Hurley Pro at Trestles 2015
Last years Hurley Pro champ Jordy Smith, navigating his craft on a Lowers wall during the final. Photo: WSL/Rowland
Welcome to stop number 8 of the Samsung Galaxy World Surf League Championship Tour. We’re here at the skatepark of surfing, otherwise known as Lowers or Lower Trestles, situated in San Clemente, California.
You can understand why this is a hot spot for surfers from all walk’s of life. From the top the 34 to your average weekend warrior. Forgiving wall’s, and crumbling lip’s is what this spot puts on offer, with those two thing’s alone you can punt and hack your way down the line with ease at the world famous and overly crowded spot. Hurley spares no expense for the world’s best, rolling out the red carpet for their pet event. All the surfers on tour are always stoked to surf this place with just another 1-2 person’s out and hang out in the Cali sun.
Looking back to Tahiti we saw the man in the Gath helmet, Jeremy Flores take out the win from a very inform Gabriel Medina. Jeremy came off a pretty serious facial injury in Indonesia to claim his Chopes victory. An absolute remarkable return to form.
Mick Fanning, Julian Wilson, Filipe Toledo and Owen Wright all had a shot to swipe the gold Jeep leader’s jersey from Adriano De Souza, but none of the boy’s could capitalise. This has made for a very interesting world title race, with possibly all the top 10 surfers all in mathematical contention.
Who will improve their world title campaign at this event? You can be sure the small wave genius that is Filipe Toledo will be right up there, along with Julian Wilson’s polished act. Kelly Slater is another huge standout at this place, Not to mention the likes of John John Florence and Gabriel Medina.
There’s also the conversation of who will be staying on tour next year and who will be falling off. Rookies: Riccardo Christie and Matt Banting need to get a wriggle on. Ex CT surfer Dusty Payne and Lowers local Kolohe (Brother) Andino are both surprisingly dragging their heels and Brett Simpson is another who will likely drop off at years end if he doesn’t bag a couple of good results soon. All surfers will need some serious hustle coming into the back half of the year if they want keep their place amongst the worlds best.
We also have two wildcards in the event from the Hurley Pro Trials, Ian Crane (USA) and the Japanese wonder kid Hiroto Ohhara (JPN). Best of luck to both surfers.
Sit tight folks, this red carpet event kicks off September 9th. Catch all the action on worldsurfleague.com
Hurley Pro at Trestles
Official Surfline Forecast
Brief Overview: A long run of very rippable SW swell will prevail for the first few days of the waiting period. The middle of the month looks likely to see fading and smaller surf, with potential for more southerly swell over the last couple days of the event waiting period.
Men’s Round 1 Heat Draw
Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA), Jadson Andre (BRA), Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 2: Filipe Toledo (BRA), Adrian Buchan (AUS), Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 3: Julian WIlson (AUS) , Sebastian Zeitz (HAW), Artiz Arunburu (ESP)
Heat 4: Owen Wright (AUS), Keanu Asing (HAW), Thomas Hermes (BRA)
Heat 5: Mick Fanning (AUS), Adam Melling (AUS), Hiroto Ohhara (JPN)
Heat 6: Adriano De Souza (BRA), Michel Bourez (PYF), Ian Crane (USA)
Heat 7: Jeremy Flores (FRA), Joel Parkinson (AUS), Glen Hall (IRL)
Heat 8: Josh Kerr (AUS), Matt Wilkinson (AUS), Kolohe Andino (USA)
Heat 9: Italo Ferreira (BRA), John John Florence (HAW), Riccardo Christie (NZL)
Heat 10: Gabriel Medina (BRA), Bede Durbidge (AUS), Freddy Patacchia Jnr (HAW)
Heat 11: Nat Young (USA), Kai Otton (AUS), C.J Hobgood (USA)
Heat 12: Taj Burrow (AUS), Wiggolly Dantes (BRA), Miguel Pup (BRA)
Offical Surfline Video Forecast for Lower Trestles
Injury Update
Matt Banting (AUS) has officially pulled out the Hurley Pro due to an ongoing knee injury he sustained during a free surf at the J-Bay Open. This will be his third injury withdrawal for the season. Matt has been replaced with Thomas Hermes (BRA).
