Big brother beat little brother in little waves in the final of the C4 Waterman Stand-up Paddle Beach Boy Surfing contest yesterday.

Kamu Auwae edged younger brother Kekoa Auwae for first place.

The contest was run in small waves at Kuhio Beach, Waikiki.

"It always feels good to beat my brother," Kamu said with a laugh. "Bragging rights."

There were actually six competitors in the 30-minute final heat, so the Auwae brothers placed 1-2.

"My brother deserved it," said Kekoa, who is 25 and five years younger than Kamu. "He was ripping this whole contest."

Indeed, Kamu dominated the early rounds of the event. Of the top five waves in the preliminary rounds, Kamu had four.

But in the final heat, the ocean went shockingly flat.

"Everybody was stressing out, trying to catch anything," Kamu said.

For more than 20 of the 30 minutes in the heat, the competitors waited for waves to arrive.

Kekoa's strategy was to sit deep and hope for one good wave.

"It was so bad out there, I figured one wave would be enough to win," Kekoa said. "I was maybe 30 feet away from the rest of the guys, just waiting for a good set. But I ended up waiting for like 25 minutes and it never came."

A flurry of 1-foot waves rolled in during the final five minutes of the heat, and Kamu managed to catch the last one.

"I got my last wave with maybe five seconds left," he said. "I got lucky."

As if the torturous final was not enough, Kekoa had to relive it on the long drive home. The Auwae brothers live in Nanakuli.

"I can not say anything," Kekoa said. "I've been beating him the last couple events before this, so it's his turn to brag."

Kai Sallas placed third, Kalani Vierra was fourth, Leleo Kinimaka fifth and Tony Moniz sixth.

The event featured more than 40 of the state's top watermen and waterwomen.

Alika Willis received the C4 Waterman Award; Jen Koki was named top female; Slater Trout was named top junior.

FATHER, DAUGHTER WIN TANDEM CHAMPIONSHIP

In place of a world tour title, the Vierras from Kaua'i won a world contest title yesterday.

Kalani Vierra and his daughter Ala won the Senor Frog's Tandem World Title contest yesterday at Kuhio Beach.

The sport of tandem surfing recognizes two world champions — the winner of the annual Waikiki contest, and the world tour winner.

The Vierras won the world tour title last year, but are not doing the tour this year due to financial reasons.

"We wanted to just choose a few events to do this year, so it's good to win a world title like this," Kalani said.

He won the 2007 Waikiki contest with a different partner (Blanche Yoshida). Ala became his tandem partner last year.

"It's kind of cool because now I won two world titles," said Ala, who is 12 and in the eighth grade at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School.

Kalani said the other tandems were performing more difficult maneuvers, but they caught the better waves in the final.

"We actually don't have a real difficult lift," he said. "We have a variety of lifts ... and we kind of lucked out by getting the good waves."

Pauly Chambers/Krystl Apeles placed second, Brian Keaulana/Kathy Terada got third, and Christian Bartsch/Aimee Murcia fourth.

Mark Gale and wife Debbie won the masters division.

The tandem and SUP events yesterday were part of Duke's OceanFest, which will continue today with longboard surfing.