France is crap

Three heats of round two were run in pussy little waves last night before it was give up as a joke. After a day of massive close outs the next day was small close outs.

If this is what a "Dream Tour" venue looks like maybe Bunbury should be part of the tour. We've got beaches full of close outs everywhere and if you come in winter you can get shore breaking, mud coloured barrels as well.

King of the Groms continues at the moment in pretty average surf. Apparently the swell  is due to kick at the same time as the storm that makes it hits the coast.

Quikie Pro France

The Quiksilver Pro has started in France but went on hold after six heats to wait for the tide.

Luckily round one is non-elimination with three of the heats being won with scores under 11, including Taj. Mick Fanning won with a 13 but his competitors got 2.24 and 1.96. Even Slater was only able to manufacture a heat total of four ! This might be the reason the contest went on hold.

The waves in France are always crap, always. Just messy, tide effected close out beach breaks. It does make heats a bit of a lottery and the best surfer doesn't always win.

There is the usual webcast and on FuelTV for those with Foxtel.

Kelly Slater has won the Hurley Pro again beating Bede Durbridge and adding $100 000 loose change to his wallet.

The win puts him into first place and drops Jordy to second. Taj got fifth after lacking a decent backup against Dane Reynolds.

The next event starts in France in six days and is followed up by the Portugal and the Search.

HURLEY PRO TRESTLES FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Kelly Slater (USA) 18.13
2 – Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.13

HURLEY PRO TRESTLES SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.87 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 10.43
SF 2: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.67 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 9.63

HURLEY PRO TRESTLES QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) 12.60 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 8.20
QF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.03 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 15.97
QF 3: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.27 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 11.87
QF 4: Dane Reynolds (USA) 14.80 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 12.90

HURLEY PRO TRESTLES ROUND 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 13.76 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 10.50
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.10 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) N/S
Heat 3: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.40 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 7.47
Heat 4: Dane Reynolds (USA) 12.04 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 10.73

ASP WORLD TITLE RACE TOP 5 (After Hurley Pro at Trestles):
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 40,000 pts
2. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 35,500 pts
3. Taj Burrow (AUS) 30,500 pts
4. Dane Reynolds (USA) 30,250 pts
5. Mick Fanning (AUS) 29,500 pts

Last Day in the USA

Tonight will finish off the Hurley Pro at Trestles. Last night round three and the new non-elimination three man round four. Winners in round four go straight to the quarters with the rest into one of the four round five heats. This means that you can lose twice and still win, provided you lose in the right rounds. I don't like it but can see how the sponsors and spectators could see the benefit of the better surfers being in the water longer.

The waves were great. If J-Bay is the wave you surf in heaven, Trestles would be the back up for when you want to bust out a few different moves.

Probably the best exchange of the day was Jordy v Brett Simpson. Jordy pulled off a massive air rotation before a few hacks and finishing with a Superman. Brett followed on the next wave with two massive airs but was easily beaten.

HURLEY PRO TRESTLES ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.20 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 8.16
Heat 2: Chris Davidson (AUS) 12.17 def. Andy Irons (HAW) 12.00
Heat 3: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 13.13 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.54
Heat 4: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 13.50 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 13.06
Heat 5: Owen Wright (AUS) 14.93 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 10.67
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.50 def. Gabe Kling (USA) 12.67
Heat 7: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.87 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 12.93
Heat 8: Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.57 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 12.83
Heat 9: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.60 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 6.63
Heat 10: Dane Reynolds (USA) 18.50 def. Luke Stedman (AUS) 10.96
Heat 11: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 15.17 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 11.24
Heat 12: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.87 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 12.87

HURLEY PRO TRESTLES ROUND4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.30, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 14.00, Chris Davidson (AUS) 12.33
Heat 2: Owen Wright (AUS), 17.20, Kelly Slater (USA) 15.37, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 12.27
Heat 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.60, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.16, Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.26
Heat 4: Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.60, Dane Reynolds (USA) 16.40, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 7.97

HURLEY PRO TRESTLES ROUND5 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. C.J. Hobgood (USA)
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Chris Davidson (AUS)
Heat 3: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)
Heat 4: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)

HURLEY PRO TRESTLES QUARTERFINAL MATCH-UPS:
QF 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. TBA
QF 2: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. TBA
QF 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. TBA
QF 4: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. TBA

Round Two done

Overnight they finished the second round of the Hurley Pro, finally dumping the losers. From the heats on demand they waves looked okay but must have been too inconsistent to justify starting round three. There is still meant to be a bigger swell on the way.



