RIP CURL PRO PENICHE WQS 1 star April 15, 2005 Two rounds held in an amazing wind but in more consistent conditions .
Inspite the appearently better conditions, the 25 minute deciders did not see any big scores for the first heats of the day. Standing in the wind, the competitors spent hours watching the reefbreak today but couldn't manage once they were at the peak ; with 5+ pointers maximum, the promissing Hodei Collazo (Esp) followed portuguese Flavio Aecio struggling with the whitewash at the impact zone, and managed to overtake Jean-Jacques Billard's (Fra) assaults. Heat 3 finished in a different way as Kevin Olsen (Fra) brought together style and power to get the highest total of the contest so far, with 15.17 pts. With an 8.17 after showing an vertical re-entrie on the last section of the wave, he secured his lead with a 7 pointer, leaving his opponents more than 6 points away ; In heat 4, yesterday's second best scorer Txaber Trojaola (Esp) seemed on fire and just ripped the lefthader with three radical cutbacks on the critical parts of a 3ft + wave. Romain Laulhé (Fra) didn't wait long to answer and as six minutes were remaining before the hooter spoke, he took off on 4ft wave, joining two big snaps and a re-entrie on the closing section coming towards him. Rewarded with a 5.67, he rose from the fourth to the second position. Leaving no break, Asier Munian (Esp) decided to take care of the situation for the last 3 minutes but saw Jose Gregorio (Prt) hitting the lip three times in a row, boucing from one section to the other to get a victorious 8.07 and secure the first place. The pressure continued to rise as this year's World Junior Championships semifinalist and 2004 european junior champion Marlon Lipke (Deu) got in the water, facing another promissing Rip Curl's rider Abdel El Harim (Mar). Using his experience to wait for the right waves, Lipke took his time leading the heat with only one wave for the first ten minutes. Then, as an experienced professional surfer he has become now, he secured the win of the heat with two solid vertical re-entries on the outside section of the lefthander and saw his efforts rewarded by a 7.67. Nuande Silva (Bra), one of the four brazilians of this WQS, sneaked his way out of the 25 minute decider, advancing to the next round leaving El Harim (Mar) and Almeida (Prt) disappointed. 2004 european champion Justin Mujica (Prt) entered the water for heat 6. With the swell pumping regularly since the morning and some peaks reaching 5 feet, the surfers were still facing very strong winds in the middle of Baleal's bay. Nothing impressive came out as the sets were changing a little, the low tide influencing the evolution ; inspite his recent recovering from a knee injury, last year's champion managed to get enough points to get through the round, sides to sides with Carlos Lima (Bra), second representent of the brazilian contingent in the round of 32. Christophe Allary (Reu), far from his local warm conditions, showed his adaptation skills and started with a vertical re-entrie followed by a big powerful snap on the lip of the closing section ; looking confident in these cold conditions, the surfer from Reunion Island got a 5.33 then a 4.43 and led the heat as ten minutes were remaining. Experienced Sam Carrier (Fra), with well known technical and physical aptitudes, seemed lost at the ouside ; struggling against french charger Simon Marchand (Fra), who recently surfed the heaviest session of the winter at La Nord, Hossegor, had difficulties to express his talent and to find the right positionning. Calmly but nontheless sure of himself, Marcos Anastacio (Prt) managed to add a 6.67 to his 4 pointer thanks to two cutbacks and an up-side down snapped re-entrie at the inside, grabbing by the way the leadership. In his yellow flashy wetsuit, Grégory Pastuziak (Fra) who had shown yesterday great power in the messy 2 to 3 ft waves, confirmed his determination to make something here in Peniche ; starting with a 6.67 after ripping a solid 4 ft lefthander and hitting the lip at its most critical moments, he secured his lead with three on-fire and fins out re-entries ; given a 7.83 as eleven minutes were remaining, he had done the job as his first follower needed 9 points. Former WCT member Eric Rebière (Fra) then found a few good ones, just enough to get second with a 7.67 and a 3.67 behind promissing and inform Rip Curl rider Steven Pierson (Pyf) who had no shame beating up his elder opponents with style. Heat #10 saw the qualification of longtime competitor Fredo Robin (Reu) and his amazing backside style near perfection ; the former ISA #2 took advantage of his experience to choose the best position and secure his place in the round of 32 with two waves of more or less 5 points. Another favourite set the tone with the best total of the contest so far ; with an 8.33 and a 7.50 rewarding his smooth style and efficiency in these difficult conditions, Aritz Aranburu (Esp) prooved once more his determination after last month's win in Tapia, in Spain. Aranburu seemed confident and surfed relaxed but with power, using his