Round Four

Taj, Fanning, Slater and Julian Wilson have all won their round four heats at the Quikie Pro and are straight through to the quarter finals.

The waves were short for Snapper Rocks but clean and rippable. The rumour is that there is a swell coming from a passing cyclone and the finals might be run in rifle speed tubes at Kirra.

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST REMAINING ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 7: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.23 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 13.34
Heat 8: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 15.00 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 12.50
Heat 9: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 12.63 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 12.37
Heat 10: Brett Simpson (USA) 12.16 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 9.53
Heat 11: Travis Logie (ZAF) 15.44 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.43
Heat 12: Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.67 def. Nat Young (USA) 16.36

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 18.06, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.83, Adam Melling (AUS) 10.07
Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 16.60, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.53, Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.13
Heat 3: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.27, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 16.60, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 16.44
Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.40 Travis Logie (ZAF) 13.60, Brett Simpson (USA) 8.23

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 5 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 2: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 3: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 4: Travis Logie (ZAF) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST QUARTERFINAL MATCH-UPS:
QF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. TBD
QF 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. TBD
QF 3: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. TBD
QF 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. TBD

Pipe

Parko in the water at the moment hoping to get through and closer to a world championship. He is up against Pipe local Kalani Chapman.

In the first three heats of round three all the highest seeded pros have lost, including John Florence and Julian Wilson. Slater takes on Billy Kemper in heat nine, while Taj has Yadin in heat 10 and Mick Fanning has the hard task of Shane Dorian in the last heat of the round.

Conditions are pretty good but a bit smaller than yesterday. There is some wind messing the lefts a little.

Surf Movie Sunday

Missed out last week due to poor selection and this week isn't much better but here we go.

First the local stuff.

A grom deep at North Point.




The Taj footage for the week.




Aussie Anthony Walsh shows just how clear the water is a Chopes.




Some Indo with Julian Wilson.




And finally some high performance longboarding for those with bigger taste.

Surf Movie Sunday

Better late than never.

Start with the lovely Kassia Meador leaving summer as we move into it.

Kassia Meador & Mikey DeTemple - Farewell to Summer from The Avant/Garde Diaries on Vimeo.

No Taj this week so we go back to Jay Davies for our local footage. Produced by his brother his clips just get better each time.



Bit of re-mixed of the John Florence footage from last week's Vans release GetNClasic 2.



Jordy and Julian Wilson air it out on Paradise Isalnd.



And one for the multi-board waterman. One European mixing up the boards. Just missing the hand plane.

Round one done

They have finished the remaining round one heat in France and moved on to the King of the Groms event. There is a fair bit of swell but 90% close outs.

All of the heats in the main event today were won by the only surfer with a two wave total over 10, except the second last one where no one could get into double figures. Julian Wilson and Owen Wright were the only top seeds losing today.

The industry people talk up the France event every year but it is always crappy. The waves are so flukey that you need as much luck as you do ability to get through. If Europe wasn't one of the traditionally strongest markets for surf ware I'm nor sure we would still be watching this event.

Tired

Sat up (really laid in bed) watching the first three heats of the Hurley Pro last night. The waves early were clean and glassy but a little funky. Everyone was blowing moves and needed to be a bit conservative to get the scores. By afternoon it was onshore and ramping, making airs the go.

In heat two of round three Julian Wilson won riding the wining waves as the siren sounded. Next heat Taj won with the winning wave coming in the last 30 seconds. No surprises in the rest of the round with Yadin losing to John Florence.

Taj won his round four super heat against Slater and Julian Wilson, heading straight to the quarter finals. Wilson will take on Mick Fanning and Slater has Jeremy Flores.

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 5 MATCH UPS:

Heat 1: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Mick Fanning (AUS)

Heat 2: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Kelly Slater (USA)

Heat 3: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)

Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Gabriel Medina (BRA)

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES NON ELIMINATION ROUND 4:

Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 12.93, Julian Wilson (AUS) 12.60, Kelly Slater (USA) 11.20

Heat 2: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 17.23, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 15.97, Mick Fanning (AUS) 10.17

Heat 3: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.87, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.40, Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.63

Heat 4: John John Florence (HAW) 18.57, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 16.27, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 12.67

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 3 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.70 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 10.00

Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 14.03 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.34

Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.60 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 14.30

Heat 4: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 16.20 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 12.23

Heat 5: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 18.13 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 8.93

Heat 6: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.34 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 13.33

Heat 7: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.33 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 13.33

Heat 8: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 17.37 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 17.06

Heat 9: Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.53 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 9.67

Heat 10: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 17.20 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 15.77

Heat 11: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.67 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 10.90

Heat 12: John John Florence (HAW) 14.44 def. Yadin Nicol (AUS) 9.90

Hurley Pro

Round one is over and it was a good day for the west Aussies with both TB and Yadin Nichol winning their heats.