HURLEY PRO TRESTLES REMAINING ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 6: Owen Wright (AUS) 11.00 def. Luke Munro 10.60
Heat 7: Tiago Pires (PRT) 12.16 def. Daniel Ross (AUS) 9.26
Heat 8: Dusty Payne (HAW) 13.50 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 12.00
Heat 9: Adam Melling (AUS) 12.40 def. Tom Whitaker (AUS) 6.34
Heat 10: Taylor Knox (USA) 14.50 def. Roy Powers (HAW) 7.83
Heat 11: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 13.60 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 9.17
Heat 12: Luke Stedman (AUS) 12.70 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 11.60
HURLEY PRO TRESTLES ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 2: Andy Irons (HAW) vs. Chris Davidson (AUS)
Heat 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 4: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 5: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Gabe Kling (USA)
Heat 7: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 8: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)
Heat 9: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Taylor Knox (USA)
Heat 10: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Luke Stedman (AUS)
Heat 11: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 12: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)

Hurley Pro Starts

The first event under the new format, the Hurley Pro at Upper Trestles has started while we slept. I did watch the first two heats live on Fuel TV. The waves look typical, foggy, glassy and fun. It is definitely a wave you would love to surf but without the usual massive crowd.

The new format still  has a non-elimination round one. Dane Reynold's looked like he really didn't want to be in his first heat but tried a bit harder to win his round two heat. Most of the names got through, including Taj Burrow but in round two Fredie P and Bobby Martinez have both been eliminated.

Surfline are calling a big swell from down near New Zealand to hit during the waiting period. But they were optimistic about Chopes !

HURLEY PRO TRESTLES ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Chris Davidson (AUS) 13.33, Dane Reynolds (USA) 12.94, Luke Munro (AUS) 10.33
Heat 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.50, Adam Melling (AUS) 14.46, Brett Simpson (USA) 13.83
Heat 3: Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.40, Taylor Knox (USA) 13.30, Travis Logie (ZAF) 13.04
Heat 4: Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.10, Gabe Kling (USA) 12.67, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 11.70
Heat 5: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.16, Rob Machado (USA) 11.47, Kai Otton (AUS) 9.67
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 13.27, Luke Stedman (AUS) 10.10, Kolohe Andino (USA) 8.43
Heat 7: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 13.50, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.26, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 12.93
Heat 8: Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.24, Daniel Ross (AUS) 15.23, Bobby Martinez (USA) 13.33
Heat 9: Jadson Andre (BRA) 17.03, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 11.46, Dusty Payne (HAW) 8.10
Heat 10: Andy Irons (HAW) 15.04, Tiago Pires (PRT) 12.57, Tom Whitaker (AUS) 5.23
Heat 11: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 14.47, Owen Wright (AUS) 13.66, Roy Powers (HAW) 8.50
Heat 12: Damien Hobgood (USA) 12.93, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 12.67, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 11.26

HURLEY PRO TRESTLES ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Dane Reynolds (USA) 17.70 def. Kolohe Andino (USA) 11.10
Heat 2: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.33 def. Rob Machado (USA) 10.77
Heat 3: Gabe Kling (USA) 12.17 def. Bobby Martinez (USA) 11.44
Heat 4: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 12.16 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 9.93
Heat 5: Brett Simpson (USA) 10.93 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 10.77

HURLEY PRO TRESTLES REMAINING ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 6: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Luke Munro
Heat 7: Tiago Pires (PRT) vs. Daniel Ross (AUS)
Heat 8: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 9: Adam Melling (AUS) vs. Tom Whitaker (AUS)
Heat 10: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Roy Powers (HAW)
Heat 11: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 12: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Luke Stedman (AUS)

AI wins in Tahiti

Andy Irons won the Billabong Pro as most of us would have been eating breakfast. On the last day of the waiting period there were some nice wave, if a little windy and small. However there were plenty of little barrels and Kelly Slater got yet another 10 in his quarter final and the wave deserved every point with him taking off late under the lip, freefalling, almost losing balance and then slotting deep and long. He even looked back after coming out clean.