Jordy Smith (ZYF) has also officially withdrawn from the Hurley Pro. Early report’s suggested that the South African was unsure about his decision to compete in San Clemente before ultimately electing not to surf in his third event of the season. His injury wildcard replacement will be Artiz Arunburu (ESP).
Day 1 Summery
Fanning on fire in round 1. Photo: WSL/Kirstin Scholtz
Warmth, sunshine and firing lower trestles. Perfect ingredients for day one of competition for the Hurley Pro. We saw all sorts go down today in some opening wonky surf, but cleaning up with the outgoing tide.
Kelly Slater cut the ribbon in the first heat of the morning, tearing the guts out of lowers in true KS style. Kelly’s board was looking magic under his feet, tearing everything that came his way. Mick Fanning for me was the stand out of the day looking right on top of his game surfing with more power and a hell of a lot faster than anyone else. Event favourite, Filipe Toledo looked shaky in his first heat going down to Adrian Buchan. Owen Wright and Julian Wilson cruised through their round one heats, but probably the biggest story of the morning was a certain Mr Freddy Patacchia winning his heat with a 10 point ride only to follow up with the announcement in his post heat interview that he’ll be retiring from the WCT and exiting out of the event. Wow. Freddy, we applaud you on your 11 year career and wish you the best in the future.
Freddy Patacchia Jnr announcing his CT retirement and event exit. Photo: WSL/Brett Skinner
Patacchia Pull’s Out of 2015 WCT
Patacchia’s 10 Point Ride
Mens and Womens Elite Light Up Lowers
Round one results:
Heat 1: K. Slater 14.63, D. Payne, J. Andre 12.67
Heat 2: A. Buchan 15.00, F. Toledo 13.93, B. Simpson 12.77
Heat 3:J. Wilson 15.60, S. Zietz 10.87, A. Aranburu 8.00
Heat 4: O. Wright 16.00, K. Asing 14.74, T. Hermes 14.00
Heat 5: M. Fanning 17.30, H. Ohhara 14.46, A. Melling 10.67
Heat 6: A. de Souza 14.37, M. Bourez 13.63, I. Crane 12.74
Heat 7: J. Flores 14.27, J. Parkinson 12.96, G. Hall 11.33
Heat 8: K. Andino 15.87, J. Kerr 14.80, M. Wilkinson
Heat 9: I. Ferreira 15.90, J. Florence 12.20, R. Christie 11.66
Heat 10: F. Patacchia Jr. 18.90, G. Medina 17.50, B. Durbidge 16.20
Heat 11: K. Otton 16.10, N. Young 15.50 C. Hobgood 12.70
Heat 12: T. Burrow 16.94, M. Pupo 16.43, W. Dantas 14.73
Filipe Toledo in lift off mode. Photo: WSL/Brett Skinner
Firstly sorry for the lack of updates, the time difference is a killer.
Wow!! What an amazing last couple of days of surfing. Lower Trestles has been pumping as has the Brazilian storm!
Let’s start with Round 3, we saw Parko return to form along with Filipe Toledo, Mick Fanning was a surgeon out there, slicing and dicing anything that came his way and Adriano De Souza got through to keep hold of the gold jersey. Event and crowd favourite Julian Wilson unexpectedly bowed out of his heat after not catching a single wave after 25mins. This will throw a spanner into Julians world title campaign.
Round 4 Heat 1 was electric, Wiggoly, Italo and Filipe were all on fire. Punting airs and flawless backhand attacks. So much passion is this one heat. However it was Filipe that would walk away with the win and pass straight into the quarter finals. Other winners from round 4 to walk through to the quarters were, Gabriel Medina, Adrian Buchan and Adriano De Souza.
Round 5 saw Kelly Slater in his heat against Mick Fanning. Kelly threw probably what was meant to be an alley oop, but some how made it into a varial 360 kick-flip of sorts, lands prone and continues surfing. However this was only scored at a 4.17. i think the judges must of hit the wrong button when dropping the score. I think it was easily a mid range seven, if not an eight. Leave your thoughts after you see the footage.
Other surfers to head into the quarters were Mick, Joel, Nat Young and Wiggolly Dantes.
With the swell fading, I’d expect them to run finals day tomorrow, as its not looking promising for the end of the waiting period. Stay Tuned!
Round 3 Highlights
Toledo Punts in Round 4
Kelly’s Insane Air