The waves were nice little peaks made for throwing fins. Big airs were getting the big scores, especially  if they were no-handers. Seems that claiming an air was given a scoring bump as well.

Amongst the others most of the heats went as expected. Parko missed out and will take on Connor Coffin in round two. Coffin will be in with a chance if Parko isn't on his game. John Florence didn't surf well and will take on another wildcard. Owen Wright was just beaten by Yadin by less than half a point and will meet tour vet Taylor Knox. Knox is one of the few remaining power hackers so his future relies on what the judges are picking on the day.

I put some money on Julian Wilson so of course he lost badly and will have a difficult round two against Jadson Andre.

As usual the contest website is top notch with a good webcast (in the middle of the night here) and heat analyser heats on demand. Fuel TV is showing every heat live for those with Foxtel.

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.30, Jadson Andre (BRA) 11.10, Brett Simpson (USA) 7.94
Heat 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.00, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 12.57, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 7.37
Heat 3: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.66, Tiago Pires (PRT) 10.90, Taylor Knox (USA) 8.10
Heat 4: Dusty Payne (USA) 12.47, Kai Otton (AUS) 12.00, John John Florence (HAW) 9.00
Heat 5: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.16, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.87, Evan Geiselman (USA) 12.50
Heat 6: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.60, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.60, Conner Coffin (USA) 12.16
Heat 7: Yadin Nicol (AUS) 17.57, Owen Wright (AUS) 17.17, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 11.67
Heat 8: Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.20, Damien Hobgood (USA) 10.63, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 8.00
Heat 9: Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.20, Kolohe Andino (AUS) 13.30, Jeremy Flores (PYF) 12.70
Heat 10: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 16.50, Adam Melling (AUS) 13.57, Julian Wilson (AUS) 9.66
Heat 11: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.30, Travis Logie (ZAF) 15.87, Heitor Alves (BRA) 13.83
Heat 12: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 16.90, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 16.17, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 8.20

UPCOMING HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Conner Coffin (USA)
Heat 2: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Evan Geiselman (USA)
Heat 3: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Taylor Knox (USA)
Heat 4: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 5: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)
Heat 6: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 7: Heitor Alves (BRA) vs. Kolohe Andino (USA)
Heat 8: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 9: Miguel Pupo (BRA) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 10: Brett Simpson (USA) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 11: Alejo Muniz (BRA) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 12: Tiago Pires (PRT) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)

Surf Movie Sunday

Better late than never. Too nice a day to have spent it inside anyway.
It has a fair bit of a WA flavour except for the last one.

Dave Mac shows that getting older doesn't reduce your surfing ability.



The WA link is Taj and Jay Davies. Watch TB, Julian Wilson and co smashing Trestles, the site of the next WCT event later this month.



A secret slab that everyone knows down near Demmark.



And finally something different - longboarding and fin free at the wave garden.

Live blogging

Taj has beaten Parko and moves into a semi against Gabriel Medina. With Slater still in the event this is a bit of a short term blow to Parko but nothing to get very stressed about.

Next heat is Julian Wilson and Owen Wright. Could be another cracker.

Round Two

Smaller but cleaner and a bit inconsistent in Fiji. Round two is on and Taj and Slater are both easily through. Julian Wilson put on a clinic in his heat to score 18+ for his two waves.

Round two is likely to finish today and it will depend on the consistency whether they step into round three. Rumour is that there is another swell coming tomorrow.

Webcast on the Volcom site or RedBull.tv and live on FuelTV.

VOLCOM FIJI PRO ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Isei Tokovu (FIJ)
Heat 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Willian Cardoso (BRA)
Heat 3: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Taylor Knox (USA)
Heat 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 5: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 6: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Yadin Nicol (AUS)
Heat 7: Miguel Pupo (BRA) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 8: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 9: Tiago Pires (PRT) vs. Kolohe Andino (USA)
Heat 10: Brett Simpson (USA) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 11: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 12: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Raoni Monteiro (BRA

Round one almost done

Round 1 of the women was run in some pretty clean waves at Bells and then the wind made for some crumbly waves for most of the mens round one.



