LIHU‘E — On the decisive heat of the event, Aritz Aranburu took two regular waves to claim the title of Maresia Surf International 2010 in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. The Brazilian Rodrigo Dornelles came in second place, coming up short
LIHU‘E — On the decisive heat of the event, Aritz Aranburu took two regular waves to claim the title of Maresia Surf International 2010 in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. The Brazilian Rodrigo Dornelles came in second place, coming up short by a score of 12.67 to 6.67 points in the final, with good waves at Mole Beach in Sunday.
“I’m so happy,” said Aranburu, from Zarautz in northers Spain, who jumped from 60th to the 35th place on the new ASP World Rankings. “It was a very good event for me, we had some pretty hard days and today everything went right to me. Unfortunately, we could not get good waves in the final, I did not surf my best, but that was good enough to win. Rodrigo (Dornelles) is a great surfer and was a pleasure to make the final against him. It’s great to win here in Brazil.”
Dornelles chose to surf on the lefthander, while the surfer from the Basque Country decided for the right. The first wave was just on the regular range for Aranburu, who scored 5.67. Dornelles was risking everything on the waves, but always missing the second maneuver. Aranburu clinched the win in his last wave, when he got a 7.00-point ride to close the scoring heat.
“I felt myself lucky during all competition, just lost that feeling now in the final,” said Dornelles. “Even so, I can not complain, but really wish to have won the event. At this heat my opponent was the ocean. I could not do anything else even one turn in any single wave. The only one I could have done better, falling just because I everything in a very strong move and the board took off, so it was not for myself. Okay, I’m happy to make a final heat again.”
Kaua‘i’s Sebastian Zietz made it to the quarterfinals of the 144-surfer field, finishing equal fifth.
Zietz ended up getting eliminated by Brazilian great Gabriel Medina in the quarters by a narrow 10.90 to 10.33 margin.
Medina, the reigning champion at Maresia, seemed to be on his way to winning another title through Saturday’s competition.
In the heat he eliminated Zietz, the Kilauea product set the wave score record with a 9.33.
The conditions were spotty for much of the event.
“It improved a lot, but I had not taken anything good all heat long,” said Zietz after his battle with Medina. “Beside the higher score, I also had the worst wipe-out in the competiton. I had less than one minute remaning when I took off and I did not think twice. I am happy to get the highest score.”
After his win over Zietz, Medina was optimistic about his prospects and rightfully so.
“The waves was better today but still difficult, although not as big as on the previous days and that strong currents just disappeared,” said Medina. “I wish the waves were a little more upright giving to me the opportunity to perform my aerials and rotation turns, but I’m stoked anyway to have gone to the next round. Lets see what happens (Sunday).”
Sunday was not as good to Medina, as he got knocked out by his countryman, Dornelles. The eventual second-place finisher put up the highest score of the semifinal round with a 13.17, eliminating Medina and his 10.94 score.
Brazilians Robson Santos, Pedro Henrique and Leandro Bastos also reached the quarterfinals and took the equal fifth finish along with Zietz.
