Quiksilver Pro eerste ronde van start

De orkaan Katia zorgde voor de nodige golven (ongeveer 1 meter), met als gevolg dat het evenement van start kon gaan met de eerste ronde. Volgens de deelnemers helemaal geen slechte keuze want zij konden zich prima vermaken op de golven.

“It was like an expression session out there,” vertelt Josh Kerr. “I started getting scores and was enjoying myself out there with those little rip bowl rights. We all had 15 waves and I think we all had fun out there. I went for a free surf and the wind came up and I knew I was going to hunt the rights. It was perfect and I found a couple of those ramps so I’m stoked.”

“It’s pretty fun,” vertelt Alejo Muniz said. “It’s not that big, but there are still a couple bigger waves and I have a good board for small waves. I just tried to have fun. I started a little slow and my strategy was to go left, but my best wave was on the right and I improved throughout the heat. I always try to do big turns even though it’s small.”

Ook Kelly Slater wist zijn heat te winnen en plaatste zich zo voor de derde ronde.

“New York has been good,” aldus Kelly. “Everyone is super cool and I’m excited to be here. The waves are a little small, so it’s tough, but it’s the first round and no one loses and the swell should be building. My board felt good, it’s an epoxy, but pretty much same thing I’ve been riding. Hopefully we’ll find some peaky barrels and we’ll see what happens. I know that Hurricane swell is out there, so we’ll just see what happens.”

Kelly Slater leek net als de andere surfers geen probleem te hebben met het overschakelen tussen de legendarische golven in Teahupo’o en de beachbreak in New York.

“After last week, it’s a little different in these waves, you’ve got to find the sweet spot out there. Last week, you’re just trying to stay with it at spots like Teahupo’o, but on days like today there isn’t much energy so you’ve got to find it.”

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Na de eerste ronde zijn de indelingen voor de tweede ronde:

Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Balaram Stack (USA)
Heat 2: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Asher Nolan (USA)
Heat 3: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Keanu Asing (HAW)
Heat 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Bobby Martinez (USA)
Heat 5: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 6: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Gabe Kling (USA)
Heat 7: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 8: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Cory Lopez (USA)
Heat 9: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 10: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 11: Brett Simpson (USA) vs. Taylor Knox (USA)
Heat 12: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) vs. Daniel Ross (AUS)

Vandaag wordt er opnieuw gekeken of de condities goed genoeg zijn om het evenement ook vandaag door te laten gaan. De webcast en meer informatie: www.quiksilverpro.com