Ned Snow has come a long way on a longboard in a short time.

Only two years after turning professional, and four years after pursuing longboard surfing seriously, Snow is the No. 2-ranked competitor in the world.

"It's a total surprise to me because I feel like I'm still young and new to this," said Snow, 21. "Obviously, there's some pressure on me now, but I don't look at it that way. I still go into every contest feeling like I have nothing to lose."

Snow and many other top-ranked longboard surfers from around the country will compete this week at the Corona Hawaiian Open. The three-day contest is scheduled to run tomorrow, Thursday and Saturday at Kuhio Beach, Waikiki.

The contest is the final stop in the 2006 United States Professional Longboard Surfing Championships tour.

Snow did not enter the previous contests on the U.S. tour because he was focusing on the world championship event.

He placed second in the Association of Surfing Professionals Men's World Longboarding Championship at Costa Rica on June 27. Australia's Josh Constable beat Snow in the one-on-one final.

Because there was no world tour for longboarders this year, Constable is considered the No. 1-ranked longboard surfer for 2006, and Snow is No. 2.

"I think we'd all like to see a world tour come back," Snow said. "But we all went into Costa Rica knowing everything would be on the line."

It was Snow's second appearance in the world championship contest. As a professional rookie in 2004, he placed 38th.

"All I wanted to do this year was make the top 16," he said. "Once I did that, I told myself to relax and just have fun because I made my goal. And it worked all the way to the final."

Snow's accomplishment is more impressive when considering he grew up surfing on a shortboard (longboards have to be at least 9 feet long; shortboards are around 6 feet long).

Snow was raised in Waimea on the Big Island, and said he and his friends were shortboard surfers.

"The top guys from the Big Island at that time were Shane Dorian and Conan Hayes and Myles Padaca, and they were all shortboard guys," Snow said. "We all wanted to be like them."

But Snow moved to O'ahu in 2002, and quickly discovered that the waves were a little more crowded than on the Big Island.

"There's so many people surfing here, I switched to a longboard just so I could get some waves," he said. "And that's when I started to take it seriously, and started to get some good results in contests."

Snow turned professional shortly after graduating from Academy Of The Pacific in 2004. He now travels around the world for longboarding contests in between classes at Kapi'olani Community College.

"I'd like to go into small business in the future — learn how to manage a company," he said. "But that's down the line. I'm having a lot of fun surfing right now."

NOTES

There will also be a women's division for this week's Corona Hawaiian Open. Top Hawai'i entries include Geodee Clark and Kelia Moniz.

The World Tandem Surfing Championship will also be held at Kuhio Beach, Waikiki, this week in conjunction with the Corona Hawaiian Open. Top Hawai'i tandems include Brian Keaulana and Kathy Terada, Bobby Friedman and Tiare Friedman, and Melvin Pu'u and Nani Kealoha.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.