If the Macy's E-Series is supposed to prepare Hawai'i surfers for the professional tour, then Dustin Cuizon appears to be ready.

Cuizon won the latest event on the Macy's E-Series yesterday at Ala Moana Bowls, clinching the overall series title in the process.

"It's a good way to sharpen your skills," Cuizon said. "And these contests are always fun because you're surfing against your friends in every heat."

Yesterday's contest was the fifth of five stops on the 2005-06 Macy's E-Series. The series was created in 2003 to help Hawai'i's top aspiring surfers adapt to professional contests.

"It's kind of like a sparring session," said Kekoa Bacalso, who placed second to Cuizon in yesterday's shortboard final. "It gets you ready for the bigger battles."

Cuizon, who is from 'Ewa Beach, won three of the five events in the series this season to claim the overall title.

Yesterday's heats were held in 1- to 3-foot waves.

"It was pretty good fun for Bowls," said Cuizon, 21. "It was good enough to make the performance high. If you got a good set, you pretty much were going to get a good score."

Cuizon paddled into one of those good sets early in the 25-minute final heat and proceeded to complete several top-to-bottom turns. The judges rewarded him with a score of 8.5 (out of 10). A few minutes later, he received a 7.0 to give him a lead he would not relinquish.

"Everybody was pushing deep, so I stayed more to the side," he said. "Fortunately, that first wave came wide, right to where I was sitting."

There was a 10-minute lull in the middle of the heat, making it even more difficult for the three other finalists to catch Cuizon.

Bacalso, for example, caught all five of his waves in the final 10 minutes of the heat.

"My plan was to wait for the good ones," Bacalso said. "I ended up waiting so long, I got too far behind."

Bacalso scored a perfect 10 in the semifinals, so Cuizon said he did not feel secure until the horn sounded to end the heat.

"The level of surfing is there with everybody," Cuizon said. "It's just a matter of the waves cooperating at the right time."

In the final tally, Cuizon's two best waves scored a total of 16.5 points. Bacalso was second with 14.0, Randall Paulson was third with 12.35, and Joel Centeio was fourth with 7.5.

Cuizon, Bacalso, Centeio and several other surfers in the Macy's E-Series will depart Hawai'i this week for events on pro surfing's World Qualifying Series.

"The upcoming events are some of the most crucial ones of the year," Bacalso said. "So hopefully all the Hawai'i boys will stay in tune and make the finals together."

DESOTO, UEMURA TAKE LONGBOARD DIVISION

Duane DeSoto rebounded from what he described as a "big-time disappointing" finish last month to win the longboard division of the Macy's E-Series yesterday at Ala Moana Bowls.

DeSoto dominated the longboard final, receiving scores of 9.25 and 7.0 on his two best waves for a total of 16.25.

"It's good to be back home and get in the swing of things," said DeSoto, 29. "This is an opportunity to stay active and keep competing. It's better than just sitting around doing nothing."

Unlike the shortboard surfers, the longboard surfers do not have a world tour. The Men's World Longboarding Championship was held last month at Costa Rica, and DeSoto tied for fifth place.

"It was big-time disappointing," DeSoto said of his world championship showing. "I was feeling really good, but in the quarterfinals, I just didn't have the flow going."

Bonga Perkins placed second yesterday, Kapono Nahina was third, and Scotty Fong Jr. was fourth.

Kekoa Uemura is competing at a contest in Japan this week, but still had enough points to win the Macy's E-Series championship for the season.

MACY'S E-SERIES EVENT NO. 5

Shortboard surfing: 1, Dustin Cuizon. 2, Kekoa Bacalso. 3, Randall Paulson. 4, Joel Centeio. 5 (tie), Hank Gaskell and Derrek Lions-Wolfe. 7 (tie), Marcus Hickman and Raymond Reichle.

Longboard surfing: 1, Duane DeSoto. 2, Bonga Perkins. 3, Kapono Nahina. 4, Scotty Fong Jr. 5 (tie), Makamae DeSoto and Keoki Saguibo.

2005-06 MACY'S E-SERIES FINAL RANKINGS

Shortboard surfing: 1, Dustin Cuizon. 2, Kekoa Bacalso. 3, Hank Gaskell. 4, Randall Paulson. 5, Joel Centeio. 6, Jason Shibata.

Longboard surfing: 1, Kekoa Uemura. 2, Scotty Fong Jr. 3, Kai Sallas. 5, Ned Snow. 6, Duane De-Soto.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.