The future of surfing will have a lot Moore to offer.

Carissa Moore's phenomenal ascent through the surfing world went even higher yesterday when she won the Gidget Pro women's contest at Sunset Beach.

It was the latest — and greatest — victory in what has already been a prodigious career for Moore, who is 17 and a senior at Punahou School.

"I really can't believe that just happened," she said. "I really didn't expect it. I just wanted to make my heats and see how far I could go."

The final day of the prestigious contest was run in wave-face heights that ranged from 10 to 18 feet at Sunset Beach.

The contest was part of the ASP Women's World Tour, so the field featured all of the world's top-ranked female surfers, including world champion Stephanie Gilmore of Australia.

Moore will become eligible for the tour in 2010. She qualified for the Gidget Pro by winning a trials heat held prior to the contest.

Moore started gaining recognition at age 11, when she was already dominating the small-wave amateur competitions. Yesterday, she proved that she can beat the pros in powerful waves.

"I was actually really excited to surf something a little bit bigger," Moore said. "It's such a different challenge surfing a bigger wave and getting to do really big carves and pushing it through."

Moore clinched the four-woman final when she completed a free-fall drop down a 15-foot wave face, then managed to maneuver her board back up the wave for a big carve off the top. The judges rewarded her with a 7.57 (out of 10), which gave her the lead with around 11 minutes remaining in the 35-minute heat.

"I was actually really nervous because I was in fourth, I think, at the time," Moore said. "I was just gonna go for it ... I didn't think it was that gnarly, but I guess it was a little bit."

In preparation for the North Shore season, Moore started training with big-wave surfers Pancho Sullivan and Myles Padaca. They held surf sessions in virtually every type of condition to prepare her for yesterday's big waves at Sunset Beach.

"We wanted her to feel comfortable no matter what it looked like," Sullivan said.

Sullivan said the practice showed on Moore's clinching wave. In his words: "I could see she was focused on making the drop. And then when she stuck the drop — which was incredible in itself — she immediately set her rail and bottom-turned. That shows how determined she was to make that wave."

Moore finished with a two-wave score of 14.24 to earn the $12,000 first-place check.

Not that winning on the North Shore is a new experience for her. Last year, at 16, Moore became the youngest surfer to win a Triple Crown of Surfing event when she won the Hawaiian Pro at Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach.

Sullivan said the best of Moore is still to come. He even dared to compare her to the greatest male surfer of all time.

"Her ability level can only be compared to Kelly Slater, and I don't know if he was doing what she was at 17," Sullivan said.

Sally Fitzgibbons of Australia was a close second with a two-wave score of 13.07. She scored a perfect 10 in the semifinals, but managed to catch just two waves in the final.

Gilmore placed third in the final, but shared the spotlight on the victory stage with Moore.

By winning her semifinal heat, Gilmore clinched the 2009 women's world title. It is her third consecutive world title.

"I didn't even know it was happening," said Gilmore, 21. "I was preparing for the final and gearing up, and then to know I had won, my head was a bit light."

She admitted that the announcement of her world title win affected her performance in the final.

"I basically just smiled the whole 35-minute final and watched the other girls surf," Gilmore said.

Kaua'i's Alana Blanchard placed fourth, and maintained her lead in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing women's ratings. She won the first event last week at Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach.

"I never thought I could get anywhere close to the Triple Crown," she said. "I don't even know how I'm doing it."

The Gidget Pro is the second event in the Triple Crown series. The final event will be the Billabong Pro Maui at Honolua Bay.

Moore and Blanchard led a strong showing by the Hawai'i surfers. Melanie Bartels, Coco Ho and Malia Manuel all advanced to the semifinals before getting eliminated.

The men's O'Neill World Cup of Surfing completed its first round prior to the women's contest yesterday.

Sunny Garcia of Wai'anae had the best wave of the day, receiving a near-perfect score of 9.5.

The O'Neill World Cup contest requires three more days of competition to determine a winner. For updated information, visit triplecrownofsurfing.com.

GIDGET PRO FINAL RESULTS

1, Carissa Moore (Hawai'i), $12,000. 2, Sally Fitzgibbons (Australia), $7,000. 3, Stephanie Gilmore (Australia), $5,100. 4, Alana Blanchard (Hawai'i), $4,900. 5 (tie), Chelsea Hedges (Australia) and Malia Manuel (Hawai'i), $4,600. 7 (tie), Melanie Bartels (Hawai'i) and Coco Ho (Hawai'i), $4,400. 9 (tie), Megan Abubo (Hawai'i), Samantha Cornish (Australia), Silvana Lima (Brazil) and Bruna Schmitz (Brazil), $3,600. 13 (tie), Laurina McGrath (Australia), Jacqueline Silva (Brazil), Paige Hareb (New Zealand) and Bethany Hamilton (Hawai'i), $3,400.