The Billabong Pro Tahiti, Stop No. 7 of 11 on the 2016 Samsung Galaxy WSL Championship Tour (CT), recommenced today with the 12 heats of Round 2 completed in challenging three-to-five foot (1 – 1.5 metre) conditions at Teahupo’o.
Matt Wilkinson (AUS), current Jeep Ratings Leader, survived elimination in Round 2 against event wildcard Hira Teriinatoofa (PYF). Teriinatoofa took control of the heat with a 6.43 and a 7.07, but Wilkinson fired back with an excellent 8.00 barrel ride. Teriinatoofa, needing a 7.11, had one last opportunity in the dying seconds of the heat, but could not finish the ride to challenge the Australian. Wilkinson will advance to Round 3 where he will surf against Bruno Santos (BRA) in a heated Round 1 rematch.
“I came into Tahiti really psyched,” said Wilkinson. “I went out yesterday and John John [Florence] was in the heat before mine and he got some absolute nuggets. When I went out for my heat, I was so psyched but there was not a proper set in the heat and it was low-scoring. Bruno [Santos] got me and it was frustrating. Going in this morning, I knew it was small and slow, but when they come, there are still some beautiful tubes. I wanted to put some pressure on him. I got that one set that sealed the deal, so I am stoked.”
2016 WSL Rookie Alex Ribeiro (BRA) upset the competition today as he dispatched reigning WSL Champion Adriano de Souza (BRA). The heat saw low scoring rides, but the rookie stayed busy catching eight waves to the veteran’s three. With three minutes left in the heat, Ribeiro took the lead. De Souza only needed a 3.24 to regain control, but fell on his takeoff. De Souza will be eliminated in equal 25th place, his first Round 2 loss this year. The victory marks Ribeiro’s first Round 2 win of the 2016 season.
“I feel happy and stoked to make my heat today,” Ribeiro said. “The conditions out there were really hard. We were waiting and waiting, but there were no barrels coming. Luck was on my side and I am happy to make the next heat. I felt pressure going against Adriano [de Souza] because he is one of the best competitors in the world. The conditions were difficult and I knew I had to maximize my opportunities.”
“The waves are tricky today, but that is no excuse because we are professional athletes,” said De Souza. “We have to perform when it is amazing and when the waves are bad. We have to deal with whatever the ocean brings us. I will go back home and study what I did in this heat and come back strong for Lowers. Well done to Alex [Ribeiro]. He surfed well and best of luck to him and the rest of the team from Brazil.”
Keanu Asing (HAW) eliminated local favorite Michel Bourez (PYF) in Round 2 Heat 3. Asing got to work early in the heat with big carves and snaps to earn a 9.67 two-wave combined heat score. Bourez found a solid tube to earn a 5.70 and counter the Hawaiian. As the time wound down, Bourez searched for a section up the reef for the 3.97 needed to advance. Bourez was not able to find the required score. Bourez will leave the event with a 25th place finish, his worst result this season.
“I am glad I got a heat win,” said Asing. “You have to be smart out here when the conditions are like this. I was against Michel Bourez, who is the Tahitian prince out here. The whole channel is filled with Tahitians rooting for him, but I have to do what I have to do to stay on the CT. Whether I am doing bad on the rankings, I am just trying to do my best. I’ve come here to give it all that I have.”
Joel Parkinson (AUS) blazed through his heat against WSL rookie Jack Freestone (AUS)with a 14.00 combined score. Parkinson, former WSL Champion and event runner-up, posted a 6.67 and 7.33 to dominate the heat. The CT veteran will advance to Round 3 where he will face rookie Kanoa Igarashi (USA), who closed out the last heat of the day against Miguel Pupo (BRA).
“The last few years I have done pretty well here,” Parkinson said. “A couple of heat misses, but that is always expected, especially when conditions are like this. Teahupo’o is one of those places where you have to get in a good rhythm with it. It was hard to do in that heat but I just kept busy. I saw some bomb waves that came through, but just missed them. It is hard going against Jack [Freestone] because I watched him grow up and climb through the ranks. He is someone who I hope to pass the baton to, push and watch him do well.”
