Quikie Pro

A missing superbank and brown water but still some high class surfing at the Quiksilver Pro. Round one of the men has been done and the women are all the way to the quarters.

Taj, Parko, Josh Kerr and Owen Wright all missed out in round one with Slater winning in the heat of the day. He was against Dane Reynolds and Kolohe Andino.

The event is on hold for a midday (local time) call today

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.50, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 12.70, Taj Burrow (AUS) 11.94
Heat 2: Travis Logie (ZAF) 18.20, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 17.10, Dusty Payne (HAW) 12.07
Heat 3: John John Florence (HAW) 15.00, Kai Otton (AUS) 14.80, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 12.40
Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.24, Willian Cardoso (BRA) 14.57, Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 12.10
Heat 5: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.04, Kolohe Andino (USA) 15.73, Dane Reynolds (USA) 12.34
Heat 6: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 17.76, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.73, Brent Dorrington (AUS) 15.37
Heat 7: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.67, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 14.97, Tiago Pires (PRT) 13.20
Heat 8: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 15.60, Nat Young (USA) 11.90, Josh Kerr (AUS) 10.13
Heat 9: Julian Wilson (AUS) 12.15, Adam Melling (AUS) 11.63, Damien Hobgood (USA) 11.40
Heat 10: Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.43, Owen Wright (AUS) 15.67, Filipe Toledo (BRA) 14.50
Heat 11: Brett Simpson (USA) 15.13, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 14.76, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.23
Heat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 17.93, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 16.63, Glenn Hall (IRL) 15.07

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Brent Dorrington (AUS)
Heat 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Dane Reynolds (USA)
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Willian Cardoso (BRA)
Heat 4: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 5: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 6: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Raoni Monteiro (BRA)
Heat 7: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 8: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Nat Young (USA)
Heat 9: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 10: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Filipe Toledo (BRA)
Heat 11: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Glenn Hall (IRL)
Heat 12: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) vs. Kolohe Andino (USA)

ROXY PRO GOLD COAST QUARTERFINAL MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Tyler Wright (AUS) vs. Courtney Conlogue (USA)
Heat 2: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) vs. Alana Blanchard (HAW)
Heat 3: Bianca Buitendag (ZAF vs. Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)
Heat 4: Carissa Moore (HAW) vs. Pauline Ado (FRA)

Surf Movie Sunday

Double up Sunday for the first one in 2013.

Taj Burrow




And more Taj (with Dane Reynolds)




And more Dane




Jay Davies




And more Jay

Here & Now Bonus Edit. from Elsegoodproductions.com on Vimeo.

Go Pro




And more Go Pro




Big waves




And more big waves




John John Florence



And more John



And a couple of spares

Surf Movie Sunday

Another small batch to pick from this week. The end of summer in the northern hemisphere means a drop in the number of quality clips.

Here's part four of Yadin's journey.



Fractions.



Dane Reynolds and friends in Indo.



And some high-def women's longboarding to finish.

Round two finally over

It seems to have been going for ever but the Quikie Pro in France has only just finished round two and then went on a break.

Taylor Knox continues his run beating Adriano De Souza and he'll take on young gun John Florence in the first heat of round three.Yadin Nichol is out as are both Hopgoods and Josh Kerr.


Taj takes on Kolohe Andino, who finally made it into the third round. Slater has Jadson Andre, Joel gets Pat Gudaskas but Mick Fanning has dangerman Dane Reynolds. A loss here would hurt his title run but not be fatal.

With five days left and nothing perfect on the forecast expect the event to be a bit of a luck fest.

Quik Pro France

The Quiksilver Pro France started two days ago in its usual iffy surf. Its a bit hard to get excited about a non-elimination round one held in close outs.

Parko was the only surprise losing to Dane Reynolds but he will have a decent shot in round two. Reynolds could be the fly in the ointment as he is likely to come up against one of the title contenders in round three.

It was a lay day yesterday and the next call will be early afternoon our time. You can watch it at the normal places.

