Waves and Scores rise at the World Masters Surfing Championships day two
ISA World Master Surfing Championships
January 22nd, 2007
Rincón, Puerto Rico
The best Masters surfers of the World went back to the water today as the Porta del Sol ISA World Masters Surfing Championships kept going on another sunny day at Domes Beach with waves that went from three to four feet in the morning to perfect six to eight faces by the last heats of the day, making it difficult for some surfers to show their talent. Main event round two took place today as well as the first of the repercharge of the three divisions –Masters, Grand Masters and Kahunas-. Surfing level was outstanding today, with great waves, higher scores came along.
First three heats of the day showed that veterans are here to fight for the title; the winners -John McCarty from South Africa, Wagner Pupo from Brazil and Noel Chave from Tahiti- scored more than 14.00 points on their each two best waves.
The greatest was Chave who scored a total of 17.00 points, surfing the second highest single wave of the championship up to now, a 9.25 in a right he filled with maneuvers from the outside to the shore. Once out of the water the Tahitian said: “I found a great 9.00 points wave that got me all the way to the shore line, I was lucky to find that one. The Championships are great but the level of competition is fierce and all these surfers are really good. Anyway, I hope to get to the finals.”
On the Grand Masters division, the main event’s best performance was again made by the South African David Malherbe and the second best by the Peruvian Magoo de la Rosa. Malherbe surfed with clean lines that ended up with explosive moves; he got 16.25 to beat Brazilian Carlos Santos –second-, the South African Craig Simms –third- and French Jean Louis Poupinel –fourth-. As for Magoo, he printed his typical radical style and with three strong moves per wave he got 15.75 beating Hector Gonzalez from Puerto Rico –second-, Heinere Paez from Tahiti –third- and Daz Wright from England -fourth-.
After his great heat, the South African commented: “The heat was great, right now I feel really good. I simply hope things to keep going like this. There’s still a long way to go, the competition is hard, and I’m very proud of getting another first place.”
On the other hand, de la Rosa declared: “I am very happy because the waves are better and that assures my surfing. In my heat I was determined on finding good waves and on being as radical as possible; it paid off in the end.”
As for the Kahunas, South Africans also made the difference, Chris Knutsen and Rudi Plamboom got the highest combined scores of their Qualifying round two heats. Knutsen -48-, a well-known surfer back in the 70s and 80s, scored 15.25 beating Dominican Robert Reid –second-, local Wilfredo Caban –third- and the Peruvian Javier Huarcaya –fourth-.
“Today I felt better than yesterday; the waves have improved so much, therefore now I can surf the way I know. I was lucky to find some good waves and that’s how I got the first place. It’s fantastic to be here and meet old friends that were at the World Championships back in the seventies. Puerto Ricans are incredibly nice people and have treated us great. I wish for the waves to keep coming so we can give a good show at the end of the championship”, said the South African surfer after his excellent performance.
Once the Kahuna’s heats were over, the repercharge started. Surfers proved wrong the so-called “losers round”. On the Masters, Luigi de Marzo and German Aguirre both from Peru, and the Dominican Robert Reid scored 11.00, 14.15 and 15.15 respectively and won their heats. Reid stood out with a great backhand approach, combined a strong off the lip that almost made him lose control but came back up with a layback, for then get in the barrel and kept going up to the shore to get an 8.5.
A great surprise took place in the Grand Masters repercharge heat one, with the Peruvian Jorge Pozo surfing the best wave of the championship up to now -9.4-. Pozo performed great in an almost double overhead wave, with good line and large bottom turns, doing three strong off the lips. The Peruvian backed up his points with a 7.00 to get the highest combined score of his division.
By the end of the day, the waves turned huge. At the Kahunas’ repercharge, some competitors never got to the line up and ended up riding white water in the shore. This was not the case of Luis Salvador from Ecuador who performed great off the lips to score 14.5 on his best two waves.
While the fight is getting tougher, the favorite nations started to lose athletes. Right now, none of the countries keep all their competitors in the main event, all of them have someone on the repercharge and others are out of the championship. Out of the 18 participants who remained undefeated, we have: four from South Africa, three from Tahiti, three from Brazil, two from France, two from Dominican Republic, two from Puerto Rico, one from Peru and one from England. Nevertheless, any competitor in the repercharge has the same chances to win.
Considering the wave quality at the end of the day and the forecast for tomorrow, it is likely that the contest will take place on the second podium, at Marias Beach, where conditions definitely will be better.
Tomorrow at 8:00 AM the third day of competition will start, main event round three will take place and also the repercharge second in all its divisions.
The on-line broadcasting wasn’t available today one more time for extraordinary reasons; the Organization Staff apologized for this and invites you all to follow the best Masters of the World tomorrow, live from Rincon, Puerto Rico.
ISA Porta del Sol World Masters Surfing Championship is possible thanks to the support of the Tourism Company of Puerto Rico, Heineken, Villa Cofresi, Ricoh, Entertainments and Sports Department, El Nuevo Día, Nido companies, Sprite, 103.7 FM, One Link Communications, Choice Cable TV, Liberty Internet, rad!, The Room and Rincon of the Seas. It is organized by the Puerto Rico Surf Federation and supervised by the International Surfing Association.
About International Surfing Association (ISA)
The International Surfing Association (ISA) is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the World Governing Authority for surfing, bodyboarding and surfriding. It was originally founded as the International Surfing Federation in 1964 and has been running World Championships since 1964 and the Junior World Championships since 1980.
ISA membership includes the surfing National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of over 50 countries on six continents. Its headquarters are located in San Diego, California. It is presided by Fernando Aguerre, first elected in 1994 in Rio, and re-elected five times since. The ISA's four Vice Presidents are Robin de Kock (South Africa), Alan Atkins (Australia), Maile Aguerre (Hawaii) and Mike Gerard (USA).
Pablo Zanocchi –on site at Puerto Rico-
ISA WMSC Media Manager
pablo@isasurf.org
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