Heat 4 saw a heated battle between Julian Wilson (AUS) and 2016 WSL Rookie Ryan Callinan (AUS). Callinan put up a tough fight against Wilson, locking in one of the highest single wave scores of the day, an excellent 8.17. Wilson fired back with clean turns to earn a strong 7.17 and 6.67. On his last attempt, Callinan needed a 5.67, but just fell short with a 5.33. Wilson took the win by a narrow 0.34 margin over the rookie and will advance to Round 3.
“There are not that many opportunities out there and I just really wanted to start my heat well,” Wilson said. “Ryan [Callinan] took a few at the start and we were out of position for the best wave of the heat. I just had to wait for something that looked substantial and where I could get a barrel. That was a great heat against Ryan, who has been performing well all year. He is a good guy and I wish him all the best in the next event. I was happy to get away with a close one against a great competitor.”
Dusty Payne (HAW) scored the highest heat score of the day, a 14.27, which included the critical 7.10 that knocked out rookie Conner Coffin (USA) in the dying seconds of Heat 11. Payne will advance to Round 3 where he will face Josh Kerr (AUS), who won Round 2 Heat 9 against Stuart Kennedy (AUS).
“It probably was an exciting heat to watch,” said Payne. “Conner [Coffin] had a couple of good waves and I had a couple of good ones. We kept going back and forth. I made a priority mistake after going on that one wave and got an upper-cut to my chin. I am so stoked that last wave came. I was not sure if it would be a good barreling wave and it held open. Luckily I was able to sneak in.”
When competition resumes, up first will be Italo Ferreira (BRA) up against Keanu Asing (HAW) in the opening heat of Round 3.
Surfline, official forecasters for the Billabong Pro Tahiti, are calling for:
Stronger SSW swell looks likely to fill in Monday PM and into Tuesday with favorable winds and conditions. Surf eases Wednesday and Thursday. An increase in windswell and swell mix is possible for Friday and into next weekend but local wind conditions look poor at this point.
Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. local time for a possible 7:35 a.m. start.
BILLABONG PRO TAHITI ROUND 2 RESULTS: Heat 1: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.17 def. Hira Teriinatoofa (PYF) 13.50 Heat 2: Alex Ribeiro (BRA) 6.23 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 5.70 Heat 3: Keanu Asing (HAW) 9.67 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 8.57 Heat 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.84 def. Ryan Callinan (AUS) 13.50 Heat 5: Matt Banting (AUS) 10.93 def. Caio Ibelli (BRA) 8.33 Heat 6: Jadson Andre (BRA) 10.43 def. Filipe Toledo (BRA) 6.63 Heat 7: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 11.17 def. Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 6.23 Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14.00 def. Jack Freestone (AUS) 2.03 Heat 9: Josh Kerr (AUS) 12.17 def. Stuart Kennedy (AUS) 11.00 Heat 10: Nat Young (USA) 11.40 def. Davey Cathels (AUS) 10.10 Heat 11: Dusty Payne (HAW) 14.27 def. Conner Coffin (USA) 13.74 Heat 12: Kanoa Igarashi (USA) 14.34 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.33
BILLABONG PRO TAHITI ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS: Heat 1: Italo Ferreira (BRA) vs. Keanu Asing (HAW) Heat 2: Kolohe Andino (USA) vs. Adam Melling (AUS) Heat 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Matt Banting (AUS) Heat 4: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA) Heat 5: Nat Young (USA) vs. Kelly Slater (USA) Heat 6: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Bruno Santos (BRA) Heat 7: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Alex Ribeiro (BRA) Heat 8: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW) Heat 9: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA) Heat 10: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA) Heat 11: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Kanoa Igarashi (USA) Heat 12: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
The shortboard WQS finals went down on Saturday. The “challenging” surf of the early days was banished with a fresh, fun swell filling in to level the playing field. Huge congrats to Brit riders Jobe Harriss who made the quarters and Peony Knight who made the semis.
