Day one of the 2014 Hurley Pro, Lowers

All photos Tom Carey Day one of the Hurley Pro, Lowers just wrapped and it was very good viewing. Even better viewing if you were watching on the webcast, and especially if you just skipped to the scoring waves in heats on demand, because there’s something about the magic of a live streamed video feed that a) glamourises conditions and b) does away with all those IRL lulls. Highlights? Filipe Toledo going bonkers and pasting the big frontside air reverse from today’s Full Frame (contrary to previous point, this was better in real life). In Stab’s not so subtle opinion, when Filly needed an 8.7 to beat Michel Bourez, his attempt well and truly deserved it. But the judges disagreed and gave him an 8.67 and such is life. More than what should’ve been though, was Filipe’s overall look. He straight-up bounces over flat spots and pulls speed out of nowhere. Very lightning. Such electricity. Tanner Gudauskas beat Kelly Slater. There’s one for the local homies. Kelly almost had a bow on the heat too, until Tanner scratched into a right and hit it seven times to scoop an 8.50 and come from behind to win. Yeah! And then. And then and then. There was Carlos Munoz. You know that kid that every single person in Costa Rica voted for during the video trials in the lead up to this event? His opponents were an on-point Adam Melling and current world number one Gabriel Medina. Gabs came out hard with some frontside spins but Carlos took off on a bigger one with 10 seconds remaining and beat it like it owed him money right into the shore. The crowd went fucking nuts – Costa Ricans are arguably more passionate than Brazilians, and there was a whole lot of ’em at Lowers today. He was fighting tears walking up the beach. Do you not love a heartfelt win? There’s plenty more that you should go watch in HOD (particularly including John John Florence and Owen Wright’s respective performances). For now we’ll leave you with the most awesome social media post that Jeremy Flores has ever done: Hurley Pro at Trestles Round 1 Results:Heat 1: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.10, Travis Logie (ZAF) 9.57, Taj Burrow (AUS) 7.67Heat 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) 12.40, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 10.94, Brett Simpson (USA) 10.17Heat 3: Michel Bourez (PYF) 14.20, Filipe Toledo (BRA) 14.17, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.77Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14.77, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 11.93, Kai Otton (AUS) 11.77Heat 5: Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 14.93, Kelly Slater (USA) 14.80, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 10.13Heat 6: Carlos Munoz (CRI) 13.90, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.70, Adam Melling (AUS) 11.56Heat 7: Adriano De Souza (BRA) 16.77, Aritz Aranburu (ESP) 14.10, Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 9.50Heat 8: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 15.43, Jadson Andre (BRA) 14.50, Kolohe Andino (USA) 13.97Heat 9: Nat Young (USA) 16.70, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 16.23, Dion Atkinson (AUS) 13.63Heat 10: Owen Wright (AUS) 17.43, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 13.44, Julian Wilson (AUS) 9.27Heat 11: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.06, Tiago Pires (PRT) 14.73, Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.50Heat 12: John John Florence (HAW) 15.27, Mitch Crews (AUS) 13.10, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.80 Hurley Pro at Trestles Round 2 Match-Ups:Heat 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Raoni Monteiro (BRA)Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA)Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)Heat 4: Kolohe Andino (USA) vs. Travis Logie (USA)Heat 5: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Aritz Aranburu (ESP)Heat 6: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)Heat 7: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Dion Atkinson (AUS)Heat 8: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)Heat 9: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)Heat 10: Miguel Pupo (BRA) vs. Mitch Crews (AUS)Heat 11: Filipe Toledo (BRA) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)Heat 12: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) Swatch Women’s Pro Trestles Round 4 Results:Heat 1: Laura Enever (AUS) 13.90 def. Pauline Ado (FRA) 11.23Heat 2: Lakey Peterson (USA) 15.67 def. Carissa Moore (HAW) 12.76Heat 3: Bianca Buitendag (ZAF) 17.73 def. Dimity Stoyle (AUS) 13.43Heat 4: Johanne Defay (FRA) 8.83 def. Alessa Quizon (HAW) 7.63 Swatch Women’s Pro Trestles Quarterfinal Match-Ups:QF 1: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) vs. Laura Enever (AUS)QF 2: Coco Ho (HAW) vs. Lakey Peterson (USA)QF 3: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) vs. Bianca Buitendag (ZAF)QF 4: Tyler Wright (AUS) vs. Johanne Defay (FRA)