The waves were bigger and better today, around 3ft and mostly clean, which gave the surfers a lot more wave to play with and saw the stronger seeds fully dominate the contest. The waves were so damn good the organisers decided to run the quarters too, so we had a whole day of top class wave-dancing to gaze wistfully at. The locals are especially excited about the prospect of an all French semi between Justine Dupont, who rode amazingly against Kelia Moniz, just beating her in the last two minutes and Coline Menard from the Reunion Island. The other semi sees the former champ Jenn Smith against Chelsea Williams, who’s looked one of the strongest surfers so far.
The semis should kick off just after 11am, with the finals hitting later in the day. The sun is out and the storm clouds have left us for now. Will Justine rise to the cheers of the home crowd and be the first European to take this title? We kinda hope so. Though we also love Jenn Smith’s style and Chelsea’s power and Coline’s surfing too, it’s a tricky one and definitely too close to call.
Heat 1: Justine Dupont (FRA) Vs Coline Menard (REU)
Heat 2: Chelsea Williams (AUS) Vs Jennifer Smith (USA)
In other news I had the best surf ever yesterday, well maybe not ever but certainly in a long while, which more than made up for the sketchy display the day before. The waves were clean with a chilled take-off so I managed to catch quite a few sweet ones, and though I got nicely pummeled a few times my good ride to wipeout ratio was high! And even though it was crowded the locals were super-friendly with not a hint of agro. I’ve totally remembered why I love surfing so much and I’m hoping for more of the same today.
The only slight downer was the full on we storm we had in the evening that caused the Santigold concert to be cancelled, as the beach was getting battered. Gutted.
Anyway this was the day’s scorecard:
ASP ROXY WWLC ROUND 2 RESULTS
Heat 1: Justine Dupont (FRA) 16.00 pts Def. Yoko Furuchi (JPN) 8.50 pts
Heat 2: Kelia Moniz (HAW) 10.75 pts Def. Leah Dawson (USA) 10.30 pts
Heat 3: Geodee Clark (HAW) 8.90 pts Def. Rachel Barry (USA) 7.10 pts
Heat 4: Coline Menard (REU) 10.70 pts Def. Summer Romero (USA) 9.15 pts
Heat 5: Chelsea Williams (AUS) 13.00 pts Def. Isabelle Braly (AUS) 6.75 pts
Heat 6: Kassia Meador (HAW) 9.25 pts Def. Miku Uemura (HAW) 8.05 pts
Heat 7: Jennifer Smith (USA) 13.75 pts Def. Kelly Nicely (USA) 10.90 pts
Heat 8: Julie Cox (USA) 7.15 pts Def. Yuko Shimajiri (JPN) 5.25 pts
ASP ROXY WWLC QUARTERFINALS RESULTS
Heat 1: Justine Dupont (FRA) 15.50 pts Def. Kelia Moniz (HAW) 11.65 pts
Heat 2: Coline Menard (REU) 9.25 pts Def. Geodee Clark (HAW) 8.55 pts
Heat 3: Chelsea Williams (AUS) 12.50 pts Def. Kassia Meador (USA) 12.15 pts
Heat 4: Jennifer Smith (USA) 12.50 pts Def. Julie Cox (USA) 10.65 pts