It has been five years since Tahiti’s Michel Bourez scored the first major victory of his career here at the REEF Hawaiian Pro, but Haleiwa still holds a special place for him and continues to draw out his best. Despite unusually small surf for Hawaii at this time of year, Bourez put on a sterling performance today, closely followed by Dane Reynolds (USA), Adriano De Souza (Brazil), and Mick Fanning (Australia). The Reef Hawaiian Pro is the first of three events of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing hydrated by vitaminwater®.
Bourez topped the heat scores today with 18.47 points out of 20 (9.87, 8.6).
“It’s a really special place because it was the first time that I won, you know,” said Bourez. “Every year when I come back here I feel a good vibe, positive vibe, so that’s why I’m still here, every year.
“If you don’t win the world title the Triple Crown is the next trophy to get. It’s really something that everybody comes to Hawaii to win. It’s something really special for everyone, for sure.”
Dane Reynolds definitely looked interested and highly competitive today. His two wave total of 18.27 points out of 20 (9.47, 8.8) consisted of precise and powerful maneuvering on a board he shaped himself. Reynolds says he felt in tune from the moment he woke up today and it showed in his enthusiasm and energy on the water.
“I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t a walk over, you know?” said Reynolds.
“Definitely your first couple of waves matter a lot for confidence. I’ve just been surfing a ton of the North Shore. It’s only been in the last week my hand isn’t bothering me. I broke it about two and a half months ago, so I’m just trying to get lots of water time and feel confident on my surfboard. Surfing heats against really good surfers like that definitely will help you snap back into it quicker.
“Now that I’m finally pain free, I’ve been really, really psyched, surfing even one-foot (waves) and surfing three times a day. Just really enjoying surfing, it’s easy to do when the water’s warm and you’ve been surf starved for a while.”
With a full one week flat spell between the last day of competition and today, current world #1 Mick Fanning jettisoned back home for a brief Australian respite. It paid off, providing him with more surf than anyone here could find, keeping him fresh and sharp for his Vans Triple Crown campaign.
“Yeah, I actually flew home and was lucky enough that out front of my house there was a perfect little left – exactly the same as this, so I was actually training while everyone was here,” said Fanning. “It was good to take the dog down to the beach and hang out with the wife.”
“I guess that’s the excitement of (Hawaii), you never know what is going to come and it’s great to see the different range of surf and I think that’s why the Triple Crown is such a world class series. It’s such a range of different surfers who can really show their stuff. You wake up each day and get to be excited that you get to go surfing for a job. I’m just having fun and stoked to be competing back here, its been a few years since i’ve done the Triple Crown, so I’m just happy to be in Hawaii and surfing.”
As far as upsets go, Mitch Coleborn (Australia) suffered a slip today, finding himself completely out of rhythm in Reynolds’ heat. Coleborn currently holds the last qualification position for 2014. Hot on his heels is Dion Atkinson, who advanced today and now has the opportunity to take over Mitch’s position.
“I’m trying to treat it like any other event through the year and there’s been a lot of events lately which have been pretty stressful, these last four in particular,” said Dion.
“I feel like if I get the waves I’ll keep getting through, so I’m just trying to focus on that.”
The REEF Hawaiian Pro will crown its champion around midday tomorrow, running from the quarter finals through to the final. Following that, the action will relocate to Sunset Beach for the Vans World Cup of Surfing.
RESULTS:
Round of 32
(1st & 2nd advance; 3rd=17th; 4th=25th)
H1: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 15.43pts ; Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 13.60pts ; Dylan Goodale (HAW) 12.00pts ; Nat Young (USA) 11.50pts
H2: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 14.03pts ; Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 12.93pts ; Tanner Gudauskas 12.50pts ; Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) 11.27pts
H3: Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.07pts ; Yadin Nicol (AUS) 14.50pts ; Dale Staples (ZAF) 14.40pts ; Filipe Toledo (BRA) 12.10pts
H4: Dane Reynolds (USA) 18.27pts ; Matt Banning (AUS) 18.10pts ; Mitchel Coleborn (AUS) 14.07pts ; Travis Logie (ZAF) 9.26pts
H5: Dion Atkinson (AUS) 14.84pts ; Nathan Yeoman (USA) 14.07pts ; Cooper Chapman (AUS) 10.87pts ; Miguel Pupo (BRA) 10.76pts
H6: Adriano De Souza (BRA) 17.93pts ; Evan Valiere (HAW) 16.13pts ; Jadson Andre (BRA) 14.57pts ; Leandro Usuna (ARG) 13.90pts
H7: Michel Bourez (PYF) 18.47pts ; Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 13.30pts ; Adam Melling (AUS) 13.17pts ; Mason Ho (HAW) 12.87pts
H8: Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.84pts ; Hodei Collazo (EUK) 13.10pts ; Jesse Mendes (BRA) 12.63pts ; Wade Carmichael (AUS) 7.97pts
The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing hydrated by vitaminwater® is the world’s premier series of professional surfing events that will culminate with a 2-man battle between Kelly Slater (USA) and Mick Fanning (AUS) for the 2013 men’s ASP World Title. From November 12 through December 20, on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, $960,000 in prize money and a number of highly coveted titles will be offered across three ASP sanctioned events, including the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing series champion.
The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing is made possible with the support of vitaminwater®; Truth; Firefox; Samsung Galaxy; GoPro; Turtle Bay Resort; Hawaiian Airlines; Clif Bar; WaveJet; JN Automotive Group; Oceanic Time Warner Cable; Surfing Magazine;Surfline.com; the Association of Surfing Professionals; Hawaii Tourism Authority.