Preview
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
The Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast at Snapper Rocks swung into action Saturday in less than ideal conditions. A tropical low pressure system sitting just off the coast produced a bumpy three-foot swell with some heavy rain showers.
It certainly didn't deter the huge crowds that had come to see the heavyweights come out to play. That was the reality of the opening of the 2012 ASP season, unfortunately some of the players left the beach disappointed after their first day's results.
Two-time winner Joel Parkinson was relegated to round two by Adam Melling. Taj Burrow, last year's runner-up, also found himself in round two, as did Jordy Smith, Dane Reynolds, Julian Wilson and Gabriel Medina, who finished last in his first round heat.
Kelly Slater wasn't disappointed with his game plan today, nor were Owen Wright or Mick Fanning.
Slater probably summed it up best after his win over tour rookie Kolohe Andino and Quiksilver Trials winner Garrett Parkes.
"It didn't really matter who I had because I got the good waves," Slater said. "I think you'll see that from a lot of today's results. You watch the heats and see who won and how they won and it will be wave quality for the most part. You've just got to get your work done right away and there's no room for error. You can't catch a rail or bog a line. You really have to precisely stick every move you're doing. You've got to deal with that backwash too, which is a little tricky, but the waves are fun when you get them. And there are a few clean ones behind the rock and any wave that sucks out that much is going to have a glassy face even if it comes out of the deep chop."
Slater had scored one barrel from behind the Snapper Rocks that could easily have been the contest's first 10, but not all the judges agreed. Up until the last heat of the day, when rookie John John Florence racked up a combined two-wave heat score of 19.60 points out of 20, Slater had led the highest stat for the day with 18.80 points out of a possible 20.
Florence, who joined the world tour in last year's mid-year rotation and is still described as a rookie, was the only one of the new guys to win his heat. Gabriel Medina, who joined the tour at the same stage and has two major wins under his belt, didn't fire up Saturday. Neither did Yadin Nicol who was coming back from injury and was happy with his first heat in the big leagues.
"It was kind of frustrating to be honest," he said sitting on the sand amongst the crowd watching a heat. "I couldn't find any rhythm. It wasn't too bad on my nerves as I didn't really know what to expect of my first heat. I haven't really surfed much over the last six months but I felt good when I was out there and now I'm just excited to do it all again tomorrow."
In his first heat, Andino returned to the beach and grabbed another board from coach Mike Parsons. It looked as though he'd picked the wrong board but it was simpler than that.
"My pad slipped off," he said, "I stand right on my tail kick, like directly on it, so my pads always come off. I tried a bit of surgery on them earlier today and thought I had it figured out but on my first long wave I felt it go 'kink' and it moved and I had to grab another board which seemed to work better."
When asked how he felt about drawing Slater in his first heat, he just laughed and said, "Kelly is Kelly, so whatever. It's sort of a win-win for my first heat. If I lose then I get to surf again, if I win I beat Kelly, so it was cool and I was stoked. I would have preferred to have had my heat at high tide because there are more sections. Right now it is kind of pushing and I just knew that Kelly was going to get barreled."
Andino will surf against Brett Simpson in round two Sunday.
Round two is going to be a tough one for a lot of the top seeds. Everyone wants to do well in the first event of the year and the heavyweights that didn't get the results they expected today will be applying the pressure. With the swell expected to stay around for Sunday there is going to be plenty of action unfolding come rain or shine.
QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 1 RESULTS:
HEAT 1: Adriano De Souza (BRA) 13.83, Taylor Knox (USA) 10.66, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 7.70
HEAT 2: Owen Wright (AUS) 12.37, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.34, Kai Otton (AUS) 10.37
HEAT 3: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 11.63, Yadin Nicol (AUS) 10.37, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 9.60
HEAT 4: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 15.43, Taj Burrow (AUS) 11.43, Brett Simpson (USA) 11.27
HEAT 5: Adam Melling (AUS) 15.70, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.43, Dane Reynolds (USA) 14.90
HEAT 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.80, Garrett Parkes (AUS) 12.73, Kolohe Andino (USA) 10.60
HEAT 7: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 11.83, Julian Wilson (AUS) 11.83, Travis Logie (ZAF) 8.67
HEAT 8: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.00, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 11.96, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 11.60
HEAT 9: Heitor Alves (BRA) 14.36, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.17, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 10.87
HEAT 10: Michel Bourez (PYF) 12.77, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 11.67, Jadson Andre (BRA) 8.00
HEAT 11: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.26, Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.67, CJ Hobgood (USA) 11.84
HEAT 12: John John Florence (HAW) 19.60, Damien Hobgood (USA) 16.50, Tiago Pires (PRT) 12.50
QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
HEAT 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) VS. Garrett Parkes (AUS)
HEAT 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) VS. Dane Reynolds (USA)
HEAT 3: Gabriel Medina (BRA) VS. Yadin Nicol (AUS)
HEAT 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) VS. Kai Otton (AUS)
HEAT 5: Jordy Smith (ZAF) VS. Taylor Knox (USA)
HEAT 6: Alejo Muniz (BRA) VS. Travis Logie (ZAF)
HEAT 7: Josh Kerr (AUS) VS. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
HEAT 8: Damien Hobgood (USA) VS. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
HEAT 9: Jeremy Flores (FRA) VS. Jadson Andre (BRA)
HEAT 10: Kieren Perrow (AUS) VS. CJ Hobgood (USA)
HEAT 11: Bede Durbidge (AUS) VS. Tiago Pires (PRT)
HEAT 12: Brett Simpson (USA) VS. Kolohe Andino (USA)