The victors were, not entirely unsurprisingly ex-WCT surfer Claire Bevo, and up and coming Aussie Shane Campbell. Commiserations to Angelo Bonomelli who had a final of contrast. Got a 10 and an interference call… Ouch. Apparently Shane and the Aussie crew made the most of the festival at Watergate that night in celebration.
WSL PRESS RELEASE
Claire Bevilacqua and Shane Campbell have won the Boardmasters, Cornwall today in good three-to-four foot surf at Fistral beach. Competition resumed early this morning and ran through the remaining rounds of the men and women’s QS competitions to culminate with the crownings of Bevilacqua & Campbell this afternoon.
The most form surfer of the entire event, Claire Bevilacqua (AUS), 33, opened her final count with a good wave on her forehand, and performed two solid turns on the outside before wrapping things up in the shorey for a 6.83 and a commanding lead. Ariane Ochoa (EUK), 18, tried to answer quickly but failed to perform on her first couple of attempts.
The young Basque didn’t lose faith and continued to scour the lineup for better opportunities, picking a nice right-hander as well to perform three solid backhand hacks for a 6.90, placing her right back in the game. In the meantime, Bevilacqua found another good wave for a 6.00 to extend her lead. Despite multiple efforts from Ochoa, Bevilacqua had built a sufficient lead and walked away with the win.
“I’m just really in disbelief, this whole week is gone so fast, we had beautiful weather and good waves and yeah I’m super happy, this is a dream and I love England, I can’t wait to come back !” an ecstatic Bevilacqua stated. “I’m going to compete in the European leg, this is a bit of a working vacation to see how I went and how it felt to come back on tour with a new approach and no pressure.”
“I’ve felt really good leading up to this event, I’ve been training and I’m just feeling really strong and confident in my surfing so I figured why not give it a go and try to make some points and money !” she continued. “I’m doing this for fun, I love surfing with the younger girls they push me and make me try really hard, it’s just all really positive.”
With her excellent runner-up spot today, and an event win previously achieved in Galicia, Ochoa continues to climb through the ranks and takes pole position in the European title race, overtaking compatriot Garazi Sanchez-Ortun (EUK) in the process.
“I’m super happy but I really wanted to catch that one wave I was missing,” she reflected. “Sometimes things don’t go your way and that’s just the game, but I’m super pleased with my result. It has been a really good week with my sister and her boyfriend supporting me every day. I’m loving it here. Hats off to Claire, she ripped the whole event so she deserved it !” Peony Knight (GBR), 18, claimed the host country’s best result today, with an excellent equal 3rd finish, falling just short of her season’s second final appearance. The young junior with an already solid resume on her local and national tours is quickly improving and could become Britain’s new threat in future seasons.
“I’m really happy, conditions were tricky and I had a really tough draw so I’m pleased with that result,” she commented. “I’m starting off this season well and we have a few more comps coming this summer so it’s a bit of a confidence boost and I’m going to just go for it now.”
In the men’s event, a busy start to the big final saw Shane Campbell (AUS), 21, and Angelo Bonomelli (ITA), 25, exchange a lot of waves right off the buzzer. The Australian, Campbell, got the edge with a 6.33 over Bonomelli low score and took an early lead.
With about ten minutes remaining in the battle, the Italian started on a wave as Campbell with priority opted to go as well, and was given a interference as judges deemed he altered his opponent’s wave scoring potential. With only one score then counted in his total, Bonomelli’s chances for the win were instantly reduced to none.
Despite the unfortunate incident, Bonomelli continued to surf and started on a long left-hander he absolutely destroyed with speed, power and flow, claiming the first and only perfect 10 point ride of the event.
Campbell improved his own situation with solid surfing on his forehand and finally claimed the Boardmasters title as the final horn sounded.
