Marine Hunter took the Pro Women's division of the 2026 Aloha Classic at Ho'okipa, Maui, finishing first ahead of Lina Erpenstein, Maria Behrens and Angela Cochran. It was the French sailor's second event win of the year, after the Maui Pro in April.
Three waves, one good one, and a win she did not see coming
The day broke grey over Ho'okipa, with rain, heavy cloud, patchy wind and a shifting overhead swell. With only two days of the waiting period left, organisers ran a sudden-death format in which just the top two of each four-rider heat advanced.
Hunter controlled the day from start to finish. Her lip hits, floaters and aerials carried her through every heat she sailed, delivered, one report said, with great authority. Cochran, a former world champion on only a 4.6m sail, lost competitiveness as the breeze dropped and finished fourth.
Behrens, who had posted the second-highest heat total of the day at 12.55, could not repeat that form. Erpenstein, who had scraped through her opening heat by 0.02 of a point ahead of Japan's Natsuki Wakasa, stayed on bigger gear and picked off the better set waves. She had arrived with little pre-event training, yet won her semi-final convincingly.
Fifteen points behind, with Chile to come
The result lifted Hunter to second overall on 30,240 points, past Behrens and within 15 of Erpenstein's 30,255. Second place was Erpenstein's best-ever result in Hawaii. The Aloha Classic is in its 43rd year and is held as the most prestigious event in wave windsurfing, long the stop that crowned the wave world champions.
"That was tough work. I had no idea I had won because I only had three waves, and only one good one," Hunter told the tour afterwards. "Now I'm happy, but I was in shock."
The title race now moves to its finale in Chile, with the Grand Final set for 14–29 November. Behrens stays in mathematical contention should both leaders miss the final.
