O’Neill Cold Water Classic, Santa Cruz – day one

The first day of O’Neill’s Cold Water Classic, in Santa Cruz, California just ended. Playing a game that included dodging kelp and trickier-than-it-looked wave selection, a whole lot of top seeds were relegated to the second round. Nat Young, trials winner and Lane local, beat Kelly Slater and Kolohe Andino. Yup. “I just wanted to be able to enjoy that heat,” said Nat. “It was a really special heat being able to surf against Kelly Slater. He’s been my idol since I started surfing and having him at my local spot and Kolohe, he’s one of my best friends, so I was just really excited. The waves weren’t really that great in the heat. I just got a couple of 6s and made it. I’m really happy, but I wish we could have had better waves.” Dusty Payne was another man to take down a big gun in the form of Mick Fanning. “I have such a bad seed for this year and coming up against Mick in my first heat, it’s not easy, so I’m happy to make it through that heat,” said Dusty. Patty Gudauskas finally tasted some good fortune this year, beating John Florence in round one and skipping straight to round three. “It was definitely tricky because the tide was coming in,” said mr Gudang. “I surfed out here yesterday in similar conditions. I tried to hug the rock and get the local vibe going and find something with a wall on it. It was a little tricky, but I’m stoked I made it. This win is huge. I think Round two is the battle zone and I think everyone wants to make it out of that one. Guys like John and Adriano are so gnarly that you don’t want to come up against them in Round two. I’m psyched. Hopefully I’ll come up against one of the top dogs in Round 3 and I can shake it up a little.” Check out all the replays here. O’NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC ROUND 1 RESULTS: Heat 1: Taylor Knox (USA) 12.80, Julian Wilson (AUS) 11.40, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 10.60Heat 2: Kai Otton (AUS) 13.00, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 9.86, Jadson Andre (BRA) 8.60Heat 3: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 13.16, Heitor Alves (BRA) 12.96, John John Florence (HAW) 7.00Heat 4: Dusty Payne (HAW) 15.30, Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.94, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 12.93Heat 5: Nat Young (USA) 12.17, Kelly Slater (USA) 10.00, Kolohe Andino (USA) 9.57Heat 6: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.83, Damien Hobgood (USA) 11.40, Jason Collins (USA) 7.00Heat 7: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.46, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 13.67, Brett Simpson (USA) 13.33Heat 8: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 16.53, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.77, Adam Melling (AUS) 6.80Heat 9: Yadin Nicol (AUS) 16.03, Owen Wright (AUS) 12.50, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 10.33Heat 10: Michel Bourez (PYF) 14.70, Josh Kerr (AUS) 14.56, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 11.40Heat 11: Travis Logie (ZAF) 15.27, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 14.93, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 4.37Heat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.10, Tiago Pires (PRT) 15.67, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 11.93 O’NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS: Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Jason Collins (USA)Heat 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)Heat 3: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)Heat 5: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Raoni Monteiro (BRA)Heat 6: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)Heat 7: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)Heat 8: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Kolohe Andino (USA)Heat 9: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)Heat 10: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)Heat 11: Miguel Pupo (BRA) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)Heat 12: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)