The 2013 Quiksilver Pro, France (part one)

It was a little like being back at the Hurley Pro, Lowers this morning, waiting for the fog to lift so we could lose some money on competitive surfing at the highest level. But it wasn’t a Lowers fog, it was a Le Penon fog, blanketing the Quiksilver Pro. It teased, too, and we saw Kelly Slater burn down the line of a few waves during the perfect tide/wind combination of early morning, but then the fog would reassemble and vision’d be lost. Eventually, howevs, the call was made and the first heat paddled out.

Here’s some strange moments: Kiz Perrow and Aritz Aranburu beat Josh Kerr in separate heats, Freddy Patacchia beat Joel Parkinson, Ramzi Boukhiam beat Jordy Smith and Matt Wilko, Adam Melling beat Dane Reynolds. Some kinda perplexing results on paper, f’sure, but if you watched ’em unfold, it all made sense. Over a mammoth 17 heats run non-stop throughout the day, we saw a wide range of conditions and plenty were at the mercy of them.

After losing to Ramzi Boukhiam in round one, Jordy Smith was always gonna fight hard in round two, which he did – against Dane Reynolds. “Dane can do anything at any given time, you don’t just beat Dane with excellence, you got to go out there with a strategy,” Jordy articulated afterwards. “That’s kind of what I did, I waited for the best waves, I’ve been watching them a lot before the heat. Luckily I made the most of the waves that I had.”

Kelly also beat Dane, but did so in round one: “Jeez it was a slow one, in all the rotation Adam had priority,” said Kell. “There only was one good wave on the sets and he kept picking them. That last one I got was actually a little funny cause he could have caught the wave, but there was kind of a flatness and a wedge in between him and I and he would have been behind the foamball where I was taking off. I couldn’t believe it when I saw him stop paddling, I looked down the line and it had such a clean face, it was fun!”

*And now, a quick word from darkhorse extraordinaire, Filipe Toledo: “I just got a really good left with four or five turns, it was a pretty long wave and I’m so tired,” said Filly. “I’m feeling good after Lowers where I had a great heat with Julian, I come here with confidence and the waves were really fun and long!”

And, how about Taj Burrow! Comin straight outta Trestles with a champagne shower, burning into a round one win in France! “There’s lots of waves out there, I even had a left to myself which is pretty awesome,” said Taj, who chose to sit on his own on a different peak. “I was very happy with that, I got to catch a couple fun lefts and do some backhand turns. The other boys were on the right and they got some good scores too, Marc got an 8 and Bede got an 8.9 which was the best wave of the heat, so it ended up being pretty close but I was pretty happy to win.”

Considering the kinda underwhelming conditions, this was a very exciting day of competition. Don’t miss any of it tomorrow. Get your heats-on-demand and such, right over here.

REMAINING QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 2 MATCHUPS:
Heat 6: C.J Hobgood (USA) vs Alejo Muniz (BRA)
Heat 7: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs Damien Hobgood (USA)
Heat 8: Nat Young (USA) vs Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 9: Kai Otton (AUS) vs Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 10: John John Florence (HAW) vs Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 11: Sebastien Zietz (HAW) vs Bede Durbidge (AUS)
Heat 12: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs Travis Logie (ZAF)

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.43 def. Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 8.00
Heat 2: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 18.90 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 12.00
Heat 3: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.50 def. Marc Lacomare (FRA) 15.90
Heat 4: Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 15.50 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 14.47
Heat 5: Adriano De Souza (BRA) 17.66 def. Yadin Nicol (AUS) 15.06

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 15.27, Travis Logie (ZAF) 13.00, Josh Kerr (AUS) 9.43
Heat 2: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.77, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.80, Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 9.83
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.80, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 15.17, Marc Lacomare (FRA) 13.60
Heat 4: Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) 13.67, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.50, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 7.50
Heat 5: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.76, Adam Melling (AUS) 15.40, Dane Reynolds (USA) 8.50
Heat 6: Kolohe Andino (USA) 17.40, Mick Fanning (AUS) 13.86, Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA) 13.67
Heat 7: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.23, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.07, Yadin Nicol (AUS) 10.10
Heat 8: Filipe Toledo (BRA) 17.67, Adriano De Souza (BRA) 15.16, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 11.70
Heat 9: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 16.17, C.J Hobgood (USA) 15.33, Sebastien Zietz (HAW) 15.26
Heat 10: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 15.34, John John Florence (HAW) 13.47, Michel Bourez (PYF) 11.43
Heat 11: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 16.23, Nat Young (USA) 12.20, Damien Hobgood (USA) 12.13
Heat 12: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 15.90, Kai Otton (AUS) 13.67, Brett Simpson (USA) 12.06