The Melanie Bartels Story - Interview with Melanie, sponsor Hawaiian Princess Kawaananakoa

Hawaiian Princess Supports ASP Women's World Tour Surfer Melanie Bartels to make a huge statement and win's 2nd place in the 2009 Roxy Pro at Snappers Rocks, Australia.

Professional WCT surfer Melanie Bartels was having financial difficulties getting to the events. Due to her primary sponsor letting her (and many other surfers) go, she was only was able to attend six of the eight events at the end of ‘07. Feeling the beginnings of the financial slowup, the surfing sponsors were preparing as best they could.

Melanie, originally from the beautiful West side of Oahu, is set on keeping her mind focused track in each heat she takes on. Here's how she put it in her own words:
"I am strengthening my body by taking myself to the fitness centre on the West side of Oahu "Westside Fitness", and running, jumping rope, tennis and swimming. I'm also trying to eat right and eating a lot of fruits and salads and force myself to drink lots of water. And to stay away from to sugar.
I also want to get more in tune to my Hawaiian culture and learn the depth of what Hawaii was like back in the old days."

She arrived at the Gold Coast on the 24th of Feb to prepare her game plan early for Roxy Pro to take place at Snapper Rocks and Dbar, Feb 28 - March 8. The next day the two of us got out in the line-up at Burleigh Heads. The conditions were totally uncrowded, and we got to smack big chucks of water and throw some big airs. The fun, uncrowded conditions kept up every day, letting Melanie focus on her approach.

By Monday March 2nd the ASP was running the women out at Dbar in pretty small beautiful conditions, off shore winds, but some heats were very inconsistent for the girls. The first round was on with two Australians: Samantha Cornish looking a little nervous but in good form; and Jessi Miley-Dyer, totally stoked and ready to go. But New Zealand rookie Paige Hareb took the heat with a 15.06, while Sammy placed a 12.10 second and Jessi rounded it out at 11.50. With a 15.34, the second heat went to another rookie, Alan Blanchard of the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Australia's Amee Donohoe seemed nervous and came next with a 12.17, off for her standards, and Jacqueline Silva of Brazil closed it with 9.56.

Australia's own World Champion, Stephanie Gilmore, won the third heat with a well-surfed 14.17. Rosey Hodge, South Africa's rookie, was completed focused and in in stylish form to get a 12.03. Cabarita rookie and Roxy trails winner Ashleigh Smith placed 3rd at 11.97.

Now, the fourth heat was amazing, wow! With another new Australian Sally Fitzgibbons simply ripping to place first and Silvana Lima from Brazil - so amazing doing what she does best - receiving second with a 10. Hawaii's Megan Abudo was in top shape, but was having a hard time finding the right waves and the judges gave her a 6.53.

The fifth heat had once world champion Chelsea Hedges of Australia surfed the top of her game and made some fantastic moves to make the waves look a lot better for 1st place with 14.60. It was very close against Hawaiian Coco Ho who just showed what the girls would need to watch out for in the future events and came in 2nd with a 14.26. And another World Champion from Peru Sofia Mulanovich was just not getting the waves she needed and came in the a 9.16 and would have to go through the second round.

The sixth heat of the first round was very close call with another rookie from Brazil Bruna Schmitz taking on Hawaii's Melanie Bartels who was throwing big chunks. But Bruna got in a paddle battle, which was very surprising, not showing much respect for Melanie when there was so many waves in a really wide area to surf in. Also, Aussie Rebecca Woods was riding some great waves as well. Bruna 1st. 15.00, Bartels 2nd 14.34 and Woods 3rd with a 14.23.

In the second round Sofia and Megan, won their respective heats, with Woodsy and Jacqueline also advancing.

On Friday morning March 6th I looked out from my Palm Beach Beachfront home I was renting. Oh My! The huge high tide! The swell had backed off and I thought they would run the ladies at Dbar today, which is just over the border in New South Wales just south from Snapper Rocks.

Melanie was in a very good spirits, in a positive mood and stoked to start the third round. In Melanie's 3rd round heat she had stylish young rookie Rosy Hodge from South Africa in her heat. They put on a fantastic show for the crowd, and Rosey cut some really nice waves, but she couldn't dig into Melanie's deep and radical moves. It was 15.40 to Melanie against Rosey's 12.86 and, Ms. Bartels moved on to the quarter finals.

