![](\"http:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/uploads\/76ad4e08-0514-d05c.jpg\")
\nPictured: Chelsea Hedges (AUS), 26, will look to tear into a monster swell headed for the Billabong Pro Maui presented by Hawaiian Airlines.<\/p>\n
Billabong Pro Maui presented Hawaiian Airlines
\nStop No. 7 of 7 on the 2009 ASP Women\u2019s World Tour
\nHonolua Bay, Maui\/Hawaii
\nDecember 8 – 20, 2009<\/p>\n
Bombing Swell Heads Towards Honolua Bay for Billabong Pro Maui<\/p>\n
\nPictured: Chelsea Hedges (AUS), 26, will look to tear into a monster swell headed for the Billabong Pro Maui presented by Hawaiian Airlines.<\/p>\n
Credit: \u00a9 ASP\/ CI\/ SCHOLTZ via GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n
HONOLUA BAY, Maui\/Hawaii (Monday, December 7, 2009) \u2013 With a massive swell expected to tackle the Hawaiian Islands, the Billabong Pro Maui presented by Hawaiian Airlines will kick off the event\u2019s 13 day waiting period tomorrow and the globe\u2019s finest 17 competitive female surfers will post up at Maui\u2019s famed righthand pointbreak of Honolua Bay to do battle for the Vans Triple Crown title as well as the valuable ratings points towards requalification for the 2010 ASP Women\u2019s World Tour.<\/p>\n
Alana Blanchard (HAW), 19, has been on a hot streak throughout the Vans Triple Crown series, taking out the Vans Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa before taking fourth place at the Gidget Pro Sunset Beach. The impressive back-to-back results posted by the ASP Women\u2019s World Tour rookie currently see her atop the Vans Triple Crown series and Blanchard will need to stay consistent at the upcoming Billabong Pro Maui to take out the prestigious series.\u201cI don\u2019t really feel any pressure even though it would be amazing to win,\u201d Blanchard said. \u201cI don\u2019t have any expectations, I\u2019m just going to go out there and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blanchard has more riding on the Billabong Pro Maui than just the Vans Triple Crown title, and is also in need of another impressive result to requalify for the 2010 ASP Women\u2019s World Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important for me to do well at this event, but I try not to think about it,\u201d Blanchard said. \u201cIf worse comes to worse I\u2019ll just do the \u2018QS again. This was my first year on tour and I\u2019ve learned a lot from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coco Ho (HAW), 18, current ASP Women\u2019s World No. 3, has had a sensational season while competing in her rookie year amongst the international field that make up the ASP Women\u2019s World Tour. The talented regular-footer has been the only rookie thus far to claim an event victory in 2009 and is hoping she can end her season with another solid result on Maui.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m super stoked with my year so far,\u201d Ho said. \u201cComing on tour with four other amazing rookies is definitely what fired me up. I will need to really step it up in this last event because Sally is right on my tail for Rookie of the Year.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ho, who hails from an impressive bloodline of champion Hawaiian surfers, is still relatively new to Honolua\u2019s reeling right-handers, but is looking forward to capitalizing on the solid forecasted swell which is expected to produce solid waves for the upcoming Billabong Pro Maui.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m actually really new to Honolua,\u201d Ho said. \u201cBefore this last swell, I’ve had not surfed it bigger than three feet. So, with all of the predicted swell, things should be really exciting! It’s an amazing wave with lots of opportunity and to get out there with two other girls is going to be a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Billabong Pro Maui presented by Hawaiian Airlines holds a waiting period from December 8 through 20, 2009. Event information can be found via www.triplecrownofsurfing.com or www.billabongpro.com\/maui09\/<\/p>\n
For additional ASP information log on to www.aspworldtour.com<\/p>\n
BILLABONG PRO MAUI ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS: <\/p>\n
Heat 1: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), Paige Hareb (NZL), Bruna Schmitz (BRA)<\/p>\n
Heat 2: Coco Ho (HAW), Samantha Cornish (AUS), Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS)<\/p>\n
Heat 3: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), Jacqueline Silva (BRA), TBA<\/p>\n
Heat 4: Silvana Lima (BRA), Rebecca Woods (AUS), TBA<\/p>\n
Heat 5: Sofia Mulanovich (PER), Rosanne Hodge (ZAF), Megan Abubo (HAW)<\/p>\n
Heat 6: Chelsea Hedges (AUS), Melanie Bartels (HAW), Alana Blanchard (HAW)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Billabong Pro Maui presented Hawaiian Airlines Stop No. 7 of 7 on the 2009 ASP Women\u2019s World Tour Honolua Bay, Maui\/Hawaii December 8 – 20, 2009 Bombing Swell Heads Towards Honolua Bay for Billabong Pro Maui Pictured: Chelsea Hedges (AUS), 26, will look to tear into a monster swell headed for the Billabong Pro Maui … Continue reading “Bombing Swell Heads Towards Honolua Bay for Billabong Pro Maui”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-13799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asp-surfing-news","tag-surfing-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saltwater-dreaming.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}