Some of the former young stars of the Hale'iwa International Open are all grown up now.

They showed yesterday that they will always be part of the "Xtended" family.

Team Xtended Family Tree won the inaugural FreeSurf Magazine/Vertra Ali'i Cup yesterday at Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach.

The Ali'i Cup was added as a feature event for this year's Hale'iwa International Open so that some of Hawai'i's top surfers could compete.

The Hale'iwa International Open, which is running for the 37th consecutive year, was created to give amateur surfers from around the world a chance to surf in the famous North Shore waves.

Yesterday, waves were in the 6- to 10-foot range, so the talented field in the Ali'i Cup took the spotlight (it was too big for some of the amateur youth divisions to run yesterday).

"This is one of the oldest surfing events in the world, and I remember doing it since I first started doing contests," said professional surfer Fred Patacchia Jr., 25. "So I'm just here to support the event, and I grew up in Hale'iwa, I love surfing here."

Patacchia was the captain of the winning team. His teammates were Kekoa Bacalso, Joel Centeio and Sean Moody. All four are established professional surfers.

"We had a solid team, but I wouldn't call it stacked," Centeio said. "Everybody can have their moment out here, especially when it's big."

Centeio was named the Most Valuable Player of the Ali'i Cup after winning all four of his heats yesterday. Each member of the team got to surf in four separate heats against members of the other teams.

"Automatically in your heat, you're going to compete as hard as you can," Centeio said. "But it's definitely more friendly than normal."

As Patacchia put it: "This was all about fun and bragging rights. We were all talking smack, having a good time. In a normal contest, everybody's all intense and to themselves."

Patacchia, Bacalso, Centeio and Moody all grew up on O'ahu, so they are all former contestants in the Hale'iwa International Open.

"We're all really good friends, so it wasn't like we were just trying to put the best team together," Patacchia said. "We also happened to be on break from the (professional) tour, so why not do this?"

Team FBI (From Big Island) was second. Members of the team were Mikey Bruneau, Mike Dodd, Keali'i Mamala and Kaupena Miranda.

Other top professional surfers who participated in the inaugural Ali'i Cup included Tory Barron, Makua Rothman, Daniel Jones and Ross Williams.

However, the focus of the contest is still on amateur surfing, and the junior men's division (ages 15 to 17) got to compete in the big waves yesterday.

Perhaps fittingly for the "international goodwill" theme of the event, France's David Leboulch won the junior men's final, beating three Hawai'i surfers. He was part of a French contingent of youth surfers who received a trip to Hawai'i from Quiksilver.

"It was very fun to surf in this contest," said Leboulch, 16. "I liked surfing big waves. That is why we like to come to Hawai'i."

Leboulch said he prepared for the event by surfing on a big surfboard in France. Yesterday, his 6-foot-10 board came in handy in the big waves.

"It was pretty hard going against the Hawaiians," he said. "So I paddled as fast as I can."

Kiron Jabour placed second, and his older brother, Kailani Jabour, was fourth. Kapu Ping placed third.

There are still two more days of competition remaining in the amateur divisions. For status of the contest, call 637-2544.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.