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.16, Kai Otton (AUS) 11.03, Taylor Knox (USA) 7.00
Heat 2: Jadson Andre (BRA) 9.04, Adriano De Souza (BRA) 8.70, Damien Hobgood (USA) 8.20
Heat 3: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 12.70, John John Florence (HAW) 11.67, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 6.86
Heat 4: Kelly Slater (USA) 12.06, Dusty Payne (HAW) 7.74, Tiago Pires (PRT) 4.16
Heat 5: Dane Reynolds (USA) 10.66, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 9.90, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 5.40
Heat 6: Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.50, Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 12.10, Travis Logie (ZAF) 8.56
Heat 7: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 14.83, Kolohe Andino (USA) 12.97, Josh Kerr (AUS) 10.00
Heat 8: Brett Simpson (USA) 11.67, Yadin Nicol (AUS) 10.70, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 7.83,
Heat 9: Michel Bourez (PYF) 10.43, Owen Wright (AUS) 8.30, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 5.77

REMAINING QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 10: Jordy Smith (ZAF), Heitor Alves (BRA), Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 11: Julian Wilson (AUS), Adrian Buchan (AUS), Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 12: Gabriel Medina (BRA), C.J. Hobgood (USA), Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)

Taj third

Heat three and Taj suffers from an interference in a heat slow for waves. He gets a second chance against Taylor Knox and Dan Ross goes through.

Owen Wright in the water against Pat G and the local wildcard.

Dane Reynolds has decided not to turn up again.

Hurley Pro starts now

The Hurley Pro at Trestles is just starting with the trials final. After that it is straight into round one.

The conditions look nice but the swell is small. Jordy is still out and Dane Reynolds isn't coming.

This is the first event since the mid season cut. Bobby Martinez and CJ Hopgood are gone and three rookies are in. WA's Yadin Nicol is meant to be one of the but had given his spot to John Florence due to a Artois injury. He had worked so hard to make the tour it must be very disappointing.

Webcast and decent iPad app are available. Hopefully the webcast is better than Quiksilver's attempt in New York

Round One has finished

The Rip Curl Pro Portugal ran the non-elimination round one in some pretty marginal waves at Supertubos. Taj continued his habit of winning round one heat this year (the opposite of last year) and Slater continued his habit of losing.

Round two is on at the moment in nice waves. Its probably around four foot and offshore, although the size has dropped with the tide. There are some nice long barrels and enough waves to make it fair for everyone.

So far in round two Slater won easily and Jordy is through to the next round. Dane Reynolds and Adriano DeSouza have pretty much fallen out of the race by losing their round two heats. Adriano was beaten by Dean Morrison who was the injury replacement for Bede Durbridge, who just had a baby last week.

The sun is meant to stay up until after 8 their time which will be after midnight here provided the conditions stay nice.

FuelTV are showing the event live and there is a webcast (if you can stand Jodie Cooper's commentary)

Mick wins

Mick Fanning has just beaten Kelly Slater by a combo score in the final of the Quiksilver Pro in France. The swell had jacked with the tide and it was a solid double overhead breaking onto a shallow bank. Looking at the waves you can see how the French invented the guilotine !!!

Slater pulled off wave of the event in the semis. After taking off under the lip and his board sliding tail first down the face the olny people that thought he had made it were Kelly and the cameraman. Ten points and no claim.






Mick lucked into two surfable waves but took a massive wave on the head and broke his legrope. He deserved the scores he got, especially his last wave but I have two complaints, Mick claims like a Brazillian and has the worst poo stance on the CT.

Mick will go to third, Kelly will stay at number one but with a larger buffer over Jordy. However when you consider that the worst two events are dropped (and there are three left) Kelly pulls away. On my adjusted scores he is 42500 (with his worst two results a 9th and 17th leaving nothing lower than 3rd), Jordy 33750 (drops a 17th and a 5th leaving three 5th, a second and a win), Mick 32000 (dropping 9ths but keeping two 9th in his score), Taj 30000 (having to hold a 17th in his score line) and Dane 28500 (dropping 17th and a 9th but having nothing higher than third). Kelly and Jordy can both afford to have another bad day, especially Jordy whose second lowest score is a 9th but Taj must make finals and hope the others bomb.

