The men’s and women’s world tours are on break until July, but this week still contains one of the events that will help determine which surfers compete on the elite tours in 2015. The 2014 Los Cabos Open of Surf
The men’s and women’s world tours are on break until July, but this week still contains one of the events that will help determine which surfers compete on the elite tours in 2015.
The 2014 Los Cabos Open of Surf is a 6-Star Association of Surfing Professionals contest and opens Monday in Mexico with some of the best wahine in the world hoping to bolster their World Qualifying Series results and improve their standing for 2015 qualification. Among them are six Kauai women, led by current world tour competitors Alana Blanchard and Malia Manuel, as well as hopefuls Nage Melamed, Tatiana Weston-Webb, Leila Hurst and Brianna Cope.
The men’s event runs concurrently and will also have six Garden Isle representatives in the 144-man field.
The women’s contest will start with a field of 60, though 36 will have a bye directly into the second round. All the Kauai surfers except for Cope will move straight into round two. Cope will have to compete in a four-surfer heat with Australia’s Stephanie Single, New Zealand’s Sarah Mason and one still undetermined wild card. The top two will move on to the Round of 48.
Seedings are based on 2014 world tour and QS rankings, so Blanchard is the sixth overall seed and Manuel is eighth. Hurst (16), Weston-Webb (17) and Melamed (26) are not far behind and all received the bye afforded to the top 36. It’s an important event for all, but maybe most for Blanchard. A tough start to her world tour season has her unlikely to re-qualify any way other than a top-six finish on the QS. She certainly has that capability and there are still three more 6-Star events this summer after Los Cabos, but this would be an important first step.
Blanchard’s first heat is already looking like a challenging one. She’s matched up with Brazil’s Silvana Lima, who has been in strong form and always a possibility to run deep at these events, as she sits ranked No. 1 in the QS rankings heading into the week. Those two will paddle out with event wild card Ayasa Brusa of Mexico, as well as one of the 12 advancing from the Round of 60.
Manuel is having a great year, with some consistent world tour finishes and already a pair of keepers at 6-Star events. She opens this week against Australia’s Philippa Anderson and Peru’s Anali Gomez, plus a round-one winner.
Melamed, currently ranked sixth in the QS world rankings, will open her event alongside one of her best friends and fellow Hawaii surfer Coco Ho. The event’s top seed, Ho is tied for 10th on the season in the women’s world tour, so she may wind up needing her QS results to place her back in the 2015 rotation. Ho and Melamed will be joined by Australia’s Freya Prumm in the second round.
Hurst will also have a strong world tour competitor in her opening heat in the form of South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag. Buitendag opened the year with a runner-up at the Gold Coast and is coming off a quarterfinal at Fiji. Hurst moved up to eighth in the QS rankings after a quarterfinal showing at Port Taranaki. Those two will also have Australia’s Ellie-Jean Coffey to contend with among their second-round foursome.
Weston-Webb is joined by Aussie world tour rider Nikki Van Dijk. The two have similar standings on the QS with Tati in 10th and Van Dijk currently in 12th. Tati has great momentum heading into Los Cabos after competing in the past two world tour contests for the injured Courtney Conlogue. She reached the fourth round of each. They’ll also have to go up against Ecuador’s Dominic Barona and a first-round winner to reach the Round of 24.
We’ll delve more into the men’s contest later in the week, but a strong Kauai contingent includes Gavin Gillette, Dylan Goodale, Evan Valiere, Kaimana Jaquias and brothers Alex and Koa Smith. All will begin in the opening Round of 144 with the top two in each’s four-man heat moving into the Round of 96. Some of the top-seeded men include Josh Kerr, Keanu Asing and Saquarema Prime winner Wiggolly Dantas, who are already into the second round.
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