Now might be a good time for Dustin Cuizon, Travis Hashimoto, Kalei Umoto and Jeff Wong to ask their boss at T&C Surf for a raise.

The quartet represented T&C Surf and won the Quiksilver Surf Shop Challenge Hawai'i Qualifier yesterday. The unique event was run in 1- to 2-foot waves at Ala Moana Bowls.

"We got lucky," said team captain Hashimoto. "We just tried to go out and have fun, catch some waves, and hopefully put up points."

The event featured eight surf shops from around the state. Each team could use four surfers, and they had to be affiliated with the store as either employees or sponsored competitors.

On the T&C Surf team, for example, Cuizon is a sponsored professional surfer, Hashimoto works at the surfboard factory in Wahiawa, Umoto works at the Pearlridge store, and Wong works at the Ward Warehouse store.

The four surfers had to take turns catching waves, and the top two waves for each surfer counted toward the team score.

Cuizon was the star of the T&C Surf team, receiving a perfect score of 10 and also a 9.5 in the final.

"I was just trying to time it right," he said. "You had to wait for the sets if you wanted a good score, so timing was the key. Lucky for me, I got couple good ones."

Each team could have two professionals, but the T&C Surf squad had just Cuizon available as a "ringer." However, Hashimoto, Umoto and Wong are all experienced competitors and former contenders in the youth amateur ranks.

"We've all been surfing for a long time and we all did the amateur stuff when we were kids, so we know what it's about," Hashimoto said. "But the key was still Dustin. The rest of us tried to put up decent scores because we knew Dustin could put up big scores."

Cuizon said of his teammates: "Nobody really heard of these guys, but they surf all the time. They know how to get good waves just like anybody else out there."

The four T&C Surf surfers received trips to Huntington Beach, Calif., to represent Hawai'i at the Quiksilver Surf Shop National Championship in September.

T&C Surf also won the Hawai'i qualifier last year, and placed second at the national championship. Cuizon and Hashimoto were the only returnees.

"There was some pressure on us because we did good last year," Hashimoto said. "Now hopefully we can go back to California and win it this time."

The winner of the national championship receives $10,000 and a full-page color ad in Surfer Magazine.

"It's great to represent your company and help them out like this," Hashimoto said.

Nukumoi Surf Co. of Kaua'i placed second, Pacific Vibrations from the Big Island was third, and HIC was fourth.

Mikey Bruneau from Pacific Vibrations posted the top score among the professionals; Miguel Graham from Nukumoi had the best score among the store employees.

"It's a cool idea to get the guys out of the store to compete," Graham said. "It's a fun thing, but it's also like marketing for your store."

Quiksilver Surf shop challenge Hawai'i qualifier