Margies Kicks Off!

Taj Burrow of Australia (pictured) narrowly winning his Round 1 heat at the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro in Western Australia. PHOTO: WSL/ Sloane SOCIAL: @WSL @edsloanephoto This image is the copyright of the World Surf League and is provided royalty free for editorial use only, in all media now known or hereafter created. No commercial rights granted. Sale or license of the images is prohibited. This image is a factually accurate rendering of what it depicts and has not been modified or augmented except for standard cropping and toning. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

The Drug Aware Margaret River Pro, the third stop on the 2016 Samsung Galaxy WSL Championship Tour, kicked off this morning with Women’s Round 1 followed by Men’s Round 1 in 4 feet + (1.5 metre) clean waves at Main Break in Western Australia.

Matt Wilkinson (AUS), current Jeep Rankings Leader, continues to dominate on the 2016 CT as he defeat injury replacement Stuart Kennedy (AUS) and Dusty Payne (HAW) to advance to Round 3. Wilkinson came out the gates strong with a 7.17 point ride, and continued to better his two-wave score with a solid 5 point ride. Kennedy and Payne were not able to find big enough second scores to combat Wilkinson.

“This 6’1” board is feeling really awesome, but I just buckled it on my last ride, which is a bummer, but I am stoked to win that heat,” Wilkinson said. “I’ve got some other boards so I should be okay. Hopefully the lefts turn on a bit and I can find some barrels and do some big open face carves.”

Adriano De Souza (BRA), reigning WSL Champion, defeat Trails winner Jacob Willcox (AUS) and Keanu Asing (HAW) in Heat 7 of today’s competition. De Souza held the lead with two 6 point rides. Willcox fought hard to out surf De Souza, but was unable to find the 6.37 score required to beat the defending event Champion. De Souza will advance to Round 3, while Willcox and Asing will battle to avoid elimination in Round 2.

“I am so happy to make this heat especially because Willcox surfed so well and Keanu is a dangerous threat in any kind of conditions,” De Souza said. “I am happy to get these nerves out of my system and come back to the place that gave me a lot of happiness in the past. Now I am trying to find my rhythm and see if I can go far through this contest.”

Italo Ferreira (BRA), 2015 Rookie of the Year faced 2016 WSL rookie Kanoa Igarashi (USA) and event Wildcard Jack Robinson (AUS) in Round 1 Heat 4. Igarashi held control for a majority of the heat, but it was Ferreira who surged ahead of Igarashi by only 1.22 points in the last five minutes. Ferreira landed a massive air-rotation on his last wave, reminding the field of the innovative maneuvers in his arsenal.

“I am so happy that I got those last two waves,” said Ferreira after his heat. “In the first ten minutes I did not catch any good waves where Kanoa got two good waves. In the last few minutes I got two good waves and did a couple of turns and airs. It was ninja and then I was scared when I saw the rocks, but it was so fun.”

CT veteran Joel Parkinson (AUS) faced 2016 WSL rookies Conner Coffin (USA) and Ryan Callinan (AUS) in Heat 9. Coffin held control for most of the heat, but it was Parkinson who came back with a huge air that awarded him a 7.17 to win the heat and advance to Round 3. The rookies will compete in Round 2 to avoid elimination from the event.

“That was a really cool heat to surf against two rookies,” Parkinson said. “They are real eager and I was feeding off of their hunger. It was good to have two guys who are frothing on their first time on tour. I had about five different game plans going through my head and everything I tried to do I did the opposite. It’s one of those places where you have to adapt and surf to the conditions whatever way you can.”

Gabriel Medina of Brasil (pictured) winning his Round 1 heat at the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro in Western Australia. Italo Ferreira of Brasil (pictured) winning his Round 1 heat at the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro in Western Australia. PHOTO: WSL/ Sloane SOCIAL: @WSL @edsloanephoto This image is the copyright of the World Surf League and is provided royalty free for editorial use only, in all media now known or hereafter created. No commercial rights granted. Sale or license of the images is prohibited. This image is a factually accurate rendering of what it depicts and has not been modified or augmented except for standard cropping and toning. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Presumed 2016 Title contenders Julian Wilson (AUS), Gabriel Medina (BRA) and Nat Young (USA) also won their Round 1 match-ups and will compete in Round 3.

Courtney Conlogue of the USA (pictured) winning her Round 1 heat at the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro in Western Australia on Friday April 8, 2016. PHOTO: © WSL/ Sloane SOCIAL MEDIA TAG: @wsl @edsloanephoto This image is the copyright of the World Surf League and is provided royalty free for editorial use only, in all media now known or hereafter created. No commercial rights granted. Sale or license of the images is prohibited. This image is a factually accurate rendering of what it depicts and has not been modified or augmented except for standard cropping and toning. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Courtney Conlogue (USA), the current Jeep Ratings Leader, will advance straight to Round 3 after sending Alessa Quizon (HAW) and Trials winner Felicity Palmateer (AUS) to Round 2. Conlogue was able to find two solid waves to rack up a 13.40 two-wave combined score, earning her a 3.03 lead over Quizon.

