The 2013 Hurley Pro, Trestles (part one)

Welcome back to the Hurley Pro, Trestles. It sure feels good to be home.

Today, organisers powered through round one, and halfway into round two. Casualties? Four wildcards, being Dane Reynolds, who was certainly not firing on all cylinders, as well as Ian Crane, Nate Yeomans and Mitch Crews. Standouts? Let’s start with Julian Wilson, and his combined 17.40 total in his first heat.

“That heat felt good and I knew it was going to be a hard one,” said Jules. “When I saw the ratings after Tahiti I knew I’d have a Round one rematch from the last event. I’d been thinking about it for the last couple of weeks and it was a good heat to win. Miguel started really strong and then a couple of good waves came. I got a good score on that left that gave me a couple of sections to hit and then I had the right. I’ve got some momentum going now and I’ve been traveling with my girlfriend and best mate and things are feeling really comfortable again. I’m focusing on my surfing and my equipment and once I start to do that everything falls in to place. I’m in a good head space and the waves are always fun here so hopefully the swell sticks around for a few more days.”

And then, there was Jordy. A 15.77 combined total and quite a statement performance. “Mitch and Wilko can pull off anything at anytime and I had the curse of the 7s, but I had a fun surf,” said Jords. “I was pretty bummed because my leash plug pulled out on this little left, but luckily my board didn’t go all the way to shore. I lucked in to a couple of sets though and I had a good time. It doesn’t look like we have a ton of waves coming our way, but what we have today is really fun and contestable.”

Yesterday’s Full Frame star, Mick Fanning, is always killer at Lowers despite it being a little more skatepark-esq than you’d expect Mick to do well at. “You can’t spare anything out there,” said Mick. “Kolohe and I have been on the same time zone in freesurfs before this event and he’s been ripping. Every time I’ve seen him catch a wave he’s frothing and it was a good heat. He started off really strong and I was just lucky to find that last one.”

And do you suppose that Gabs Medina, who’s suffered four round three back doors this year, is keen to do a little better at Lowers? “I just want make heats because I’ve been losing in Round three,” said Gabs. “I just want to focus on surfing and making heats. This is a good event to build momentum on and I love competing one competition after another. I just feel better when I get ready to compete over and over again and I’m excited thinking about Europe and Hawaii and I love this wave.”

And how about Brett Simpson, for whom Lowers is as close as it gets to a hometown world tour event, beating Dane and Kelly in his first heat? “I’m stoked, it was a gnarly heat but I was just trying to do my own thing because Kelly and Dane were going to do what they do,” said Simpo. “I was just excited for that heat and I knew that was a heat I could win because I surf a lot more freely when maybe it’s a heat I’m not supposed to win. I just focused on myself and with all my family down here, it’s a big win. Anytime you beat Slater, whether it’s man-on-man or three-man, it’s a big win.”

But while Kelly didn’t get past Brett in round one, he managed to swing past Dane in the second round. “That was really slow and it was too bad I had to draw Dane in Round two,” said Kelly. “Unfortunately he just didn’t get the waves and didn’t get going. I was pretty confident that I’d have to surf against him being a low seed, but it’s just unfortunate that it was a slow heat. There was definitely a bit of pressure in that heat because Mick has good results and Joel has a few bad results. I also don’t have anything to throw away and Mick has all keepers. Also, Jordy is every bit in this race so it was important to me to get out of that one.”

Parko was another top-seeded round two converter, taking down real-life trials runner-up, Ian Crane. “This event always seems to be a bit of a momentum builder going in to the back half of the year,” said Joel. “The guys that go on to make finals here always seem to do well. You definitely don’t want to lose in Round two here so I’m happy to get a couple of good waves out there.”

Highlights, replays, and whatever else you may desire, right here.

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Nat Young (USA) 14.20, Fred Patacchia (HAW) 8.87, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 8.84
Heat 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.54, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 11.03, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 10.17
Heat 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.77, Mitch Crews (AUS) 10.50, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 9.23
Heat 4: Travis Logie (ZAF) 12.26, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 11.70, Nathan Yeomans (USA) 11.67
Heat 5: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.50, Kolohe Andino (USA) 15.00, Ian Crane (USA) 9.33
Heat 6: Brett Simpson (USA) 15.60, Kelly Slater (USA) 14.73, Dane Reynolds (USA) 6.93
Heat 7: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.94, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 15.70, Josh Kerr (AUS) 10.03
Heat 8: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 14.63, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.17, Yadin Nicol (AUS) 10.03
Heat 9: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 14.07, Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 13.67, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 8.60
Heat 10: Adam Melling (AUS) 13.30, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 11.96, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 11.23
Heat 11: Julian Wilson (AUS) 17.40, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 15.50, John John Florence (HAW) 12.97
Heat 12: Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.36, Damien Hobgood (USA) 12.50, Kai Otton (AUS) 11.57

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 13.67 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 10.00
Heat 2: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.13 def. Ian Crane (USA) 12.74
Heat 3: Josh Kerr (AUS) 14.40 def. Nathan Yeomans (USA) 10.17
Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 18.83 def. Mitch Crews (AUS) 12.90

REMAINING HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 2 MATCH UPS:
Heat 5: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 6: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 7: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)
Heat 8: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Yadin Nicol (AUS)
Heat 9: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) vs. Raoni Monteiro (BRA)
Heat 10: Fred Patacchia (HAW) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 11: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)
Heat 12: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Kolohe Andino (USA)