LINCOLN CITY, Ore.  Women have surfed some of the biggest and scariest waves known to man. They have challenged the towering peaks at the break called Mavericks in northern California. They have elbowed into the crowded wave lineup on Hawaii’s North Shore. They have pulled into heavily loaded barrels of water at Teahupoo in Tahiti. But they had never had their own big wave contest  until Wednesday.

With a smattering of locals and members of the news media, flocks of pelicans, a spouting gray whale and some of the best male riders in the world looking on along the central Oregon coast, three women charged down 20- to 25-foot-high waves in the first female heat of the Nelscott Reef Big Wave Classic, one of five stops on the male-dominated Big Wave World Tour.

Fittingly, Keala Kennelly, a 32-year-old from Hawaii, took the first drop down a wave and went on to win the Top Chick trophy over Savannah Shaughnessy of California and Mercedes Maidana of Argentina in what was a casual competition on a rare clear November day.

Kennelly was the first woman to ride Teahupoo, with the aid of a Jet Ski tow, and she extended her fame outside of the surfing community by playing herself and streaking down slick, tubular waves at Hawaii’s Pipeline in the surf movie “Blue Crush.”