There were three winners at the second annual T&C Surf Women's Pipeline Pro: Nicola Atherton, Leah Dawson and a shark.

Atherton won the shortboard surfing division and Dawson won the longboard surfing division.

But a shark stole the spotlight late in the afternoon by thrashing the water near the competitors during the bodyboarding final. The competitors were safely cleared from the water, and the final was canceled.

The contest is considered unique because it offers a rare opportunity for females to ride the famous waves at the Banzai Pipeline.

However, conditions were poor yesterday and the renowned Pipeline barrels were closed for the day. The wind-blown waves ranged from 2 to 3 feet, and there was a steady downpour of rain throughout the day.

"I would have loved to have won in proper Pipeline conditions," said Atherton, who is from Sydney, Australia. "That's really why I came here, to push my big-wave surfing. Maybe we'll get it better next year."

It was still an impressive victory when considering that Atherton had never surfed in Hawai'i's powerful waves until a month ago.

"I always wanted to get some experience in Hawai'i and I saw I had a three-week break before this contest so I came here early to practice," said Atherton, 19. "I really enjoy it. I think the waves suit my surfing a lot better than the little waves."

Atherton's two best waves in the final received scores of 8.4 and 8.0 for a total of 16.4. She received $2,000 for the win.

Hawai'i's Carissa Moore, an eighth-grader at Punahou School, placed second with a two-wave score of 14.4.

Just like Atherton, Dawson was a surprise winner in the longboard surfing division. Yesterday was Dawson's first contest at Pipeline.

"It's an unbelievable feeling," she said.

Dawson, 19, was raised in Florida. She is now a student at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa because she wanted to surf in between classes.

"I definitely chose here for the surf," said Dawson, who plans to major in business.

Hawai'i's Mimi Horiuchi placed second in the longboard division.

The bodyboarding final was the last heat of the day, and water patrol lifeguards cleared the water after the shark appeared twice within a 10-minute span.

Kenny Rust of the contest water patrol said the shark was "around 6 feet" long, but was displaying aggressive behavior.

"A shark is a shark, and we're not going to take a chance when everybody on the beach saw it," he said.

The four finalists — Aoi Koike, Lilly Pollard, Moe Watanabe and Mandy Zieren — each received $475.

"It was only 20 feet away when I saw it," Pollard said. "It was pretty frightening. I wasn't about to go back out. Back home (in Australia), you usually wait two hours after a shark sighting, but I'll wait two days."

FINAL RESULTS

Shortboard surfing: 1, Nicola Atherton (Australia), $2,000. 2, Carissa Moore (Hawai'i), $900. 3, Paige Alms (Hawai'i), $600. 4, Tammy Lee Smith (South Africa), $500. Longboard surfing: 1, Leah Dawson (Florida), $500. 2, Mimi Horiuchi (Hawai'i), $250. 3, Ashley Quintal (Hawai'i), $125. 4, Megan Godinez (Hawai'i), $100. 5, Coral Gonzales (Hawai'i), $75. 6, Alex Florence (Hawai'i). Bodyboarding: 1 (tie), Aoi Koike (Japan), Lilly Pollard (Australia), Moe Watanabe (Japan) and Mandy Zieren (Australia), $475 each.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.