MARGARET RIVER, West Australia — A powerful and building swell of more than six feet provided great waves as rounds one and two of the Association of Surfing Professionals Six-Star Rated Women’s Drug Aware Pro were completed Tuesday, states an
MARGARET RIVER, West Australia — A powerful and building swell of more than six feet provided great waves as rounds one and two of the Association of Surfing Professionals Six-Star Rated Women’s Drug Aware Pro were completed Tuesday, states an ASP press release.
Sally Fitzgibbons led the charge of high-quality performances in her opening-round heat, choosing the biggest and best waves to demolish her opponents on a score-line of 15.50 for her top two scoring rides (an 8.00 and a 7.50) with French surfer Alizee Arnaud a distant second on just 5.66.
“I really enjoy the challenges of surfing Margaret River,” said Fitzgibbons. “The waves are always solid and you can really push the performances here knowing the wave has the power to reward you. It’s one of my favorite locations to surf.
“It’s a great field for this year’s event and with quite a few high-level events over the next few months, competing here keeps me focused. With solid waves looking likely all week, I’m really keen to do well. The raw energy of the waves is similar to my home breaks so I feel very comfortable out there.” Local girls also revelled in Tuesday’s conditions with Gracetown sisters Laura and Bronte Macaulay both advancing through their early heats.
As the daughters of former great ASP World Tour surfer Dave Macaulay, they surf the outstanding waves in this region throughout the year and while both are relative youngsters in this quality field — Laura is 17 and Bronte is 16 — they demonstrated that they’ll be formidable opponents, particularly in these solid and familiar surf conditions.
Laura won her round two heat, defeating current elite ASP World Tour surfers Amee Donohoe and Kaua‘i’s Alana Blanchard.
“This is a great opportunity for both of us to surf against the best surfers in the world and really assess how we measure up to them, so we’re really just going out there each heat and doing our best without worrying about the pressure too much and it’s going well at this stage,” Laura Macauley said.
“Dad’s out there in the channel as our board caddy during the heats and it’s good to have him there watching and advising us!” she said. Others to impress in the powerful conditions included Australians Jessi Myley-Dyer and Nicola Atherton, as well as South Africa’s Rosanne Hodge.
The swell continued to build during the afternoon heats and 18-year-old Sydney surfer Laura Enever caused the day’s biggest upset when she won her heat, defeating Mizuki Hagiwara from Japan in second and eliminating the No. 1 seed Sofia Mulanovich from Peru.
The very next heat saw the day’s best performance by the event’s youngest surfer in Tyler Wright. The 15-year-old NSW surfer was outstanding, picking off the biggest waves of the day and scored a near-perfect 9.67 on her final ride, blasting three huge top-to-bottom turn snaps. She easily finished the heat with the day’s top-scoring ride and top-scoring heat tally of 16.67.
“The waves are pumping out there,” Wright said. “I surfed here a few years ago in junior events and I love the place, so much power in the waves. That was a great start for me but it’s early days here, so I’ll just focus on the next heat now and not get carried away with that heat.”
Men’s round three heats appeared certain to hit the water first thing Wednesday morning with outstanding conditions. The first heat of the day should see local favorite and current world No. 1-rated surfer Taj Burrow in action. All the top-seeded surfers are introduced into today’s round.
In great waves, expect to see super-charged performances from Burrow, De Souza, Fanning, Durbidge, Owen Wright, the Hobgood brothers and many more.
Vans Pier Classic
quickly approaching
HUNTINGTON BEACH, California — The Association of Surfing Professionals World Qualifying Series 2-Star Vans Pier Classic presented by Jack’s Surfboards is set to host several of America’s top talents at the iconic break of South Huntington Beach Pier from March 24-28.
Accompanying the men’s ASP WQS event will be the second of eight stops on this year’s ASP North America Pro Junior Series, the ASP Grade-2 Ezekiel Pro Junior, also presented by Jack’s Surfboards.
Surfers competing in the ASP WQS event are hunting the valuable ratings points on offer to eventually establish themselves as top seeds on the global qualifying series.
A top seed allows competitors to battle the world’s finest up-and-comers for a spot on the ASP World Tour. The ASP North America Pro Junior Series competitors are out to find their way atop the regional ratings to qualify for this year’s inaugural ASP World Junior Tour.
California’s Mike Losness, 29, the defending Vans Pier Classic champion, is returning to competition for this year’s event and is gearing up to defend his title against the entourage of young talent set to compete, but feels no pressure entering the event despite his status as defending champion.
“Being the defending champion just gives me more confidence entering this year’s contest,” Losness said. “It doesn’t put pressure on me to live up to that result again. I just take one heat at a time and go from there.”
The talented goofy-footer has been an international standout on the ASP WQS throughout the years and is now focusing his professional career on free-surfing. Although Losness is not spending as much time in a jersey as in past years, he feels that competing in fewer events allows him to enjoy events more than in previous years.
“A lot has changed for me,” Losness said. “I look forward to these small events because it’s a chance to put the jersey on. I love competing and miss doing some of the bigger events like years past, but there is less pressure and I just get excited to compete.”
Fellow Californian Evan Geiselman, 16, who is fresh off of a win at the ASP North America Pro Junior Series season opener, is heading to the west coast in hopes of retaining his ratings lead at this year’s Ezekiel Pro Junior.
“Winning my first ASP event at Sebastian Inlet definitely gives me confidence heading out to Huntington,” Geiselman said.