“I have learned so much about my surfing and how to improve it at this wave,” Conlogue said. “I love how this venue is always changing. You never know what to expect coming here. You either get swell and amazing offshores or you get this wild, woolly condition. Everytime I come here is an adventure and you wake up and see what the day brings.”

Carissa Moore during Round 1 at the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro in Western Australia on Friday April 8, 2016. PHOTO: © WSL/ Sloane SOCIAL MEDIA TAG: @wsl @edsloanephoto This image is the copyright of the World Surf League and is provided royalty free for editorial use only, in all media now known or hereafter created. No commercial rights granted. Sale or license of the images is prohibited. This image is a factually accurate rendering of what it depicts and has not been modified or augmented except for standard cropping and toning. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Carissa Moore (HAW), three-time WSL Champion and last year’s event runner-up, charged through her heat, showcasing power, variety and speed against Sage Erickson (USA) andLaura Enever (AUS). Enever tried to combat Moore’s 15.77 two-wave combined score, but was not able to challenge with her pair of 6 point rides. Moore will advance to Round 3, while Enever and Erickson battle in elimination Round 2.

“I am happy where I am at right now, but of course I would have liked to have gotten a few spots better in the first two contests,” Moore said. “I like coming from behind and having something to chase. Seeing that target is exciting. I am happy to be here at Margaret River, the waves are fun.”

Nikki Van Dijk of Australia winning her Round 1 heat at the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro in Western Australia on Friday April 8, 2016. PHOTO: © WSL/ Sloane SOCIAL MEDIA TAG: @wsl @edsloanephoto This image is the copyright of the World Surf League and is provided royalty free for editorial use only, in all media now known or hereafter created. No commercial rights granted. Sale or license of the images is prohibited. This image is a factually accurate rendering of what it depicts and has not been modified or augmented except for standard cropping and toning. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Nikki Van Dijk (AUS) is off to a strong start in Western Australia, as she defeat Tyler Wright (AUS), current World No. 2, and Coco Ho (HAW) in Round 1. Van Dijk demonstrated strong performances in the last two events and continued the trend today by earning two 7 point rides. A dramatic finish left Wright under both Van Dijk and Ho’s priority. Needing a second solid score to defeat Van Dijk, Wright was tempted by a wave out the back. Van Dijk played defense and used her priority to also take off on the wave, leaving Wright with an interference call.

“That was the ultimate seal dive, I don’t even know what that was and want to go watch the replay,” Van Dijk said. “But other than that, I am happy to make the next round and I feel good out there. Margarets is definitely a really challenging wave, you never really know what it is going to do or what conditions you’ll get. I love that element, but I would love to win here and I will take it heat by heat.”

Local favorite Bronte Macaulay (AUS) defeat six-time World Champion Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) and Johanne Defay (FRA) in the last heat of Round 1. Macaulay, who gained entry into the event as an injury replacement, charged Main Break to wrack up a 14.60 two-wave combined score, leaving Gilmore and Defay in a combination situation. Macaulay will advance to Round 3, while Gilmore and Defay will battle to avoid an early elimination.

“I am feeling more and more comfortable with every heat I surf,” Macaulay said. “Being a local here, I do not feel any pressure at all. I appreciate the support and when you walk down the beach and see all these familiar faces, it means a lot to me that they are taking time out of their day to come and watch, so I just want to put a good performance out in the water.”

Event organizers will convene tomorrow at 6:30am local time for a possible 7am start.

The Drug Aware Margaret River Pro will be webcast LIVE on WorldSurfLeague.com as well as the WSL app.

The event is also being carried by our LIVE broadcast partners Fox Sports Australia, CBS Sports in the United States, ESPN Brasil, Globosat, Edgesport, Sky NZ, Sport TV, Canal + Deportes, Channel Nine, MCS, Starhub, and Oceanic Time Warner Cable 250 & 1250 in Hawaii.

