Thanks to his stylish surfing yesterday, Kaimana Jaquias will be traveling in style on a surf trip to California next week.

Jaquias won the Quiksilver King of the Groms Hawai'i qualifier yesterday at Kewalo Basin. The one-day event was run in clean 2- to 4-foot waves.

More than 60 of the state's top surfers age 16 and younger participated. Jaquias, 15, accumulated $900 in the victory.

"Perfect timing," he said. "I can buy a Father's Day gift and use the rest for spending money at nationals."

Jaquias and most of the other surfers in yesterday's contest will be in San Clemente, Calif., next week for the National Scholastic Surfing Association's National Championships.

Jaquias left his home in Lihu'e, Kaua'i, early yesterday morning to make a flight to Honolulu for the contest. He then proceeded to dominate the morning heats of the event.

The contest followed a unique "skins" format. Each heat winner received $100 and got to advance to the next heat.

Also, each surfer's score was based on just one wave. In essence, the best wave in each heat was worth $100.

Jaquias won six heats — and $600 — in the first round.

"This is my favorite contest because it's not really about tactics or anything like that," he said. "You just try to get that one good wave and hope it's good enough."

There were 24 total heats surfed, and the winner was based on the most "skins" accumulated.

Jaquias was declared the champion with seven heat wins. He only won one heat in the second round, but also received a $200 for the "most futuristic move" of the contest.

"I was pretty gassed after the first round, I cannot lie," he said. "But I guess it was good enough."

His genes may have had something to do with it.

Kaimana is the son of Kaipo Jaquias, who was one of the world's top-ranked professional surfers in the 1990s.

"It's a lot of pressure — almost too much sometimes," he said. "But I try not to think about it, and my dad really helps me out. I surf with him pretty much every day and he's always teaching me new stuff."

As the winner of the contest, Jaquias also received an expenses-paid trip to France to represent Hawai'i at the Quiksilver King of the Groms international final in September.

However, Jaquias returned the trip to contest officials because he already committed to another surfing event in Indonesia during those dates.

Honolulu surfers Ezekiel Lau and Carissa Moore tied for second place with four skins each. One of them will be chosen to take Jaquias' place in France.

Lau, who is a freshman-to-be at Kamehameha Schools, had the best ride of the day. He received a score of 29.2 (out of 30) for a series of precise carving maneuvers.

"Some heats had the good sets and other heats didn't, so you had to get lucky," said Lau, 14. "When you got that one good wave, you just had to pull out all your stuff."

He also won $900 — four skins, plus a $500 bonus for the best wave of the contest.

"I'm looking for a new phone, so hopefully I can get one now," Lau said.

Moore, who is 15 and a junior-to-be at Punahou School, was one of only two females in the contest.

Last year, she made international headlines when she beat all the boys in the field to win the King of the Groms Hawai'i qualifier.

Yesterday, she had a slow start in the first round, then won four consecutive heats to end the day in the second round, including a win over Jaquias.

"Nobody is ashamed of losing to Carissa," Jaquias said. "She was pretty much one of the favorites to win the whole thing."

Moore received $400 yesterday, just one day after earning $1,000 for winning a longboard pro-am contest.

Keanu Asing of 'Ewa Beach and Matty Costa of Wai'anae tied for third place with three skins each.

Buddy Wiggins (two) and Ha'a Aikau (one) were the only other surfers to win skins.