LIHU‘E — It was not a stong day for Kaua‘i surfers, and Hawai‘i surfers in general, as the Open Men’s division continued at the 2010 U.S. Open of Surfing, Wednesday in Huntington Beach, Calif. When action began, 96 surfers were
LIHU‘E — It was not a stong day for Kaua‘i surfers, and Hawai‘i surfers in general, as the Open Men’s division continued at the 2010 U.S. Open of Surfing, Wednesday in Huntington Beach, Calif.
When action began, 96 surfers were still alive in the competition with 24 four-man heats on tap for the second round. Among them were Andy Irons, Roy Powers and Sebastian Zietz.
But none of those three will be back in the water when the Round of 48 gets underway, all falling victim to their respective elimination heats.
Irons scored just four waves, none of them providing any point potential as he ended his heat with 4.00 points and a fourth-place finish. Americans Cory Lopez (12.93) and Nate Yeomans (12.20) finished first and second, respectively, while Brazil’s Marcio Farney (8.90) was eliminated in third.
In the round’s next heat, Zietz also saw his event come to an end, though he put up the heat’s highest single-wave score with a 7.50. He was unable to add a second score at the end that would put him in the top two, finishing with a 10.70. Brazil’s Jadson Andre finished first with a 12.16, while South Africa’s Damien Fahrenfort made it through with an 11.44 total.
Powers was knocked out in the final heat of the day, taking fourth with a 7.80 tally in a heat won by Hawai‘i’s Mason Ho (14.33).
Ho, along with Granger Larsen — who again had the highest heat total of the day (15.83) — Kiron Jabour, Olamana Eleogram and Kekoa Bacalso are the only Hawai‘i representatives still in the event, each into the Round of 48.
“I wanted to get a wave right on the bell and was able to get a warm-up wave,” Larsen said. “It wasn’t one of my scores, but it helped me build confidence. Then I got that six and that seven and all of a sudden that set came at the end and I got an eight.”
Sunny Garcia, Dusty Payne and Fred Pattacchia were each eliminated, Wednesday.
There were several ASP Dream Tour competitors who made early exits at the hands of young talent in the peaky two-to-four foot surf.
Brazil’s Willian Cardoso, 24, current No. 34 on the ASP World Ranking, charged to a come-from-behind victory by catapulting from last to first by blasting the day’s highest single-wave score of 9.00 out of 10 before snatching one of the day’s highest heat totals of an impressive 15.50 out of 20, all within the last five minutes of his heat, to eliminate Pattacchia, currently ranked 15th in the ASP World Title Race.
Evan Geiselman, the current ASP North America Pro Junior Series ratings leader, also had his hand in issuing a major upset by defeating his Floridian idol, former ASP World Champion and U.S. Open of Surfing Champion C.J. Hobgood, 31.
“That was the biggest heat of my life surfing against C.J. (Hobgood) and beating him,” Geiselman said. “Being from Florida, he’s someone that I’ve looked up to. I was just stoked to have a heat with him but I’m really happy to have won it.”
Thiago Camarao, 22, was another dark horse who played a role in generating the list of ASP Dream Tour upsets. Like Geiselman, the young Brazilian also took to the air to eliminate progressive mastermind and ASP Dream Tour rookie, Lahaina’s Dusty Payne, 21.
“This event is very important because all of the best surfers in the world are here,” Camarao said. “I really try to just focus on myself though. I go out there and just try to have a good surf and not think about who is in the heat or the points or getting a certain result. If I get a good result I’m happy, but I focus on a good surf.”
Despite the early elimination of several top seeds, reigning two-time ASP World Champion Mick Fanning, 29, nine-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater, 38, and current ASP World No. 1 Jordy Smith advanced through to the Round of 48.
For more information, visit usopenofsurfing.com.
An Association of Surfing Professionals release assisted with this report.
