LIHU‘E — The opening day of the Ferrolterra Movistar Pantin Classic Presented by Billabong saw several excellent performances from the strong international field in round one of competition, which was completed late Tuesday afternoon at the main event site of
LIHU‘E — The opening day of the Ferrolterra Movistar Pantin Classic Presented by Billabong saw several excellent performances from the strong international field in round one of competition, which was completed late Tuesday afternoon at the main event site of Pantin.
Consistent three- to four-foot waves were on offer and improved during the day with the higher tide, states an ASP release. Early cloud cover cleared producing hot summer weather with long rippable lefts and rights peeling off the main peak allowing all athletes to show their full array of manoeuvres.
Kaua‘i’s Sebastian Zietz will start his event in the second round, having avoided a first-round heat. He will be competing against Australia’s Adam Robertson, South Africans David Weare and Chad Du Toit in the third heat of the round.
The women’s event was on tap to start today, as Alana Blanchard, Bethany Hamilton and Nage Melamed are all in this six-star World Qualifying Series event.
Blanchard begins the Round of 48 with California superstar Courtney Conlogue also in her four-surfer heat. Anne C. Le Tallec, of France, and Ana Sarmento, of Portugal, complete the field.
Hamilton will compete with South Africa’s Rosanne Hodge, Australia’s Amy Stewart and Portugal’s Francisca Santos.
Melamed will have Peruvian world titlist Sofia Mulanovich, along with Brazil’s Claudia Goncalves and Portugal’s Carina Da Silva in her opening heat.
At the start of the men’s event, Richard Christie, 21, fresh from a third placing last week in France, charged everything in sight during his first-up appearance in the Ferrolterra Movistar Pantin Classic Presented by Billabong. Kicking off with an 8.17 out of a possible 10 on his first wave Christie was on fire and followed up shortly after with a 9.10 combining powerful rail-turns with modern aerial attacks.
“It was a great heat for me again and somehow I managed to get all the waves that came through so I’m stoked,” said Christie, the New Zealand rider. “Definitely my result last week has given me heaps of confidence going into this event. I go out there to have fun and surf like I free surf so that is what I did and it worked.
“I really like the wave here,” Christie said. “It is similar to the beach breaks we have at home and here is so beautiful and relaxed so I can hear myself think and can concentrate of the event.”
Brazil’s Jean Da Silva was another standout performer, continuing his recent good form since the European leg of ASP events commenced three weeks ago. Being left alone by his opponents, Da Silva caught many waves during his 25-minute clash and felt afterwards that his ion of waves could improve leading into the next round.
“I’m stoked with the heat and I just wanted to keep it up through all the heat from the start to the end, but I was catching all the waves I saw so if I could wait a little bit more I might have got better scores,” Da Silva said. “I got some good waves, but when I saw those other waves coming through I realized I should have waited a bit more. I’m stoked to surf and I am getting better and better and with my best result this year in Lacanau last week I know I can still go better so I want to stay focused and make more heats against all the competitors.”
New Zealander Billy Stairmand, 20, has also maintained his consistent results by easily advancing along with Brazil’s Tiago Camarao into round two. Performing his trademark mixture of speed turns combined with progressive airs to finish with a two-wave combined total of 16.13 out of a possible 20, Stairmand is gaining confidence and momentum on this his first time in Europe.
“It was a fun heat out there and I have this new board,” he said. “It’s a little nugget and there were perfect conditions out there, so I took this board out there and it went off. I am getting through a lot of heats and I am not getting nervous at all because you have to get through so many heats from the start. I am traveling with some friends and everything is going well and we are having a good time here in Europe.”
The ASP European summer leg is a new experience for Stairmand and he is adapting to the different events and wave types with relative ease despite his inexperience of the locations.
“It is my first time here and the waves are really fun with little wedges off the rocks and it is a cool vibe here, because everyone is nice and we are staying in a good house, so it’s all cool,” he said.
Weare, 29, a 2009 ASP Dream Tour member, stormed through his round one clash scoring two solid rides to comfortably advance to the next round. Currently sitting way down on the ASP World Rankings, Weare is looking for a result here to try and get the second half of his year’s campaign up and running.
“Obviously, starting in round one is never the best thing, so it is nice to get that first heat out of the way,” Weare said. “It is hard out there to find the right waves, but I guess I caught the two best that came through, so I am very happy about that.”
With so much experience and the swell predicted to increase over the following days, Weare is a danger to all the top seeds in round two and could quite easily advance to the business end of the event.
“I am fairly happy with my performance because when conditions are a little difficult, you have to try and find the best waves and fortunately that paid off for me this time,” he said.
Another call has been made for Wednesday, Day 2 of the official waiting period at 9 a.m. (local time) for competitors of the Ferrolterra Movistar Pantin Classic Presented by Billabong and the Cabreiroa Surfing Girls.
