MR Pro kicks on

Margaret River 6 Star Prime WQS from erica hosseini on Vimeo.

Size hasn't been an issue at the Margaret River Pro. Running it when I'm at work and probably the worst website ever for a WQS prime event has.

When you can finally find the results (try here as they aren't accessable from the MR Pro site) you'll find the men are almost finished round 3 (or the round of 48) and the women have complete two rounds. Taj Burrow has been on fire and has made the best of the conditions. His next heat has him against a Brazillian and some one from Uraguy. Yadin Nichol is the other West Aussie still in it but he has a horror heat with two WCT surfers Hawaiian Kekoa Bacalso and last year's surprise packet Aritz Aranburu.The big name to drop out is Parko who didn't make it out of his very low scoring first heat

Both Hopgoods are still in as is Mick Fanning, Ace Buchan and Bede Durbridge. If they get good waves heat five will be a killer - Ace v Mick v Damo.

Some strong heats in the womens event. WA's Felicity Palmateer is the only non-WCT surfer in her heat but Clare B has an easier time. Laura Macaulay is still in it in a winnable heat in decent waves. Heat four has a glamour girl (Blanchard), a world champ (Hedges) and the daughter of a world champ (Curren). This followed by the WCT rookie (Enever), the blogging model (Hosseni who is very honest that the 8 foot second day had her scared) and Owen's sister Tyler Wright.

Margaret River Pro

Call it whatever you want, it will always be the Masters. The Drug Aware Margaret River Pro, a 6 star WQS event, starts Monday after the trials this weekend.


Jake Patterson has fallen from his lofty WCT position in retirement. Not only does he have to enter his "home" event via the trials (which he won from WAs Dave Delroy-Carr) but they spelt his name wrong on the results page of their website.

With the upcoming move to a single ranking system and a short break between Snapper and Bells, this years Pro has some decent heats right from the first round. Just about every heat contains a former WCT surfer and round 1 (the round of 128) has two former world champs (Occy and Sunny). Sunny is up against Bra Boy and big wave charge Mark Mathew, which should make a good heat if there is some swell (the Naturaliste Buoy is over two metres and heading straight up).

This year's Pro is a bit of a family event. The Macauley family have only two entrants, Bronte and Laura, after Dad Dave got knocked out in the first round of the trials. The Gudazkus brothers are here as are brother and sister combos Owen and Tyler Wright (Owen won the Boost Surfsho comp today) and Mason and Coco Ho from Hawaii.

Others of interest in round 1 include Frenchman Patrick Bevan who threw a pile of spanners in the championship works last year in Europe as a wildcard., John John Florence who isn't little anymore and Nat Young, the American grommett not the former world champ.

The WCT surfers are seeded into round two (round of 96). Taj is in the first heat and on a red hot roll. Yadin Nichol takes on Dan Ross in heat four. WA's Ry Craike is in heat 10 with world champ Mick Fanning up against Josh Carr and German Marlon Lipke. Joel is in the last heat of the round against Chris Ward and Dayan Neve. Kai Otten will be one to look out for. The waves suit his style and he surfed well at Snapper. He is against 2008 WQS champ Nathaniel Curran, who must be disappointed with his WCT performance last year.

There's a few big names in the Women. Courtney Conlouge from the US is an amatuer world champ who impressed in big Huntington Beach during the last US Open. Alana Blanchard will be hoping for big waves to show her stuff after a poor 2010 was brightened by a QS win in Hawaii. Bethany Hamilton will return and Erica Hosseini, an American also does media and modelling work is blogging her way here. According to her feed she arrived a few day ago and has had two waves and as many coffees.

There will be a webcast and live scores are available on the event website.