Next event is the Rip Curl in Portugal on Thursday. Current rumour is that there will be swell from week one. Supertubes is much like France - closeouts with the odd epic tube, expect plenty of claims. This is the replacement event for Mundacca which has failed to deliver for the last few years.

Finals at J-Bay

The Billabong Pro flows straight into its fourth day and the finals. Jordy Smith is in the water against Adriano De'Souza and with two monster airs has a 9 and a high 7.

Bede Durbridge takes on local wildcard Sean Holmes. Taj has Dane Reynolds is probably the hardest quarter final. Damo Hopgood, the last goofy in the event, then takes on Aussie rookie Adam Melling. 

With Slater out in round three and Mick in round 4 both Taj and Jordy could put themselves in a great position for the world title. They have been the standout surfers of the event so far and a bit a little margin. Both have been able to find the best waves, hunt the barrel and their lip hits are more critical and more fins out than anyone else. The difference between the top guys and the next rung down is the smoothness of their surfing. The next tier seem to always need to double pump their bottom turns where the best surfer hold their rail in one move off the bottom.

It will be an interesting day in waves that aren't great for J-Bay but obviously the forecast for the rest of the waiting period isn't good.

Holmes at Home

Sean Holmes has surfed his second heat for the day and taken his second big scalp. In a really tight heat he just sneaked past Kelly Slater in round three and has just beaten Andy Irons in round four. He will be taking on Bede Durbridge in the quarters.

Taj is in the water at the moment and has just blasted out the doggie door on a long barrel for an 6.8. His second wave had a tube and a series of massive, fins out hacks for a 9.77 leaving Tiago Pires in a combo with half a heat to go.

Jordy Smith destroyed Owen Wright and took advantage of being out at J-Bay with only one guy out by catching a fistful of waves.

Dane Reynolds, Mick Fanning, Damo Hopgood are amongst those left to surf in this round. Mick v Damo should be a good heat.

Contest frenzy

The fourth womens CT event starts tomorrow. The Beachley Classic is usually held in crap suburban beach break waves but is the second stand alone event in the last two weeks. Carissa Moore won last week in New Zealand in ok but small surf after Steph Gilmore was knocked out by a wildcard early in the event. Its hard to get excited about these events because the waves really make it hard to show any decent surfing.

Heat 1: Chelsea Hedges (AUS), Carissa Moore (HAW), Amee Donohoe (AUS)
Heat 2: Silvana Lima (BRA), Rebecca Woods (AUS), Lee Ann Curren (FRA)
Heat 3: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS), TBA
Heat 4: Sofia Mulanovich (PER), Rosanne Hodge (ZAF), Nikita Robb (ZAF)
Heat 5: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), Paige Hareb (NZL), Claire Bevilacqua (AUS)
Heat 6: Melanie Bartels (HAW), Coco Ho (HAW), Bruna Schmitz (BRA)

The men are in Brazil on Friday for the first Billabong event. Billabong have taken over after the local sponsor pulled out at the last moment. This event was moved to winter to try and get some decent waves. Last year it was crap and this year will probably be the same. And it will probably look cold and un-Brazil like on the beach as well. This was the worst webcast last year and it looks like it will be again as Billabong hasn't had the time get its team there.

On the plus side with the change in judging this year the event should be even more tailor made for Taj, Slater, Jordy and Dane.

WOW !!!

Some of the surfing in round three and the quarter finals of the Quikie Pro was un-freaking-believable. The waves for Taj's heat weren't great but he surfed well. Jump forward to his quarter final and he smashed Adriano DeSouza with 17.77 out of 20.