For more information, log onto WorldSurfLeague.com

Drug Aware Margaret River Pro Women’s Round 1 Results:
Heat 1: Tatiana Weston-Webb (HAW) 13.60, Keely Andrew (AUS) 13.43, Bianca Buitendag (ZAF) 8.63
Heat 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 15.57, Malia Manuel (HAW) 13.67, Chelsea Tuach (BRB) 10.60
Heat 3: Courtney Conlogue (USA) 13.40, Alessa Quizon (HAW) 10.37, Felicity Palmateer (AUS) 9.43
Heat 4: Carissa Moore (HAW) 15.77, Laura Enever (AUS) 12.83, Sage Erickson (USA) 10.57
Heat 5: Nikki Van Dijk (AUS) 14.80, Coco Ho (HAW) 12.16, Tyler Wright (AUS) 8.77
Heat 6: Bronte Macaulay (AUS) 14.60, Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 7.77, Johanne Defay (FRA) 7.00

Drug Aware Margaret River Pro Women’s Round 2 Match-Ups:
Heat 1: Malia Manuel (HAW) vs. Keely Andrew (AUS)
Heat 2: Bianca Buitendag (ZAF) vs. Chelsea Tuach (BRB)
Heat 3: Tyler Wright (AUS) vs. Felicity Palmateer (AUS)
Heat 4: Johanne Defay (FRA) vs. Laura Enever (AUS)
Heat 5: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) vs. Coco Ho (HAW)
Heat 6: Sage Erickson (USA) vs. Alessa Quizon (HAW)

Drug Aware Margaret River Pro Men’s Round 1 Results:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.34, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 16.10, Alex Ribeiro (BRA) 5.43
Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 17.10, Adam Melling (AUS) 15.47, Kai Otton (AUS) 12.06
Heat 3: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 12.67, Stuart Kennedy (AUS) 9.17, Dusty Payne (HAW) 7.60
Heat 4: Italo Ferreira (BRA) 15.67, Kanoa Igarashi (USA) 14.54, Jack Robinson (AUS) 9.70
Heat 5: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 16.70, Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 12.27,  Davey Cathels (AUS) 10.16
Heat 6: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.10, Jacob Willcox (AUS) 12.40, Keanu Asing (HAW) 10.64
Heat 7: Michel Bourez (PYF) 14.14, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.04, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 13.13
Heat 8: Nat Young (USA) 15.93, Matt Banting (AUS) 15.53, Caio Ibelli (BRA) 14.60
Heat 9: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.84, Conner Coffin (USA) 11.26, Ryan Callinan (AUS) 10.50

Drug Aware Margaret River Pro Men’s Remaining Round 1 Match-Ups:
Heat 10: Kelly Slater (USA), Kolohe Andino (USA), Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 11: John John Florence (HAW), Adrian Buchan (AUS), Sebastian Zietz (HAW)
Heat 12: Wiggolly Dantas (BRA), Josh Kerr (AUS), Jadson Andre (BRA)

Fresh Tracks in Peru … Thanks To El Nino

 

El Nino was kind to Peru, big swells means opportunity to explore corners that are normally flat. Alvaro Malpartida and Cristobal de Col scored for their effort…

Peru

Radical Times – Jeremy Flores helps bring back surfing on Reunion

If you were to stand on the shoreline of Reunion Island’s ‘Boucan Canot’ beach today, it would be hard to imagine the crowded beach completely empty, however this was a reality only a few short months ago. 18 shark attacks over a five year period dramatically affected the Indian Ocean paradise both emotionally and economically.
“Reunion Island was an amazing place to grow up. It is where I caught my first waves and learnt to surf.” remembers Top 10 World Tour Surfer Jeremy Flores. “It’s paradise. But it’s also where I have lost some of my closest friends. When you look at the stats for shark attacks worldwide, what has happened in Reunion Island in the last 5 years is really heavy.”
These tragedies motivated Jeremy’s family to return to their homeland and embark on a campaign to protect the beaches that have given them so much. By winning a chair in the local council, Jeremy’s father Patrick Flores has been able to initiate a program of shark netting and surveillance that has helped Reunion’s beach lovers get back into the water.
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The campaign’s success has been noticed by shark affected communities worldwide including the recently tragedy­struck Ballina on Australia’s east coast.

“We just wanted to help the island, we did it for the community. If you look now the beaches are packed, the restaurants are packed and the surf schools are about to reopen…It has affected so much more than the surfers. On a recent trip home, Jeremy hosted the first surf competition in 5 years at the newly protected ‘Roche Noire’ beach. The day finished a huge success seeing generations of Reunion Island locals come together to celebrate change, progress, and most importantly the lives of those that will forever be missed.
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“This event was a big success. The ambiance and vibe was better than I expected. Everyone came together, from the youngest surfers to the oldest generation, all sharing waves…Surfing is so much more than a sport. It’s a way of living. A way of being close to nature and living with a passion. The adrenaline that surfing gives us, there is nothing like it. I don’t know what I would do without surfing. It’s the highest high.”

