Hawai'i's former menehune surfing stars excelled in menehune-sized waves yesterday at Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach.

The opening day of the Reef Hawaiian Pro men's contest was run in deteriorating waves. Conditions were favorable in the morning, with wave-face heights around 4 to 8 feet. But by early afternoon, the waves dropped to 1 to 3 feet.

The Reef Hawaiian Pro is the first event in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.

"This is about as small and bad as Hale'iwa can be and still be contestable," Maui's Hank Gaskell said. "You just have to go out and try to get the best waves that you can."

Even smaller waves are expected over the next few days, so Triple Crown executive director Randy Rarick opted to start the contest yesterday.

"I heard the forecast is looking really bad, so I guess we had no choice but to surf in this," Gaskell said.

Two weeks ago, Gaskell was surfing in 10- to 20-foot waves on the way to winning the Xcel Pro at Sunset Beach.

"Yeah, this is a little different," he said with a laugh after winning his second-round heat.

Gaskell still managed to score at least two exciting rides in yesterday's conditions.

On one wave late in the heat, he completed an aerial maneuver and was rewarded with a score of 6.33 (out of 10), which was enough to send him to the third round.

"I was all the way down to fourth place," he said. "I thought I was done, but got lucky and got a little runner ... did a couple turns and a little air, and felt good."

Earlier in the heat, Gaskell had to maneuver his board around a turtle that popped up in the middle of his wave.

"One of my better set waves, there was actually a turtle right in the lip," he said. "I had to kind of go around it. I didn't get to hit the section like I wanted to ... that kind of threw me off."

Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach is a popular site for youth surfing contests, including the annual North Shore Menehune Surf Contest, so many of the Hawai'i surfers are familiar with the conditions.

Jason Shibata of Pearl City said he surfed countless youth events in small waves at Ali'i Beach, so it was like turning back the clock.

"Growing up surfing here and knowing the wave, I knew I had an advantage with the tide and knowing what the waves were doing," Shibata said. "When it's big, you can kind of position yourself because you have an idea where the wave is coming from. When it's small like this, the waves just pop up so you really have to know the break."

Shibata advanced through his second-round heat yesterday afternoon. Contest officials discussed postponing the event right before Shibata's heat, but he told them he actually wanted to compete in the small waves.

The Triple Crown features an international field of surfers, and Shibata noted that many of the non-Hawai'i surfers were probably not prepared for yesterday's small waves.

"I know that a lot of these guys just got off the plane and weren't expecting to surf in this, so I wanted to take advantage," he said.

Granger Larsen of Maui took advantage of the better conditions in the morning by posting a near-perfect score of 9.33. His two-wave total of 15.66 was the best of the second round.

Kaua'i's Gavin Gillette was next with a two-wave total of 13.84, and his heat came in the dropping conditions of the afternoon.

"You just had to be patient," Gillette said. "Even when it's small, there's some good ones that come through."

Like Shibata, Gillette said he wanted to compete in yesterday's waves.

"I don't care — 10 feet or 2 feet, let's go," Gillette said. "I just want to surf."

Other Hawai'i surfers advancing yesterday were Dylan Melamed, Evan Valiere, Joel Centeio and T.J. Barron.

However, the small waves were not as kind to the big-wave surfers. Among the Hawai'i surfers eliminated were former North Shore contest winners Makuakai Rothman, Derek Ho, Myles Padaca and Kaipo Jaquias.

Tahiti's Michel Bourez, who won the Reef Hawaiian Pro last year at Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach, was also eliminated. He won his first-round heat, then lost in the second round.

The top-seeded surfers have byes into the third and fourth rounds. Among the notable seeded surfers are Andy Irons, Bruce Irons, Fred Patacchia Jr. and Pancho Sullivan. Defending world champion Kelly Slater of Florida is not entered.