Jordy Smith schooled Slater who couldn't seem to catch any decent waves. Aussie Kia Otton knocked out Mick Fanning by 0.2. Parko went down in the quarters to a red hot Dane Reynolds. Dane's two wave score was a massive 19.2 out of 20. His highest scoring wave was a 9.93 but could easily have been an 11 ! He pulled into a tube and disappeared so deep the camera man almost stopped filming. He burst out and followed up with a couple of fin free hacks and a big floater.

Anyone who complains about contest surfing being conservative and safe obviously didn't watch it today.

A couple of womens heats were run with no particularly unusual results.

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 4 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.86 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 14.50
Heat 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.53 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 10.60
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA) 16.06 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 12.43
Heat 4: Kai Otton (AUS) 15.76 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.57
Heat 5: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.44 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.23
Heat 6: Dane Reynolds (USA) 12.63 def. Daniel Ross (AUS) 10.33
Heat 7: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 15.97 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 9.17
Heat 8: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.10 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 13.17

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:

QF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.70 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.40
QF 2: Bobby Martinez (USA) 16.66 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 10.64
QF 3: Dane Reynolds (USA) 19.20 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.47
QF 4: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.10 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.77

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND SEMIFINAL MATCH-UPS:

SF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Bobby Martinez (USA)
SF 2: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)

ROXY PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 3 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Coco Ho (HAW) 15.17 def. Amee Donohoe (AUS) 3.97
Heat 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 16.33 def. Bruna Schmitz (BRA) 14.84
Heat 3: Rebecca Woods (AUS) 14.60 def. Paige Hareb (NZL) 11.08
Heat 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 16.00 def. Tyler Wright (AUS) 14.03

ROXY PRO GOLD COAST REMAINING ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:

Heat 5: Silvana Lima (BRA) vs. Lee Ann Curren (FRA)
Heat 6: Chelsea Hedges (AUS) vs. Rosanne Hodge (ZAF)
Heat 7: Melanie Bartels (HAW) vs. Jessi Miley-Dyer (HAW)
Heat 8: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) vs. Carissa Moore (HAW)

Round twos are done

Round two of both the Quiksilver and Roxy Pros were run today in ok surf. No real surprises with highest rated surfers generally winning, except Ben Dunn beaten by WQS champ Dan Ross and Roy Powers who had AI. Andy was throwing buckets on each turn and found the only clean tube of the day. Despite being hugely overscored on his second wave Powers wasn't close. Expect to see this line again over the season - Travis Logie got a 33rd.

In the womens WA Clair Bevo was knocked out and the two former world champs (Hedges and Mulanovich) cruised through.

Heats to watch in round three -

• Taj vs Owen Wright - the aerial master vs the apprentice. If the waves are good will be a killer. Taj said in his round two interview that he has given up all that stretching and training and is just going to free surf in his heats.
• Bobby Martinez v Andy Irons - goofy v natural. Bobby is one of the few backsiders that can go vertical enough at Snapper to challenge and AI is looking red hot already
• Mick, Joel, Dane and Kelly's heats just because they are in them. They should all win.
• Steph Gilmore v Tyler Wright - a world champ whose style is perfect for Snapper vs Owen's radical little sister
• Sophia vs Carissa - the "old" guard vs the new school. Carissa will be one to watch all year.

Coverage is on the webcast and live on FuelTV, who also have a full highlights package at about 4 and 7 each night WA time.
QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST REMAINING ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 9: Dean Morrison (AUS) 15.17 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 11.33
Heat 10: Kai Otton (AUS) 13.83 def. Nathan Yeomans (USA) 11.37
Heat 11: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 9.53 def. Jay Thompson (AUS) 8.07
Heat 12: Mick Campbell (AUS) 15.17 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 14.00
Heat 13: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 13.00 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 11.54
Heat 14: Daniel Ross (AUS) 12.43 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 7.97
Heat 15: Andy Irons (HAW) 14.57 def. Roy Powers (HAW) 13.36
Heat 16: Luke Stedman (AUS) 10.44 def. Drew Courtney (AUS) 9.57