Taj was the only real seed to lose. Julian Wilson and Yadin Nichol both lost as well but all will get a second chance round two.

A massive swell was forecast before the event and they are still expecting some size in the next couple of days.

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.60, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 12.10, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 11.17
Heat 2: Owen Wright (AUS) 17.93, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 14.97, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.50
Heat 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 16.00, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 8.67, Taylor Knox (USA) 4.17
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.27, Kai Otton (AUS) 12.23, Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 5: Nic Muscroft (AUS) 16.07, Kolohe Andino (USA) 14.06, Burrow (AUS) 11.10
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 13.70, Brett Simpson (USA) 10.33, Davey Cathels (AUS) 9.77
Heat 7: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.10, Julian Wilson (AUS) 10.23, Yadin Nicol (AUS) 6.66
Heat 8: Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.76, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 12.10, Jadson Andre (BRA) 9.80
Heat 9: Travis Logie (ZAF) 10.93, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 10.90, Josh Kerr (AUS) 8.50

REMAININING RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 10: Michel Bourez (PYF), Damien Hobgood (USA), C.J. Hobgood (USA)
Heat 11: Alejo Muniz (BRA), John John Florence (HAW), Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 12: Heitor Alves (BRA), Miguel Pupo (BRA), Matt Wilkinson (AUS)

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Laura Enever (AUS) 15.00, Paige Hareb (NZL) 12.83, Rebecca Woods (AUS) 9.67
Heat 2: Tyler Wright (AUS) 12.77, Malia Manuel (HAW) 11.17, Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 8.30
Heat 3: Lakey Peterson (USA) 14.17, Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 14.17, Nikki Van Dijk (AUS) 12.90
Heat 4: Carissa Moore (AUS) 16.50, Pauline Ado (FRA) 10.43, Justine Dupont (FRA) 9.40
Heat 5: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 18.84, Coco Ho (HAW) 15.50, Sage Erickson (USA) 11.90
Heat 6: Courtney Conlogue (USA) 15.93, Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 14.17, Sarah Mason (NZL) 12.57

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Coco Ho (HAW) vs. Rebecca Woods (AUS)
Heat 2: Malia Manuel (HAW) vs. Jacqueline Silva (BRA)
Heat 3: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) vs. Nikki Van Dijk (AUS)
Heat 4: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) vs. Justine Dupont (FRA)
Heat 5: Paige Hareb (BRA) vs. Sage Erickson (USA)
Heat 6: Pauline Ado (FRA) vs. Sarah Mason (NZL)

Round two

Quikie Pro is running men's round two after finishing the same round in the women. Conditions are ok, a bit onshore but with enough long walls to get some big scores.

Taj and Yadin are both through to round three as is Julian Wilson.

Watch it on FuelTV or the net.

Slater close to 11

By making the final of the Rip Curl Pro Portugal, Kelly Slater is a ninth away from an eleventh world title.

After winning two heats with last minute waves Taj had the tables turned when Slater pulled out a 10 in the last minute of their semi. Ironically Slater had joked in his interview after the quarters that he would have to beat Taj in the last minute again after the two have had some epic heats this year go to the wire each time.

The waves and surfing at this event were some of the best I have ever seen in years of watching pro surfing. On the last day most people lost heats holding at least a nine and some, like Julian Wilson, holding a ten ! Even though most scoring waves were tubes it wasn't boring pull ins like Chopes and the easy paddle out meant plenty of waves were caught. Despite the long days the webcast/broadcast was top quality and the commentators did a good job







Taj has moved to fifth with his third and Adriano up to third with his win. In reality Kelly would have to crash very early in the next two events and Owen Wright win for him not to be world champ yet again.

Next event San Francisco. I bet Kelly would love to have win a world title in mainland USA.

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.67
2 – Kelly Slater (USA) 14.73

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 19.50 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.87
SF 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.83 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.03

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.94 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 17.50
QF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.70 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 7.67
QF 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 17.60 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 17.53
QF 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.10 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.60

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING HEAT 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Julian Wilson (AUS) 6.83 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 3.50
Heat 2: Heitor Alves (BRA) 15.40 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.74
Heat 3: Michel Bourez (PYF) 18.93 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 17.96
Heat 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.44 def. John John Florence (HAW) 17.06

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.13, Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.70, Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.10
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 19.30, Heitor Alves (BRA) 17.20, Chris Davidson (AUS) 13.40
Heat 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.30, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.64, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.67
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.00, John John Florence (HAW) 17.84, Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.10

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 9: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 11.60 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 8.10
Heat 10: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 13.56 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 12.30
Heat 11: Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.27 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.54
Heat 12: John John Florence (HAW) 17.33 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 16.96

ASP WORLD TITLE TOP 5 (after Rip Curl Pro Portugal)
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 58,150 pts
2. Owen Wright (AUS) 45,650 pts
3. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 42,450 pts
4. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 41,100 pts
5. Taj Burrow (AUS) 40,950 pts

Bazzas

Portugal is pumping again and there are nines and tens everywhere. Currently it is the quarter final between Slater and Alvez.

