as Quiksilver, Roxy and Rip Curl. Writing thousands of pages of copy for Surfline, he has deep SEO experience as well. The surf columnist for the San Clemente Times, Jake continues to dedicate himself to the culture and history of the sport through his involvement with the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente.