Kaua‘i’s Bruce Irons was the only Hawai‘i surfer to a post first-round win yesterday at the Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast of Australia. But Andy Irons, Roy Powers, Pancho Sullivan and Fred Pattachia still advance from Day 1. Irons
Kaua‘i’s Bruce Irons was the only Hawai‘i surfer to a post first-round win yesterday at the Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast of Australia. But Andy Irons, Roy Powers, Pancho Sullivan and Fred Pattachia still advance from Day 1.
Irons defeated France’s Jeremy Flores and fellow Kaua‘i surfer Powers. Irons now advances to Round 3, while Flores and Powers move to Round 2.
The waves measured consistently at 2- to 3-foot for the punchy beach break of Duranbah, on the border of the New South Wales and Queensland coasts on the East coast of Australia.
“The conditions are really sub-par,” Irons said in a release. “When I went to bed last night, never in my wildest dreams did I think that the contest would be on, but the swell’s not looking too good (going forward) so you’ve just got to deal with it.
“Everyone is trying to do well here as it sets the pace for the season. Obviously, we’d like to run at perfect Snapper, but that’s not the case.”
Irons caught 21 waves in his 30-minute heat and posted 7.83 and 6.17 as his best scores to finish with a 14.
Powers finished the heat with a 7.63.
Sullivan of O‘ahu’s North Shore placed second to Heitor Alves of Brazil, but ahead of Ricky Basnett from South Africa.
Andy Irons also placed second to Frenchman Mikael Picon. Patacchia didn’t surf the heat, taking the automatic third-place finish. He sustained a severely bruised hip surfing at Pipeline before heading to Australia and elected for an extra day. He will surf in sudden-death Round 2 when competition resumes.