talent to smuther his english speaking opponents, two aussies and an american, Nick Coghlam (Aus) taking the best of the cold weather for a total of 14 points and a ticket for the next round. After his 2004 season was stopped by a knee injury as he was in the top 10 of the WQS, Patrick Beven (Fra) is back on tour to evacuate last year's frustration. With his fellow countryman Fabrice Gelez (Fra), the two surfers faced a good resistance against Nuno Silva (Bra) and Brad Ettinger (Usa). Beven just rocked the area with his personal style, showing great comitment on every section he could hit. From large roundhouse cutbacks to big snaps achieved with speed and power, the frenchman was clearly ahead, which is really encouraging. The battle kept on up to the last minute of the heat, when Fabrice Gelez (Fra) managed to get the four points he needed to place second eliminating Nuno Silva (Bra). After former world junior champion Gonzalo Zubizareta (Esp) qualified thanks to good positioning and choice of waves, veteran Dider Piter (Fra) could not make it towards tomorrow's finals, whereas the famous surfer from Canarian Islands Jonathan Gonzales after a struggling heat, managed to reach next round. Round of 32 rocked by top seeds and massive 5ft waves . The round of 32 started at 5.15 pm, last round before the surfers get money for their performances in this contest. With all of the pretendants to this year's crown, the ocean began to offer solid 4 to 5ft sets, breaking further and further from the beach, and giving the surfers the opportunity to rock the scene. Pablo Gutierrez (Esp), getting an 8 pointer after taking off on 5ft set wave, continued his path relaxed with style ; mixing classic turns and newschool upside-down re-entries, the spanish “matador” left his first follower more than 3.5 points away, whereas Hodei Collazo (Esp) was eliminated by portuguese jose Gregorio. Marlon Lipke (Deu) found again the right sport wearing the red singlet, and added an 8 and a 7.33 to leave all of his three opponents in the need of a combination of two waves to get first place ; just better was the german !! The first big upset was about to come when experienced european champion 2004 Justin Mujica (Prt) found a lefthander from the outside and connected all the sections up to the shore as one minute was remaining ; taking care of his speed, his style and his technical skills, he scored the third best wave of the contest as the judges rewarded him with 8.90 points, more than the 7.4 he needed to regain second qualifying position ; what a show !! One of the big surprise of the day came with the elimination of Fredo Robin (Reu), who finished third behind an in-fire 20 year old Steven Pierson (Pyf) who once again explained clearly with his surfing that he has now the shape and skills to be dangerous in front of anyone, after his first place in the round before against Eric Rebière (Fra). With great slahes at the end of each of his manoeuvers, the Rip Curl team rider joined his team mate Gutierrez with a total of 15.17 points, without being worried at anytime. Eric Rebière (Fra) then confirmed his intentions as well, with two 8+ waves, leaving the Basque surfer Aritz Aranburu (Esp) third in a big battle heat. Tanio Barreto (Bra) holding high the colours of his country on these cold european shores, got second with style, less than two points away from the winner, with a mature surfing and well chosen position at the outside. Then everything went on fast as we were heading to the last heat of the day. Heat #7 was a big clash between strong and powerful surfers, including Patrick Beven (Fra), Goni Zubizareta (Esp) and Jonathan Gonzales (Cny). Answering one another on the sets' waves, the pressure stayed up to the last seconds when Beven, needing a 7 pointer to take the lead, just scored 7.40 for three amazing manoeuvers all in power, showing the fins to the sky once and ending at the inside with a vertical re-entrie. Followed by canryan surfer Gonzales, they will surf tomorrow as well in the quarters. Tomorrow will be ran the quarters, semis and finals of this WQS 1* Rip Curl Pro event here in Peniche. If the conditions allow it, we will be surfing at supertubos to experience some show and perfect surfing. For the moment, this 10 hour day of competition is over so don't forget to connect to our website first thing tomorrow. I hope you're enjoying the coverage. Obrigado. Grégoire Puget / aspeurope.com |
The 1* WQS Rip Curl Pro started again this morning at 9.15 am with the first heat of the round of 64 ; in 3 to 4 ft messy but still consistent peaks, former european champion Pablo Gutierrez (Esp) seized the opportunity to get through against two portuguese and one american surfer Jason Griffith (Usa). With a lot of sections closing out, the job was hard for the openers of the day, as the waves were allowing a maximum of two powerful manoeuvers that obliged the competitors to battle for the best positionning at the outside. Leaving the water after showing he was just warming up with short but radical re-rentries, Gutierrez (Esp) seemed to feel good with his backside surfing.