“There’s no better feeling, this is my first QS win and I’m really stoked, I haven’t even made the quarters on the QS before so to get into the man-on-man rounds and win is amazing,” he said. “It’s unfortunate what happened in the final, you never want to win or lose on an interference, and when it happened I thought it could go either way. I’m with the whole Australian crew here and we’re going to go out and celebrate at the festival tonight !”
The unfortunate Italian, Bonomelli claims a career-highest second place result in Newquay, and will be looking to keep the ball rolling as he heads to France for the next two QS events of the region’s summer leg.
“It’s really emotional to get to my first ever final, especially considering the general level in this event everyone surfed so well,” he commented. “I had a lot of fun, and even though I’m obviously disappointed about losing this way, but the scores I got are really encouraging and I hope I can continue and avoid this kind of mistake in the future..”
Men’s European QS: (post Boardmasters, Cornwall)
1 – Jonathan Gonzalez (CNY)
2 – Jorgann Couzinet (REU)
3 – Gony Zubizarreta (ESP)
4 – Andy Criere (FRA)
5 – Pedro Henrique (PRT)
The Boardmasters, Cornwall are scheduled from August 10-14, 2016 at Fistral Beach, Cornwall – England. For all results, photos, video highlights and press releases, log on to worldsurfleague.com.
The Boardmasters, Cornwall are supported by Surfers Against Sewage, Carve Mag, Corona, Relentless, Cornish Orchid, The Stable and MagicSeaWeed among others.
While we’re busy as hell finishing off the next issue of the mag Boardmasters has kicked off. Here’s the results from yesterday. More coverage once we’ve got this sucker off to the printers.
Boardmasters, Cornwall, launched its world famous international surf competition today in wind-affected two-foot surf at North Fistral Beach with the opening two rounds and first four heats of Round 3 of the men’s QS division completed while the women and longboard divisions were called off for the day. Boardmasters festival runs from 10-14 August across two sites in Watergate Bay and Fistral Beach, Cornwall. More informationwww.boardmasters.co.uk.
Angelo Bonomelli (ITA), 25, was the form surfer of this opening day of competition in Newquay, with two dominant wins and the highest scores and totals seen so far in the event. The Italian, who has been a little competition-shy in recent years and is only participating in his first WSL event this season, definitely came out swinging and will look to build on his momentum when the event resumes.
“I haven’t had a main sponsor for a while and traveling to all the events is pricy so I’ve been staying in Costa Rica lately doing local comps there mainly,” he explained. “I’m going to do this coming leg though and look forward to compete again in France, Spain and Morocco maybe. Last year I came to surf here at Boardmasters and got injured right after the event unfortunately, which ended my season. This time I’m feeling much better, I’ve trained a lot and am confident to do well.”
Japan’s Daiki Tanaka, 18, came a close second for the day’s highest single-wave score, a near-excellent 7.83 for a combination of good, powerful hacks on a little Fistral runner. In his first season traveling outside his Asian region, Tanaka looked relaxed and stoked to perform in a foreign environment.
“I got a couple good waves it wasn’t too bad and I’m super happy to get a good start in that event,” Tanaka stated. “This is my first time visiting England and competing outside of Japan, I’ll head to France after here and I’m exciting to see all these different places. I’m traveling with a good crew of Japanese guys and staying with my dad in a house nearby so I’m having a great time.”
Portuguese young up-and-comers Luis Perloiro (PRT), 18, and Tomas Fernandes (PRT), 20, also had a good start to their Cornish campaign, making it to the fourth round with solid heat results. The pair will look to confirm their good form in the last four-man matchups in Round 4 before the event moves to the all-exciting man-on-man format.
“I was expecting to surf more lefts as they seemed much better when I looked before my heat but surprisingly I got my two best scores on the rights, as soon as I paddled out I saw three roll through and positioned myself for them,” Perloiro said. “I’m doing all the junior events and small QS so there are a lot of events at the moment in Europe and it’s great to gain experience and try to get a few points.”