Already they have finished round three, all of rounds four and five and the first quarter. The current plan is to crown the winner today.

Taj had surfed twice for two wins including in round four where he got a high eight with less than 30 seconds to go. In his quarter he beat Julian Wilson by 0.4 with a nine on his first wave and a high eight in the last minute to match a killer from Wilson that scored a ten.

John John Florence had treated the place like Backdoor Pipe without the consequences and getting shacked of his nut. However he just lost to Bede in a close heat that was starved a little for waves.

The swell is dropping but there are enough waves that almost every losing surfer has at least two eights and every winner a nine.

With Owen Wright and Jordy both out Kelly can put one hand on number eleven with a win.

Six more heats or 250 minutes of water action left. The webcast is consistent as is coverage on FuelTV.

Wow !!!!!

The Rip Curl Pro is turning on one of the best days of pro surfing in ages. The waves are grinding beach break pits breaking a few metres from shore and going both ways.

Round two has finished and they are well into round three. Taj has won both his heats today.

The last heat Kai Otten and Julian Wilson was all time. Both started with a nine. Otten's first wave looked like he had been caught in the tube twice but he busted out for a deserved claim. Wilson backed his nine with one of the biggest waves, a solid six foot plus and a deep, perfect tube ride.

There is another two or so hours of surfing left in a marathon day. They have talked about knocking over the event tomorrow which could see the winner surf six times !

FuelTV and the webcast are amazing.

Rookie wins

In the battle of the next generation Gabriel Medina has beaten Julian Wilson. Medina has only just made the tour at 17 and two years ago he won the "King of the Groms" section at this same even two years ago.

Wilson has had a second half comeback after a poor start to his rookie year.

Next event - Portugal

More of the same

Taj, Slater, OwenWright, Julian Wilson and Jordy Smith are all through to round four. Taylor Knox is having his best contest for ages and new boy Gabriel Medina is also through.

Taj just made it after beating Travis Logie by a fraction of a point. Taj's two scoring waves were short on manoeuvres but those he pulled off were massive. Martin Potter and the other commentator didn't think he got the score on his last wave, a big backhand smash and finished the heat off talking up Logie. Unfortunately for them the score on Taj's last wave took forever to get locked in and wasn't final until seconds after the heat finished.

Logie is one of my least favourite surfers on tour. For years he clung to the bottom rung, barely winning a single heat all year but to give credit where its due his surfing this year has improved massively. He had a third in Tahiti and is only just losing a couple of other heats.

After some fog this morning France time a lay day has been called.

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE REMAINING ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 9: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.70 def. Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 12.60
Heat 10: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 12.53 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 6.50
Heat 11: Brett Simpson (USA) 13.76 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 7.67
Heat 12: Kieren Perrow (AUS) def. Chris Davidson (AUS)

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taylor Knox (USA) 9.77 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 6.50
Heat 2: Michel Bourez (PYF) 13.76 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 11.60
Heat 3: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 15.34 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 12.00
Heat 4: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.83 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 10.26
Heat 5: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 12.56 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 10.96
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.90 def. Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) 6.90
Heat 7: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.16 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 13.83
Heat 8: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.60 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 8.76
Heat 9: Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.33 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 7.07
Heat 10: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.47 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 15.34
Heat 11: Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.00 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 11.34
Heat 12: Owen Wright (AUS) 15.17 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 8.57

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 4 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Taylor Knox (USA), Michel Bourez (PYF), Jeremy Flores (FRA)
Heat 2: Adrian Buchan (AUS), Gabriel Medina (BRA), Kelly Slater (USA)
Heat 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF), Alejo Muniz (BRA), Julian Wilson (AUS)
Heat 4: Taj Burrow (AUS), Damien Hobgood (USA), Owen Wright (AUS)

Quikie Pro France

The Quiksilver Pro has started in France. Round one is done and round two is in the water right now.

Taj is through to round three as is Slater, the back from injury Jordie Smith and Fanning. Young guns Owen Wright and Julian Wilson also topped their first heat.

