Joe Surf: Makena back on the waves

A couple of local surfers in notably different places in their respective surfing careers were on the same beach, riding the same wave over the weekend in Newport Beach.

The 56th Street Jetty in Newport was the site for both the City of Newport Beach Surf Championships as well as the World Surf League’s RVCA Pro Junior.

Huntington Beach’s Matt Passaquindici and Newport’s MaiKai Makena are both former national champions, Passaquindici in 2013 surfing for Huntington Beach High, and Makena in 1998 surfing for Newport Harbor High.

But they didn’t compete against each other. Passaquindici, 19, surfed in the Pro Junior while Makena, 36, surfed in the men’s Masters division (ages 30-40) in Newport’s city championships.

It was Makena’s first contest since his life’s path took a sudden detour nearly 15 years ago. About two or three years into a professional surfing career propelled by the national title and a big endorsement deal with O’Neill, Makena decided to ditch the wetsuit for a business suit.

“I traveled, did surf contests, trips, photos, the whole nine, I was pretty active,” Makena said. “But I got an opportunity to start a clothing company off the popularity that I had. I started a company in L.A. and it was pretty cool, a lot of celebrities liked it and we did really well.

“I loved the sport of surfing and I always wanted to be close to it, but I knew I had to dig in and get a career going. Because I couldn’t [surf] forever, so I wanted to set myself up. It happened sooner than normal, so I ran with it.”

Now, Makena is in the real estate business working for Berkshire Hathaway and is part of the successful Khosh Team in Newport. He also is a new father to son Mason, but surfing is still in his blood. Enough so to get him into the Newport city championships. Makena placed fourth is his six-man Round 1 heat, falling short of the top three finished needed to advance to the next round.

“I felt all right in the heat,” he said. “Knowing what it takes to win a contest, and knowing all the practice it took to win nationals, I didn’t think I could cheat the process. I was happy, I got a lot of waves and I guess I didn’t get the scores to advance. But I definitely had fun out in the water.”

While Makena said he’ll compete again when he can fit it into his busy schedule, Passaquindici is moving full speed ahead.

Passaquindici pulled off the biggest win of his young pro surfing career by winning the Pro Junior, beating Barbados’ Josh Burke, Hawaii’s Kalani David and Santa Barbara’s Parker Coffin in the four-man final heat, using a two-wave total of 14.83 to claim his first ever contest win in the WSL.

“I wanted to start quickly and got those two waves right off the bat — just can’t believe that everything went my way,” Passaquindici told worldsurfleague.com. “I don’t know if it’s local knowledge or just some good vibes but paddling right back out after the first wave then getting another bomb was just insane. It was just a really good, punchy wave and I was able to stab the first turn then just wanted to put an exclamation point on it — slid the tail and I was so stoked to pull it.

“It’s unbelievable, I couldn’t be happier to finally get a win.”

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COURTNEY BACK ON TOP

Santa Ana’s Courtney Conlogue, a Sage Hill School alumna, nabbed a huge victory in winning the World Surf League’s Cascais Women’s Pro in Portugal on Sunday, reclaiming the world’s No. 1 overall ranking in the points standings with just two contests remaining.

It was Conlogue’s third contest victory in eight contests so far, and it allowed her to move past defending world champion Carissa Moore of Hawaii, who also has won three contests this season. It sets up some serious drama in the final two contests — the Roxy Pro France starting Tuesday and the Target Maui Pro starting Nov. 21.

Conlogue previously held the No. 1 spot before giving it up to Moore when Moore won the Swatch Women’s Pro at Lower Trestles a couple weeks ago, while Conlogue was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Santa Barbara’s Lakey Peterson.

Conlogue found some redemption at Cascais by beating Peterson in the final.

“Right now I’m focused on trying to win heats and events, “ Conlogue told worldsurfleague.com. “Saying that, having the Jeep Leader Jersey back is going to be sweet — I didn’t like having it for just one event. I’m very serious as soon as I put the jersey on but it’s also really important for me to have fun and enjoy what I’m doing, and it seems to be working.”

Conlogue is trying to become the first Orange County surfer to win a women’s world title since Dana Point’s Joyce Hoffman won back-to-back titles in 1965 and ’66.

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KEEPING UP WITH KANOA

Happy birthday to Huntington Beach’s Kanoa Igarashi, who turns 18 Thursday. Igarashi probably could use a little cheering up after a disappointing Round 1 exit in the SATA Azores Pro that ended last week, part of the WSL’s Qualifying Series.

Igarashi dropped from No. 3 to No. 6 in the QS rankings, needing to finish the season in the top 10 to qualify for the next year’s World Championship Tour. Igarashi doesn’t have time to mope about Azores though; he’s back at it right now in the Allianz Billabong Pro Cascais in Portugal.

JOE HAAKENSON is a Huntington Beach-based sports writer and editor. He may be reached at [email protected].