Hawai‘i’s Melanie Bartels is just one of the new faces that will be joining the Foster’s Association of Surfing Professionals Men’s Tour and the ASP Women’s World Tour. With the influx of new talent and the introduction of new technology,
Hawai‘i’s Melanie Bartels is just one of the new faces that will be joining the Foster’s Association of Surfing Professionals Men’s Tour and the ASP Women’s World Tour.
With the influx of new talent and the introduction of new technology, the ASP is looking forward to 2007 as the most exciting in the sport’s history, states an ASP press release.
“We had a big influx in 2006 to both tours,” said ASP president and 1978 world champion Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew. “And with another influx in 2007, particularly in the men’s, we’ve seen almost 50 percent of the personnel change. It’s going to be really exciting.”
The new faces on the Foster’s ASP Men’s World Tour will include Jeremy Flores of France; Ricky Basnett, Roydon Bryson, Dayyan Neve, Josh Kerr, Ben Dunn and Kai Otton of Australia; Gabe King of the United States; Leonardo Neves and Rodrigo Dornelles of Brazil.
Mick Campbell of Australia and Neco Padaratz and Bernardo Miranda of Brazil will all return to the elite men’s tour following a hiatus.
On the women’s front, Stephanie Gilmore of Australia, Caroline Sarran of France and Roseanne Hodge will be joining Bartels.
Bartholomew was adamant the new blood will drive up the performance standards as the newcomers will be eager to unleash with a barrage of progressive moves.
“For both the guys and girls, we’ll see people come in who have a good combination of old school power and new school tricks,” said Bartholomew. “They are the real deal.”
Bartholomew said some of the newcomers are aerial freaks but have a sound grasp of convention, so there will be a lot of spice at the top levels.
“Not that it wasn’t exciting before, but when we head toward the business end of events, we’re going to see the bar raised and the older competitors are going to have to dig deep and push themselves to hold off the challenge,” Bartholomew said.
For the first time, ASP will introduce instant replays via personal monitors for each judge to access previous waves and further scrutinize wave scores.
At the trial in Brazil this year, replays proved effective in giving judges a means for being 100 percent accurate in score delivery, Bartholomew said.
“It will aid the guys in judging when two competitors are riding or when something is critical. It will also allow judges to check at any time that their scores are in line with the scale,” he said. “The replays will ensure the judges will not miss a thing.”
The 2007 season will start Feb. 27 on Australia’s Gold Coast at the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro.