“I couldn’t be happier to have such a good start cause conditions were definitely not easy so to find a few decent waves and surf them well is a great way to start,” Fernandes added. “I was here six years ago for the King of the Groms and I’m happy to be back, it’s a cool place, a little cold for me but I’m having fun.”
Local pro surfer Luke Dillon (GBR), 21, is one of five British surfers to survive the first day of competition at Fistral and will try to fly the red and white English flag all-the-way into the finals when competition is called back on. The talented and powerful regular-footer, who is currently in his best season amongst the Qualifying Series crowd, belted a couple of solid results early in 2016 internationally and will represent the host country’s strongest chance of a title this week.
“I’m really glad the Boardmasters is back to be a QS again this is great for all the British surfers to see what the QS level is and for me cause I live just on the other side of the beach and I’ve been surfing here since I was like seven years old,” he commented. “I got a few good results in Australia and Europe and am super motivated to keep getting results and building on my rankings. It’s looking like we’re going to get good waves towards the weekend and good weather so I look forward to compete again and make a few more heats. I’ve got a lot of friends here who go and enjoy the music festival as well, but I’ll try to be serious, watch some of the acts and still go to bed early to stay in good form in this event.”
As the surfing event wrapped up, the music took central stage to launch the festival with 3-time surfing World Champion Tom Curren playing tonight at the Beach Sessions on Fistral beach.
More information on the full festival lineup is available at boardmasters.co.uk
The Boardmasters are supported by Carve Mag, SurfGirl, Surfers Against Sewage, Corona, Relentless, Cornish Orchid, The Stable among others.
Full reuslts below:
REMAINING BOARDMASTERS MEN’S QS RD3 MATCHUPS:
Heat 5: Tristan Guilbaud (FRA), Bruce MacKie (BRB), Che Allan (BRB), Lens Arancibia Avila (FRA)
Heat 6: Chris Friend (AUS), Alan Stokes (GBR), Monty Tait (AUS), Jake Marshall (USA)
Heat 7: Angelo Bonomelli (ITA), Shaun Burns (USA), Luke Dillon (GBR), Louis Gillick (AUS)
Heat 8: Jared Hickel (AUS), Kit Innes (GBR), Jayce Robinson (GBR), Arthur Lassee (FRA)
BOARDMASTERS MEN’S QS RD3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Tomas Fernandes (PRT) 9.46, Jobe Harriss (GBR) 8.77, Pedro Coelho (PRT) 7.90, Kai Awada (JPN) 6.90
Heat 2: Facundo Arreyes (ARG) 12.77, Jackson Giles (AUS) 9.83, Charly Quivront (FRA) 9.57, Harrison Mann (AUS) 9.43
Heat 3: Cody Robinson (AUS) 13.96, Shane Campbell (AUS) 10.36, Edouard Delpero (FRA) 8.66, Joss Ash (GBR) 7.07
Heat 4: Luis Perloiro (PRT) 9.83, Daiki Tanaka (JPN) 7.90, Jakob Lilienweiss (DEU) 6.84, Nate Dorman (USA) 5.33