With some excellent surfing from Coco Ho and Silvana Lima, heat five was one of the heats of the day you didn't want to miss. It was some exciting and very top of their game surfing from both gals, but Coco's 15.33 would edge out Silvana's 15 to move into the quarter finals up against Rebecca Woods.
Woodsy came out on top over 2008 WQS champion Sally Fitzgibbons, 13.50 to 11.50, and Sofia took out Alana 11.83 to 6.70 in heat eight of round three.

The other third round heats went down as follows:
Rookie Paige Hareb 15.17 against Amee Donohoe's 11.34.
Bruna Schmitz got Sammy Cornish by the skin of her teeth, 13.50 to 13.43.
Chelsea Hedges carved it back side to triumph over Jacqueline Silva 14.00 to 11.90, and Megan Abudo surfed her best on some smooth waves, but just couldn't get near World Champ Stephanie Gilmore, 8.40 to 16.83.

The first quarter final heat saw two rookies going up against each other, Paige Hareb vs. Bruna Schmitz, Paige came out on top 12.17 to Bruna's 8.20.
In the second heat Happy Stephanie was up against one of her best friends Chelsea Hedges. Both gals surfed very well and in the end Steph came out on top with a 15.83 to 14.83.
The third quarter final heat had Coco made her Dad (retired top professional surfer Michael Ho) proud of her amazing surfing, with a huge 15.34 to Woodsy's 7.23.

Finally, the stage was set for Melanie Bartels to battle Peru's past world champion, Sofia Mulanovich. Surfing well, Sofia still couldn't hold Melanie off in a very close heat of 11.57 to Sofia's 11.50, and Melanie prepared to face Coco.

We had beautiful glassy 3 to 4 foot waves in smooth weather on Sunday March 8, day of the final, and the competition was moved back to Snapper Rocks. The first semi had World champ Stephanie Gilmore up against Paige Hareb. Stephanie sailed through into the finals and was waiting to see which Hawaiian she would face off against for the title.

The second semi was a kicker from the word ‘go' with Melanie's first wave within seconds of the heat starting. She killed it with 9.17 points of Bartels styled huge moves, showing utter confidence she was going to win. Her second wave an 8.17 backup and Coco still had not caught one wave as yet. Coco with her graceful style can really turn it on, but even with her Dad Michael on the beach sending good vibes her way she couldn't catch up with Melanie's positive mindset that she going to the finals. And she did.

This was another head to headwith Stephanie - the last time they had clashed was the final ASP event of 2008 at Hookipa, Maui, where Steph triumphed. Honolua Bay was too small, not giving either of them enough waves, but this was another day and it was looking good for the both of them.

With only the two women surfing Snappers all by themselves, Melanie was extremely happy to be in the final with Stephanie. The beach was bursting with a crowd estimated to be around the 10,000 mark, a record at a WCT event for the women in Australia. There would have been another 100,000 plus watching on the internet LIVE from around the world on aspworltour.com where all WCT events can be viewed.
The Roxy and ASP organizers had four men's heats set to run after the second women's Semi', but with the surf starting to back off from earlier in the morning with consistent waves, the ASP director for the event changed it all up and throughout a men's forty minute super session to give the women a chance to rest, before their final started.

The surf still wasn't happening when they started the women's final, but Stephanie Gilmore was on her game and caught the first wave off the point after only 30 seconds. Not even a set wave, it was blitzed by Stephanie some serious critical turns, gaining her an almost perfect ride with a 9.57. Living right around the bend, Stephanie was in her own back yard, while Melanie was trying to stay focused and wait for the sets - but the waves just weren't coming her way.

When a set did come it found Melanie a bit too far inside, so Mel moved outside to the point. With the conditions just not happening, Mel was wondering where those waves were from their morning sessions. Time was running out. The Hawaiian had been on her game all week with some incredible surfing, but the waves were just not there for her. A wave finally came into play and Melanie rode it with style and grace with some hot moves to give her a 7.5 and there was still a 2 minutes left to beat Steph, but Mel needed a 8.6 to do that. Stephanie caught another wave in the dying minutes which gave her a 6.5 to finish with a combined score of16.07 to Melanie's 12.50.

With Stephanie leading the world in the number one position and Melanie in number two, it was a great start for the 2009 WCT tour. Both girls were over the moon with their results and happy to ssurf together in the finals. Next stop: Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia April 8th-13th.