The famous North Shore surfing season is not quite here yet, but some of Hawai'i's future stars got an early taste of it yesterday.

The opening day of the Billabong Junior Pro In Memory of Ronnie Burns ran yesterday in 2- to 4-foot waves at Sunset Beach.

Most of the state's top surfers age 20 and younger are entered in the contest.

"The waves might not be the best today, but this is still a world-class venue," contest director Rainos Hayes said. "The whole point of having junior pro contests is to get these kids ready for the next level, and having them surf at a spot like Sunset is good training."

The contest is a qualifier for the Billabong World Junior Championships at Australia in January 2009.

Only seven surfers — five males and two females — will get to represent Hawai'i at the World Junior Championships.

"This is an important contest," said Alessa Quizon, a freshman at Wai'anae High. "The best surfers from around the world are at the Australia event, so one of my goals is to get there again."

The women's draw ran through the semifinals yesterday.

Quizon, Carissa Moore of Honolulu, Coco Ho of Sunset Beach and Leila Hurst of Kaua'i advanced to the final — which will be run later this month.

"Hawai'i is small, so you kind of see the same girls at all the contests," Quizon said. "But all the girls rip. We all make each other better."

The men's draw ran the first and second rounds.

One of the male surfers advancing past the second round was Honolulu's Isaiah Moniz. At 14, he was one of the youngest surfers in the field.

"This is way harder than most of the contests I enter because it's for (ages) 20 and under," Moniz said. "Usually I go against guys my age. But I'm trying not to think about it — just do the best I can."

Surfers from the Neighbor Islands took flights to O'ahu to compete in yesterday's heats. Some of them even had to skip school or work.

"I flew in (Tuesday) night," said Maui's Isaac Stant, who won his second-round heat. "I didn't want to miss this contest. I only work part-time, so as long as I get back (today) I'll be OK."

There is one more day of competition remaining, and it will run in conjunction with the Xcel Pro men's contest at Sunset Beach. The holding period for the Xcel Pro is Oct. 26 to Nov. 10.

"I think that makes it more exciting," Quizon said. "There's going to be more people watching the (Xcel Pro) and there's probably going to be more publicity."

SLATER ONE HEAT AWAY FROM NINTH WORLD TITLE

Florida's Kelly Slater won his first-round heat in the Billabong Pro Mundaka men's contest yesterday at Mundaka, Spain.

By winning his first heat, Slater advanced directly to the third round. If he wins that third-round heat, he will clinch his record ninth world championship.

"I hadn't really thought about it that much until I was out there in the water, but I don't want to deal with the emotions of worrying about it anymore," Slater said. "I just want to try to win one more heat and get it done."

Roy Powers of Kaua'i was the only Hawai'i surfer to win in the first round.

Fellow Hawai'i surfers Fred Patacchia Jr. and Pancho Sullivan did not win their respective first-round heats, and will have to surf in the second round, where eliminations begin.

Kaua'i brothers Andy and Bruce Irons withdrew from the contest for personal reasons.