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)
Heat 2: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)
Heat 3: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Chris Davidson (AUS)
Heat 4: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Owen Wright (AUS)
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Andy Irons (HAW)
Heat 6: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Luke Stedman (AUS)
Heat 7: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 8: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 9: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 10: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) vs. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)
Heat 11: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Daniel Ross (AUS)
Heat 12: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA)
Heat 13: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Luke Munro (AUS)
Heat 14: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Mick Campbell (AUS)
Heat 15: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 16: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)

ROXY PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 14.83, Bruna Schmitz (BRA) 12.76, Nikita Robb (ZAF) 9.67
Heat 2: Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 12.94, Paige Hareb (NZL) 12.43, Claire Bevilacqua (AUS) 5.23

ROXY PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Coco Ho (HAW) vs. Amee Donohoe (AUS)
Heat 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) vs. Bruna Schmitz (BRA)
Heat 3: Paige Hareb (NZL) vs. Rebecca Woods (AUS)
Heat 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) vs. Tyler Wright (AUS)
Heat 5: Silvana Lima (BRA) vs. Lee Ann Curren (FRA)
Heat 6: Chelsea Hedges (AUS) vs. Rosanne Hodge (ZAF)
Heat 7: Melanie Bartels (HAW) vs. Jessi Miley-Dyer (HAW)
Heat 8: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) vs. Carissa Moore (HAW)

Girls and boys compete today

Round one of the Roxy Pro was done and then it was into round two of the Quiksilver Pro. The waves were smaller and a bit fluky but more than contestable.

The girls were ripping, especially the groms like Carissa Moore. Winners of round one are into round three while  those who lost are into the two round two three surfer heats. WA's Claire Bevo had a third in the second heat of the day when the waves were fuller and a less frequent. She has a hard round two against former world champ Chelsea Hedges and Kiwi Paige Hareb.

ROXY PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 15.20, Carissa Moore (HAW) 13.33, Paige Hareb (NZL) 9.53
Heat 2: Coco Ho (HAW) 11.70, Rebecca Woods (AUS) 9.07, Claire Bevilacqua (AUS) 7.66
Heat 3: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 17.37, Tyler Wright (AUS) 16.54, Bruna Schmitz (BRA) 9.73
Heat 4: Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) 12.00, Silvana Lima (BRA) 11.04, Nikita Robb (ZAF) 7.60
Heat 5: Lee Ann Curren (FRA) 16.07, Rosanne Hodge (ZAF) 14.20, Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 13.57
Heat 6: Melanie Bartels (HAW) 16.63, Amee Donohoe (AUS) 9.93, Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 6.90

ROXY PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Sofia Mulanovich (PER), Bruna Schmitz (BRA), Nikita Robb (ZAF)
Heat 2: Chelsea Hedges (AUS), Paige Hareb (NZL), Claire Bevilacqua (AUS)


Taj easily won his round two heat against a wildcard. Dane and Jordy both got through as did Bobby Martinez with a high two as his second wave.


QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.84 def. Garrett Parkes (AUS) 11.83
Heat 2: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 14.93 def. Blake Ainsworth (AUS) 12.76
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA) 10.07 def. Craig Anderson (USA) 8.70
Heat 4: Damien Hobgood (USA) 15.57 def. Neco Padaratz (BRA) 13.73
Heat 5: Dane Reynolds (USA) 17.33 def. Blake Thornton (AUS) 10.23
Heat 6: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 17.86 def. Marco Polo (BRA) 10.27
Heat 7: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 14.87 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 13.37
Heat 8: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 16.10 def. Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 15.56

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST REMAINING ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 9: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 10: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Nathan Yeomans (USA)
Heat 11: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) vs. Jay Thompson (AUS)
Heat 12: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 13: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 14: Ben Dunn (AUS) vs. Daniel Ross (AUS)
Heat 15: Roy Powers (HAW) vs. Andy Irons (HAW)
Heat 16: Drew Courtney (AUS) vs. Luke Stedman (AUS)


Fuel TV are showing both events live or it is webcast at quiksilverpro.com.au

Slater and Quiksilver Crew Hit Mexico

Surfline has a great feature on its site showing a promotional trip by Kelly, Dane, Julian Wilson and Jeremy Flores. It is a mix of great photos, audio from Aaron Chang, the main photographer, video and a super slow mo section which is great to watch. You can see all the little things that great surfers do that others can't.

