BELLS BEACH, Australia — The opening 10 Round 1 heats of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach presented by Snickers were completed Saturday afternoon, states a press release from the Association of Surfing Professionals. Despite the shifty two-to-three foot peaks
BELLS BEACH, Australia — The opening 10 Round 1 heats of the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach presented by Snickers were completed Saturday afternoon, states a press release from the Association of Surfing Professionals.
Despite the shifty two-to-three foot peaks on offer at Rincon, the world’s best surfers unleashed a barrage of high-performance talent.
Event No. 2 of 10 on the 2010 ASP World Tour, the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach finally commenced competition Saturday after the completion of the women’s event (won by reigning three-time ASP Women’s World Champion Stephanie Gilmore, 22).
After being put on hold for four and a half days, the greatest assemblage of surfing talent in ASP history injected a fury of hi-fi surfing into Bells Beach.
Kaua‘i’s Andy Irons, 31, a three-time ASP World Champion, saw a ferocious return to form, besting new-school American phenom Dane Reynolds, 24, and 2010 ASP Dream Tour rookie, American Nate Yeomans, 28, in the opening heat of competition.
“It feels great, it’s been a long week of just getting up early like a fire drill but it’s just something I do here,” Irons said. “I want to be ready for that and having Dane (Reynolds) and Nate (Yeomans), I really respect their surfing. Dane is one of my favorite guys to watch and to get a win over him, it feels awesome.”
Taking a year-long sabbatical from full-time competition in 2009, Irons returned to the singlet in the opening event on the Gold Coast, finishing equal 17th.
Clearly unhappy with his performance at the season opener, a rejuvenated and explosive Irons turned up at Bells Beach, dominated the shifting right handers to the tune of 14.17 out of a possible 20.
“The ASP gave me the opportunity to take last year off and I took it,” Irons said. “It’s an amazing job, but surfers do get burnt out and it did happen to me. I really got to have a little time off, watch the contests from home and I realized how much I missed it. To be out at Snapper and see how good the surfing came up in the last year and a half, I had to go back into training and get my boards dilated out and now I’m way more motivated for this contest.”
A former two-time winner at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, Irons has amassed an impressive 19 elite tour victories, and will be eyeing No. 20 at the Rip Curl Pro.
“It’s always that one extra,” Irons said. “I’d love to get 20, but I’m pretty proud of my 19. I’m going to try my hardest to get another one.”
Australia’s Joel Parkinson, 28, defending Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach winner and 2009 ASP World Runner-Up, navigated the late afternoon conditions beautifully, posting the day’s high heat total of a 16.00 out of a possible 20. Despite being the defending champ, Parkinson remains calm and collected heading into the remainder of the event.
“I don’t feel any pressure as there’s been a lot of events since then,” Parkinson said. “I definitely appreciate the confidence that I have from winning last year. In these conditions, you just try to survive your heat, do what you can and hope the opportunity comes to you and that you would do enough to win.”
Brazil’s Adriano de Souza, 23, was the standout of the round, executing a series of powerful turns and progressive aerials to net an impressive 15.07 out of a possible 20 to advance directly into Round 3.
“I feel great,” De Souza said. “First heat here at Bells and I win it, so I’m really proud because I came to work on this event two weeks before the start. I wanted to have a good heat in the beginning. The conditions are not really good, but I’m proud of my surfing and my boards are working really good as well, so I’ll just keep going and hope that this event is going to put me in the Top 5 again.”
American Kelly Slater, 38, nine-time ASP World Champion, is surfing with renewed fervor this season, easily winning his opening-round heat at Bells Beach. The iconic Floridian has been characteristically guarded when discussing his plans for the season, but the potential to clinch an unprecedented 10th ASP World Title is a motivation.
“Obviously didn’t get the result I was looking for on the Gold Coast but it’s a long year ahead,” Slater said. “I’m taking it event by event, but the title is always the goal. We’ll see how it pans out.”
Also claiming Round 1 victories were fellow Australians, reigning two-time ASP World Champion Mick Fanning, 28, and current ASP World No. 1 Taj Burrow, 31, among others.
Event organizers will reconvene Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m. to assess conditions for a possible 8 a.m. start.
When competition resumes, up first will be South Africa’s Jordy Smith, 22, American Patrick Gudauskas, 24, and Australian Jay Thompson, 27, in Heat 11 of Round 1.
Highlights from the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach presented by Snickers will be available via www.live.ripcurl.com.