The big casualty so far is Parko, who has just been eliminated by a Moroccan wildcard in a heat where neither had a double figure two wave score.

The waves have some size with sets in the eight foot range. However there is plenty of crap amongst the nuggets.

As usual the Quiksilver webcast is terrible. It doesn't stream properly, keeps stopping and jumping back to repeat the same footage over and over. It didn't happen at the Trestles or Chopes or any contest not sponsored by Quiksilver.

Same again

For the third event in a row Kelly Slater and Owen Wright have faced off in the finals. This time is was Slater showing that he is still better than yet another generation of rippers by riding the winning wave in the last minute and with a mix of air and full rail vertical surfing.

Josh Kerr continued his career season as is now in fifth. Julian Wilson has finally found some form and is starting find his feet (getting revenge on Parko for his last wave loss in round four). Slater has pulled just a little closer to his 11th title and Taj is now sixth and hoping for a miracle. Jordy's injury has dropped him to 8th but he can throw both of these events away at the end of the season.

The next event is the Search in San Francisco.

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES FINAL RESULT:
1 – Kelly Slater (USA) 17.50
2 – Owen Wright (AUS) 16.74

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES SEMIFINALS RESULTS:
SF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.40 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 16.57
SF 2: Owen Wright (AUS) 14.74 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 10.04

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES QUARTERFINALS RESULTS:
QF 1: Heitor Alves (BRA) 12.77 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.50
QF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.60 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 11.07
QF 3: Owen Wright (AUS) 15.67 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.67
QF 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) 18.23 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14.93

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Heitor Alves (BRA) 12.74 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 9.80
Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) 15.27 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 12.97
Heat 3: Mick Fanning (AUS) 18.23 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 10.27
Heat 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.67 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 12.37

CURRENT ASP WORLD TITLE TOP 10 (After Hurley Pro at Trestles)
1 – Kelly Slater (USA) 44,950 pts.
2 – Owen Wright (AUS) 39,900
3 – Joel Parkinson (AUS) 35,400
4 – Adriano de Souza (BRA)31950
5 – Josh Kerr (AUS)30,800
6 – Taj Burrow (AUS) 29,250
7 – Mick Fanning (AUS)28,200
8 – Jordy Smith (ZAF)27,500
9 – Jeremy Flores (FRA)23,700
10 – Michel Bourez (PYF) 22,250

Round four finally goes big

The promises of high performance round four heats was finally met last night. With sets around head height and runners both ways there were plenty of big hacks and airs. Unfortunately the judging continues to baffle everyone and feed the conspiracy theorists (see this post from philosurfical). There seems to be bonus points given to the top 10 (except Bede Durbridge). The judges have obviously decided that anyone can do an air but not everyone can do a reo. Even I can do a reo (every now and then) but I'm will never do an air (on purpose).

Taj was fairly beaten by Adriano de Souza with both going to the air. Julian Wilson couldn't beat Parko's re-entries with am air where he switched the board around, landed surfed goofy, switched back and threw and air reverse. Owen Wright beat John Florence who surfed well in his maiden event (he made the tour due to Yaden Nicols broken leg).

The internet rumours are that the event will finish tonight as the forecast if for a dropping swell.

Head to the website and watch the heats on demand. They have built on the format from the Quikie Pro so you can watch entire heats or any of the scoring waves. You can also select your favourite surfer or only waves over a certain score. And unlike the Quikie it actually works and streams nicely.

UPCOMING HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 5 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)
Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA)
Heat 3: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Mick Fanning (AUS)
Heat 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 16.33, Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.93, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 12.23
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.90, Josh Kerr (AUS) 12.60, Heitor Alves (BRA) 11.77
Heat 3: Owen Wright (AUS) 16.73, Damien Hobgood (USA) 15.20, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 12.46
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.06, Julian Wilson (AUS) 17.77, Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.50

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.50 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 12.97
Heat 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.50 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 13.10
Heat 3: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 10.27 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 9.57
Heat 4: Heitor Alves (BRA) 11.63 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 11.43
Heat 5: Josh Kerr (AUS) 12.33 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 11.83
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.64 def. Tom Whitaker (AUS) 12.93
Heat 7: Owen Wright (AUS) 17.84 def. John Florence (HAW) 17.13
Heat 8: Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.13 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 8.17
Heat 9: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 15.80 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 10.40
Heat 10: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.00 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 16.80
Heat 11: Julian Wilson (AUS) 14.23 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 9.00
Heat 12: Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.93 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 13.17