Andy was a deserved winner after surfing well all event and getting through some close heats after losing in round one. I've never rated AI. His stance is ugly and his feet are to far apart, he claims to often and was consistently over scored during his world champ years. He has then had the advantage of a guaranteed wildcard after his contest hiatus, something that wasn't extended to Tom Curren, Occy or Slater. However he has been working very hard with Parko and his trainer to get back in the game and his wife is pregnant. In what looked like an honest pre-event interview and in his interview with GT in the channel after the final, Andy showed a new maturity and self-awareness that wasn't there in the past. In the past he has been huge in the Europe and Hawaiian legs so at number 7 he is still in the title hunt. However he is already carrying his throw away events and can't afford any slip ups.

Slater has jumped up to second while Taj stays at third and Jordy at one.The tour has been trimmed in size with the two "injury wildcards" announced today. Kierran Perrow and Gabe Kling will stay on tour due to their early season injuries. We can also expect to continue to see Tom Whitaker and Dean Morrison for most of the rest of the season as a replacement for Parko, who isn't expected back before Hawaii and Kai Otten who has a serious spine injury.

The next event is in the US at Trestles. Not long to wait as it starts on the 12th.


BILLABONG PRO TAHITI FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Andy Irons (HAW) 14.67
2 – C.J. Hobgood (USA) 8.33

BILLABONG PRO TAHITI SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 15.00 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 12.93
SF 2: Andy Irons (HAW) 13.57 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 10.26

BILLABONG PRO TAHITI QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 14.53 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 6.23
QF 2: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 11.80 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 11.33
QF 3: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.67 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 12.77
QF 4: Andy Irons (HAW) 16.44 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 11.00

BILLABONG PRO TAHITI ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 13.50 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 9.67
Heat 2: Tiago Pires (PRT) 14.83 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.83
Heat 3: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 10.00 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 1.10
Heat 4: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 10.00 def. Manoa Drollet (PYF) 5.37
Heat 5: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.70 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 8.43
Heat 6: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 16.67 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 8.83
Heat 7: Andy Irons (HAW) 14.17 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.07
Heat 8: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 17.00 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.66

CURRENT ASP WORLD TITLE RACE TOP 5 (After Billabong Pro Tahiti)
1 – Jordy Smith (ZAF) 30,250 pts
2 – Kelly Slater (USA) 30,000 pts
3 – Taj Burrow (AUS) 25,250 pts
4 – Dane Reynolds (USA) 23,750 pts
5 – Adriano de Souza (BRA) 23,250 pts

Round Three

Round three has been done after two and a half days of surfing. Today's waves were pretty marginal and that is why it was only a short day.

In good news for Taj, Jordy was also taken out by Manoa Drollett. While this will probably be a throw away for Jordy, it also means he doesn't get away from his clutches. On the bad side both Slater and Mick Fanning are into round four. Slater has last event runner up Adam Melling, while Mick is against Andy (who won his heat by a fraction of a point).

Highlight of today is Pat Gudauskas pulling off a rodeo clown in his heat. While this gives an indication of the wave quality it is also claimed to be the first in a WCT event. However Pat pulled another (smaller) flip at a WQS event in the Maldives last year.




The end of round three also marks the end of this year's dream tour for 13 surfers.

- Drew Courtney (AUS), 31
- Neco Padaratz (BRA), 34
- Tanner Gudauskas (USA), 22
- Mick Campbell (AUS), 34
- Kieren Perrow (AUS), 33
- Tom Whitaker (AUS), 30
- Kekoa Bacalso (HAW), 25
- Blake Thornton (AUS), 25
- Dean Morrison (AUS), 29
- Jay Thompson (AUS), 28
- Nate Yeomans (USA), 29
- Ben Dunn (AUS), 24
- Marco Polo (BRA), 29

Tanner has had one of the shortest CT careers so far only lasting half a season, although it is not really his fault. Most of the rest have had a decent run. Deano, Mick Campbell and Kieren Perrow would have probably had a good shot at requalifying in a full season and have always been highly competitive. Looking at the list there is no real duds other than Neco and Marco Polo whilst people like Travis Logie are still there.