Ramping up to next week’s stop at Jeffreys Bay, South Africa is hosting another major event this week as the QS 10,000 Ballito Pro is underway with the biggest potential Qualifying Series haul on the line for world tour hopefuls.
This contest in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa has always been a breeding ground for qualifiers. Last year’s semifinal round featured Willian Cardoso, Mikey Wright and Michael February, all of whom have made their presences felt in strong fashion on the Championship Tour this season. Defending champ Jordy Smith was knocked out in round two this year, which opens the door for a number of others who are in much more desperate situations to garner points.
So far, results have been mixed for Hawaii surfers as five are already into the third round, though a strong group has been eliminated in the early stages.
Tanner Hendrickson, Keanu Asing, Imai Devault, Seth Moniz and Barron Mamiya will be involved in four-man heats when the Round of 48 gets underway. All five have had to get past some difficult matchups already, with the very best from around the QS ecosystem taking part in this maximum points affair.
Hendrickson has fallen off considerably since his breakout campaign of 2015, when he finished 30th on the QS leaderboard. He dropped down to 103 in 2016, bumped up to 84 last season but he’s all the way down in 162nd place this year. He needs some top-tier results, like the runner-up finish he earned three years ago at the US Open of Surfing, to simply get some seeding benefits at events moving forward.
Asing sits in 31st on the CT this year and could use some QS assistance from here on out. He picked up a ninth at the Sydney Surf Pro, but these big-point events are where he can really make his mark to secure re-qualification. He’ll have to take on Wright, Griffin Colapinto and Flavio Nakagima in round three, so things aren’t getting any easier.
Devault is one of the smoothest young Hawaii surfers around and seems destined to be on the world tour someday with the proper focus. He still hasn’t broken through as a pro yet, but his Junior results have shown his lofty potential.
Conversely, Seth Moniz has shown the polish needed to take his surfing to the next level in contest formats. He enters Ballito ranked 11th on the QS, thanks in large part to a runner-up finish at the Chiba Open in Japan. There is a long way to go and one result won’t get Moniz a top-10 ranking by season’s end, but at just 20 years old, he’s in a position to earn that family legacy a bit sooner than had been expected.
Mamiya, 18, is on the same trajectory as he comes into the contest ranked 14th on the QS. A runner-up at the Burton Automotive Pro catapulted him to that point, but Mamiya may be the most complete of any Hawaii surfers in his age group. He’s small but compact and surfs with more power than his frame would indicate.
Some of the other big names into round three include Nat Young, Jeremy Flores, Evan Geiselman, Leonardo Fioravanti, Jesse Mendes, Deivid Silva, Jack Freestone, Ethan Ewing, Wiggolly Dantas, Ryan Callinan and Wade Carmichael.
Falling out in the second round for Hawaii were Kiron Jabour, Benji Brand, Cody Young, Finn McGill, Koa Smith, Josh Moniz and Ezekiel Lau.
There is a long road ahead but at the end lies a huge bounty of riches for the sole survivor, including 10,000 qualifying points and a $40,000 check. The QS season is officially underway and someone will earn the chance to edit its story in real time as South Africa hosts the surfing world over the coming weeks.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
Hawai’i’s top names of past are out. The Irons brothers. The movie of Andy Irons in Waimea town was last week. There were a few supporters. All I can say is that the other Irons, Bruce Irons was at his best at age 25, winning the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Surf contest, Waimea Bay, North Shore of Oahu. The dual between CT and the points tournament still stands today. Waimea Bay has not been done away with. But if they wanted to add something to the CT tour, Bruce Irons would be the only one succeeding Andy Irons and representing Hawai’i’s top surfers, along with others too. John John Florence was the youngest to win the big wave contest. ASP and the WSL or CT tour almost similar, but different because the surfers recognition have shifted. North shore of Oahu has become a paramount and big shot surf for others around the globe. It took 10 years for Tom Curran to reach world’s number 1 in 1984. But surfers like Michael Ho, 1976 turned pro, used the Eddie Aikau, to get himself into contention to world’s number 1 at #3 ASP, 1987. Today, the Eddie, has been done away with. CT and WSL has taken over and a new system of judging. New names. But who is keeping up, I am not.