BOARDMASTERS MEN’S QS RD2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Tomas Fernandes (PRT) 12.63, Facundo Arreyes (ARG) 9.83, Oli Adams (GBR) 6.30
Heat 2: Kai Awada (JPN) 11.00, Jackson Giles (AUS) 10.90, Liam Murray Strout (GBR) 6.14, Patrick Langdon-Dark (GBR) 5.37
Heat 3: Charly Quivront (FRA) 12.06, Jobe Harriss (GBR) 10.06, Liam Turner (GBR) 8.90, Arran Strong (GBR) 6.70
Heat 4: Harrison Mann (AUS) 8.47, Pedro Coelho (PRT) 8.10, Greg Urata (USA) 5.33, Will Bailey (GBR) 3.77
Heat 5: Cody Robinson (AUS) 12.84, Jakob Lilienweiss (DEU) 9.80, Ian Costa (BRA) 9.37, Gearoid McDaid (IRL) 7.66
Heat 6: Edouard Delpero (FRA) 12.44, Nate Dorman (USA) 9.83, Harry De Roth (GBR) 9.06, Jack Coombs (GBR) 8.73
Heat 7: Luis Perloiro (PRT) 13.60, Shane Campbell (AUS) 13.37, Matthew Chapman (JEY) 9.00, Harry Timson (GBR) 7.60
Heat 8: Daiki Tanaka (JPN) 14.33, Joss Ash (GBR) 10.74, Fraser Dovell (AUS) 8.00, Max Payne (GBR) 6.20
Heat 9: Tristan Guilbaud (FRA) 10.67, Chris Friend (AUS) 9.47, Alex Bauduin (CNY) 8.90, Axe Garrett (BRB) 5.93
Heat 10: Bruce MacKie (BRB) 12.43, Alan Stokes (GBR) 9.30, Miles Lee Hargreaves (GBR) 7.86, Kairi Noro (JPN) 7.40
Heat 11: Monty Tait (AUS) 11.90, Che Allan (BRB) 10.73, Joshua Braddock (GBR) 9.00, Hodei Collazo (EUK) 8.63
Heat 12: Jake Marshall (USA) 11.70, Lens Arancibia Avila (FRA) 9.34, Rhys Barfield (GBR) 7.03, Kasperi Turkia (FIN) 4.80
Heat 13: Angelo Bonomelli (ITA) 12.34, Jared Hickel (AUS) 10.50, Ian Fontaine (FRA) 7.90, Dylan Groen (DEU) 7.63
Heat 14: Shaun Burns (USA) 10.70, Kit Innes (GBR) 9.53, Sam Harwood (GBR) 8.50, Remi Petersen (NLD) 6.87
Heat 15: Jayce Robinson (GBR) 12.20, Luke Dillon (GBR) 12.14, Tad McCardell (USA) 5.90, Angus Scotney (GBR) 0.77
Heat 16: Arthur Lassee (FRA) 12.66, Louis Gillick (AUS) 10.97, Jack Keenan (GBR) 6.34, Tom Boelsma (NDL) 6.03
BOARDMASTERS MEN’S QS RD1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Facundo Arreyes (ARG) 9.00, Patrick Langdon-Dark (GBR) 5.53, Joshua Hughes (GBR) 5.50
Heat 2: Liam Turner (GBR) 9.40, Will Bailey (GBR) 9.27, Russel Winter (GBR) 7.24, Alex Ashen (GBR) 3.67
Heat 3: Ian Costa (BRA) 10.50, Jack Coombs (GBR) 6.80
Heat 4: Matthew Chapman (JEY) 9.16, Max Payne (GBR) 7.70, Pepijn Tigges (NDL) 4.97
Heat 5: Axe Garrett (BRB) 8.97, Miles Lee Hargreaves (GBR) 7.76, Cieran Hughes (GBR) 4.27
Heat 6: Hodei Collazo (EUK) 12.87, Rhys Barfield (GBR) 7.44, Mason Alderman (GBR) 4.00
Heat 7: Angelo Bonomelli (ITA) 14.93, Sam Harwood (GBR) 6.40, Steve Ley (GBR) 2.63
Heat 8: Jayce Robinson (GBR) 11.94, Tom Boelsma (NDL) 6.60, Noah Biersack (GBR) 5.46
UPCOMING BOARDMASTERS MEN’S LQS RD1 MATCHUPS:
Heat 1: Emilien Fleury (FRA), Louis Thomas Hudson (GBR), Jordan Zervas (GBR)
Heat 2: Josh Le Marquand (JEY), Robin Henry (FRA)
Heat 3: Martin John (GBR), Stephan Hudson (GBR)
Heat 4: Ben Howey (GBR), Edward Wilson (GBR), Toby Lowe (GBR)