Click here to access the feature.

Supertubos is on

The Search has finally ended up at the primary venue and the waves are big. Six to eight foot sets are smashing through the beachie and a few some barrels but plenty of smashing closeouts. Wave selection is the key.

Local knowledge is that the waves will get better when the swell and tide starts to drop. Contest director Dooma Hardman is hoping to run at least all of round three and possibly the quarters today and finish tomorrow.

Fuel TV is showing the contest live in Australia and streaming it in HD from their US site. The tv is the same as the webcast so lack some of the refinement of some other sports but it is live and from the beach somewhere. I'm just happy I get to watch on a proper sized screen.

Taj is in the next heat and this will remind him of Rabbit Hill. Parko just won his heat with a tube and an air. Owen Wright continues his good run in 'CT events by just beating Dane Reynolds with a killer backhand tube late in his heat.

Meanwhile in the Maldives it was a lay day for the WLT Oxbow Pro.

Round Two is go

Round two has started in decent waves. Unlike round one only one lower ranked surfer has been successful in a heat and that was one of those where both were pretty evenly matched.

Parko is in the water and leading his heat. If he wins then the title race goes to Pipe regardless. The next heat could be a killer with Aussie wildcard Owen Wright up against Kelly Slater. Dane Reynolds is in the heat after and Taj following that.

The conditions first up were clean, glassy and offshore with clean barrels on the lefts. The wind has swung a little and the tide is starting to affect it. Every other day has been split halfway through but this is another beach, so who knows what they will do ?

France is like BP

France looks like Bp on a good day but the contest is on anyway.

Round three has hit the water after some heats of a grom contest first thing. The waves are maybe two feet (waist height) and nothing special. Apparently the forecast isn't good and they are going to get through at least round 3 and leave them with only a day's worth of surfing to finish.

However all the heats so far have had a score over 14 for the win with Dane Reynolds scoring 18.27 and Bobby Martinez having a 9 and 7 in his heat. Dane was riding some wide thing with big side fins and a little centre trailer. The commentator didn't want to call Bobby's board a fish but still think it is.

Round three looks like this -
Heat 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) def. Nic Muscroft (AUS)
Heat 2: Dane Reynolds (USA) def. Roy Powers (HAW)
Heat 3: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) lost to Ben Dunn (AUS)
Heat 4: C.J. Hobgood (USA) def. Phillip MacDonald (AUS)
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) comboed Greg Emslie (ZAF)
Heat 6: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Dustin Barca (HAW)
Heat 7: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Patrick Beven (FRA)
Heat 9: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Joan Duru (FRA)
Heat 10: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 11: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 12: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Tim Boal (FRA)
Heat 13: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Julian Wilson (AUS)
Heat 14: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)
Heat 15: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Aritz Aranburu (EUK)
Heat 16: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Chris Davidson (AUS)

Round 1 On

Round one has started in the Quiksilver Pro, France.

Waves are ok, a little onshore and a little close out-ish. Some great floaters going down but only one real section for a lip smack.

Taj has won as has Mick, Parko and Slater. Slater chose the inside reforms and pulled into a great backhand barrel. As usual he was above everyone else.

Dane Reynolds has just beaten Nathaniel Curran in the final minute with a high eight. Have to feel sorry for Curran who held the lead easily for the rest of the heat and would have won most others.

The webcast is good is a little choppy at times but worth watching.