Jean da Silva's Ada Ombak & Some Indo Pointers…

Getting itchy feet for an Indo mission this season? Let Jean da Silva’s epic scores from last year inspire you. Just in case you are heading eastbound here’s a few pointers:

Fear The Walking Chafe

If you are a boy in Indo then you’ll be prone to a certain chafing in the nether regions. No one’s sure how, when or why it happens. It just creeps up on you. One day you’re fine. Next day it feels like someone crept in during the night and cattle branded your inner thighs. Right in that intimate, soft, tickly bit adjacent to the crown jewels. Which now basically feel like they’re on fire. From this point on regular ambulatory motion, otherwise known as walking, is not possible. Unless using an exaggerated wide cowboy gait. Like good ole’ John Wayne. Hence sufferers being pointed and laughed at with expressions like, ‘Oof! Look at matey he’s proper John Wayning.’
It’s savagely painful and quite distressing. Stings a tad when you get back in the brine also. Women. You don’t know how lucky you are*

Got The Horn?

In Indo the MOT consists of one test. It takes less than 10-seconds for the whole thing to be conducted. You drive your wagon into the drive thru test bay, the inspector reaches in, honks your horn once, just a quick beep, then gives it a long, aggressive five second blast. As long as it makes a noise and doesn’t sound like you are running over a dog’s chew toy then you pass. Good to go. Head back out in to the insane traffic. This is the only mandatory requirement for a vehicle in Indo. It can be a rusty death trap with no floor, that’s partially on fire, but that’s no matter. If your horn works you’re good to go. Equally being a paid taxi/bemo driver it seems the only thing you need to know is where the horn is (that and how to do the steering wheel mime and say ‘transport?’ to every tourist). All driving is based around it. This is why -with the exception of Portugal- Indo is the most terrifying place in the world to be in a vehicle. But it is arguably safer to get driven than try and drive; that is just crazy talk. As for mopeds. Unless you’re on the outer islands or have Carl Fogarty motorbike skills forget about it. Unless you don’t like your legs of course.
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Boat Safety?

Boat trips are great huh? Before you hit the Mentawai motherlode for the dream trip of dream trips how about a warm up? The classic Bali-Lombok-Sumbawa run, way cheaper, less crowded and some super cool waves like Deserts, Shippies, Scars and Supersuck to check out. Of course the boats are smaller, cheaper and more, errr, local. Wooden outriggers with one cabin that houses your bunks, kitchen and shitter are the norm. But they are a equal steps down in cost as they are in luxury from a Mentals charter. Proportionally they have less than a quarter (that’s a generous assessment) of the safety equipment as well. Life raft? Nope. Life jackets? Negative. Radio? Nah, well unless the car stereo jerry rigged to the electrics with exposed wires counts. First aid kit? What’s is thing you speak of? Any accident is fate and karma and just life innit?
In essence: way more fun. This is life on the edge of disaster. Anything goes wrong and you’re paddling your board away from the flaming, sinking wreckage of your own personal Titanic with a hell of a tale to tell, if, and when, you get home. Don’t smirk. It happens, a lot more often than you think.

Sea Ulcers Suck

Surfing in the tropics means one thing: pus dribbling wounds. If John Wayning wasn’t bad enough… The noble sea ulcer forms from any cut, nick or hint of a rub you have. Progressively getting worse until you really have to stay out the sea. There is actually an Indo based solution -a little bottle of purple juice you can only get in Indo chemists- called Gentian Violet. Makes ‘em heal, keeps them dry and is all round amazing. Only downside is you get permanent purple stains on your board, bed sheets, clothes, partner. This is no matter. You can still surf without them deepening and weeping until they touch bone.

*Prob best not to slather Gentian all over your nethers if you do have a savage case of the John Wayne’s. Nobody is going to believe your purple junk was a medical necessity.

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Radical Times: Gold Coast

They came from every corner of the globe. Boardriders united by the mountain and the wave. Traveling from Australia, America, Indonesia, New Zealand, Mexico, Hawaii, France, Morocco, Tahiti and Spain. 16 frothed-out international grommets here to share the line up with their heros. The future of Championship Tour surfing; Mikey Wright, Zeke Lau and Leo Fioravanti. Current World Title runners; Jeremy Flores, Matt Banting, Wiggolly Dantas and Kanoa Igarashi. The legends of the sport; Matt Hoy and Mark Richards, here to make sure surfing still has rock & roll. Power surfers, big wave surfers, and skaters who are now committed surfers… all on Gold Coast shores.

They came to get stoked and feel the high. The same high we all get from the ocean. The one we get from the cheer of the crowd or the hoot of a friend down the line, just as we drop in. And although the salt has washed off, the scaffolding has been pulled down, and the crowds are returning to normal, the buzz is still here…they were some Radical Times.

Footage: Vincent Kardasik | Jimmy Graham | Wade Carroll
Edit: Wade Carroll
Music: Hash Monster by Chesta Hedron – Nowave Studio Production

quiksilver.com/radicaltimes

Radical Times

Kanoa Igarashi by Ryan Miller/RBCP