The 2012 Hurley Pro, Lowers – day two

Round two of the Hurley Pro, Trestles left smoke on the water. Some guns went down (Owen Wright, the Hobgoods, Miggie Pupo, etc) and some big scores were dropped. Jeremy Flores posted the day’s highest heat total to beat Patty Gudauskas in one of the day’s best heats. “Pat’s an amazing air surfer and I was expecting him to do crazy airs,” said Jeremy. “I didn’t want to fall into that game because I’m not really an air guy. I wanted to show a difference in my carving turns and mix it up a bit. I know the first guy I saw doing that under-the-lip turn was Andy. It’s just this one turn that I can do and I just stick to a few of my tricks whenever I need to do them or need a score.”

But leading up to this point, J-Flo hasn’t had a whole lotta confidence. “I’ve been feeling so lost since I’ve been here,” he continued. “I’ve been trying six or seven different boards because I usually ride a 5’11″ and I’ve been trying to ride a 5’9.” It’s good in some waves and in others it’s not as powerful and in my first heat I felt like I was doing little kid turns. I hate that. I want to be able to push my turns as hard as I could. Last night I had a fun surf and in this heat I was finally feeling better.”

Joel Parkinson came back after a not-so-hot round one, to beat wildcard Conner Coffin in round two’s opening heat. “Surfing in that first heat of the day can be difficult because you don’t really know what’s going to be happening with the judging,” said Joel. “You feel like a guinea pig heat and you’ve got to get out there and just start it. Whether it’s a 5 or a 9, you have to just take it. It was clean and offshore and I knew Conner has a really nice carve and I was thinking I’d match that. There were lots of waves early this morning and once the heat started it was pretty slow so I was glad I got that one 9.”

Johnny Florence, 19 and from Hawaii, took down wildcard Evan Geiselman in conditions he ain’t used to. “It’s a weird swell direction,” said John. “I don’t think I’ve ever surfed it like this. When sets do come there are some fun ones, but a lot of the waves are too peaky. I’m just going to try and have fun. I think I took my heat too seriously yesterday. I couldn’t find a rhythm and coming up against Evan was really scary. He’s such a good surfer and he could easily get a 9. It was fun to surf with him. We haven’t surfed against each other since we were little.”

First heat of the morning tomorrow will be between Matt Wilkinson and Kelly Slater. And, there’s a swell building. So, catch it all here.

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.83 def. Conner Coffin (USA) 10.73
Heat 2: John John Florence (HAW) 14.37 def. Evan Geiselman (USA) 13.93
Heat 3: Taylor Knox (USA) 12.16 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 10.60
Heat 4: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 17.63 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 16.93
Heat 5: Julian Wilson (USA) 14.63 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 14.27
Heat 6: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.66 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 11.30
Heat 7: Heitor Alves (BRA) 14.50 def. Kolohe Andino (BRA) 14.33
Heat 8: Adam Melling (AUS) 17.30 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 17.13
Heat 9: Travis Logie (ZAF) 12.93 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 11.77
Heat 10: Brett Simpson (USA) 15.83 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 12.70
Heat 11: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 16.30 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 15.90
Heat 12: Kai Otton (AUS) 16.50 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 16.27

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 4: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 5: Heitor Alves (BRA) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)
Heat 6: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 7: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Taylor Knox (USA)
Heat 8: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 9: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Bede Durbidge (AUS)
Heat 10: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 11: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 12: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Yadin Nicol (AUS)