North Shore, Oahu, HAWAII Nov. 15, 2013 A late afternoon glass-off coupled with excellent overhead waves saw underdog Brazilian Jesse Mendes (world rank: 63) steal the show at the REEF Hawaiian Pro today, when he posted the highest 2-wave combination of the event: 17.9 points out of 20 (9.2 and 8.7). Mendes, 20, from Sao Paulo, was close to flawless on his backhand attack of the famously fun break of Haleiwa. Rounding out the top performances today were Ramzi Boukhiam (Marocco); Marc Lacomare (France); and Billy Kemper (Hawaii). Australians Yadin Nicol and Jay Thompson kept the flag flying for Australia. (Interviews with all these athletes can be found in VNR download links above.) Boukhiam, 20, posted the first perfect 10 of the event today. Maroccos only full-time professional surfer, he was runner-up in the ASP World Junior title two weeks ago and ran with the momentum today. Its more like the waves that I have at home, big right handers, so I feel confident here in Hawaii, said Boukhiam. My homeland is not an island and its cold water but its big waves like that so its kind of similar surfing, power surfing. No airs, just power surfing. Ive been coming here for a couple of years now. Ive started to feel more confident here in Hawaii and its a place I really like. On his perfect 10: It was a good wave, it was the second wave of the set so it was pretty clean. I just surfed it like nothing crazy but just did three good turns at the right spot. (The judges) liked it, they gave me a 10 so Im super happy with it. To do a 10 in Hawaii, super cool! Frenchman Marc Lacomare is hunting for a strong finish here. Ranked #31 on the world ratings, he has a chance to qualify for the 2014 elite World Championship Tour. He did exactly what was needed to further his cause today, posting a two-wave heat total of 17.47 points (9.3 and 8.17). The points here for the two Hawaiian stops - Haleiwa and Sunset - are really important for me, said Lacomare. There were lots of waves for everyone today, so we had the opportunity to surf and that is the most important thing. I hope to continue. Another athlete with a shot at qualifying is Californias Connor Coffin, 20 (world rank: 36). He advanced today in second place behind Yadin Nicol in a heat that didnt offer too many set waves. I got into the primes halfway through the year and got lucky, Ive been on a little roll the last couple of events, said Coffin. I was really stoked even to just be in the Triple Crown. Ive always wanted to surf these events. The more points I can get the better. I still need to move up four spots (on the ratings). Im not really thinking about it too much and my goals were just to be in the Primes next year. Im going to do my best, have fun and see where I end up after the (Vans World Cup) at Sunset. Hawaiis Billy Kemper from Maui was the top local in the Round of 96, scoring an even 17 points to easily advance. Driven to perform after a disappointing result in the HIC Pro at Sunset Beach last week, he drew upon all his local knowledge to trump his competition. But Kemper knows its way too early in the event to get too confident, with the top seeds set to enter the draw on the next day of competition. Its a big winter and I was kind of nervous after my shocker at Sunset in the 4-star and coming into this event, said Kemper. Im from Hawaii and growing up over here you dont really worry about who youre surfing against its more the ocean and finding your waves and I put in a lot of time over here and this is what I trained for and what I love to do. I dont really bother looking or care whos in my heat, Im just trying to go out there, have some fun, get some waves and put on a show.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 05:27:38 +0000
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