Getting Easter Sunday off was certainly a nice bonus for Kauai’s Sebastian Zietz, who is hoping to get his 2014 season on track during this week’s Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach. For the first time this year, Zietz was
Getting Easter Sunday off was certainly a nice bonus for Kauai’s Sebastian Zietz, who is hoping to get his 2014 season on track during this week’s Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach. For the first time this year, Zietz was able to skip past the second round by winning his first-round heat Saturday in Victoria, Australia.
Seabass was eliminated by Josh Kerr in the third round last year at Bells and was matched up with Kerr and Brazil’s Raoni Monteiro in their opening heat this time around. After the ocean had pumped out set after set in the first heat of the day – a Bede Durbidge win (15.77) – Mother Nature seemed to be catching her breath during the second. It would have been a restart if not for a small 2.67 wave Monteiro caught with about 22 minutes remaining. Zietz had an even more patient paddle and didn’t catch a ride until the clock had fewer than 13 minutes remaining.
In the context of this particular heat, the wait was worthwhile. The wave didn’t last long and only consisted of two turns, but a nice layback maneuver at the end earned a 4.00 from the judges and put Seabass into first place.
That remained his only score with less than eight minutes left and both Kerr and Monteiro had inched ahead, though they both needed two waves to do so. Another two-turn ride emerged for Zietz and it would have easily netted the highest score of the heat, but he came off his board at the end to earn just a 3.30. Nevertheless, it moved him back into first place.
Kerr had top priority and needed a 4.20 to move back ahead, but it was Seabass using his priority over Monteiro that may have gotten him the heat win. The Brazilian eyed a ride and began driving into what could have been a solid score, but Zietz plucked it away and turned it into the best score of the heat. He used a pair of turns and rode the lip to begin, then continued on to a reform section for three more turns, though he lost his footing at the end and wound up in the white water. The 5.33 moved him further ahead and forced Kerr to need a 6.23 to steal the win.
A small wave came through with less than a minute remaining and Kerr ran it as much as he could, but there weren’t enough scoring opportunities and Seabass held on for the victory. Skipping the second round guarantees at least an Equal 13th for Zietz. If he can start putting together some better results, he’ll be able to use his lesser finishes as throwaways come season’s end.
On the women’s side, round two got underway Sunday and Kauai’s Malia Manuel and Alana Blanchard each faced elimination heats after failing to win their first-round matchups. Manuel and Oahu’s Alessa Quizon were set to square off after also surfing against each other in their opening-round heat, which was won by Courtney Conlogue. Blanchard was slated to take on American Lakey Peterson.
The second round began after the men’s second round commenced. Results were unavailable as of press time.
For live coverage, tune to channel 250 or 1250 on Oceanic Time Warner cable or web coverage at www.aspworldtour.com.
