Adam Melling clinches the first 2011 O’Neill Cold Water Classic
The first event of the 2011 O’Neill Cold Water Classic reached its climax with the final taking place on Tuesday, 29
March, at Gisborne, New Zealand. In a closely fought final, Adam Melling from Australia managed to give a superior performance over Brazil’s Willian Cardoso to clinch the event.
“I am 26 today and I won the final… I am stoked,” said Melling after winning.
Despite a forecast of strong onshore winds on Tuesday, the contest went down normally at The Pines on Wainui Beach in beautiful 1.5m waves with winds offshore. A good crowd had turned up at the location to enjoy the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals
that were scheduled for the day.
As the final day kicked off, the surfers got on their surfboards for the quarter-finals. The first heat on Tuesday featured Melling taking on Spain’s Gony Zubaizarreta. The Australian prevailed over Zubizarreta to make it to the semi-finals. Cardoso managed
to achieve success over Brazil’s Thiago Camarao in the third heat for a place in the semi-final as well. The second and fourth heat saw Australia’s Tom Whitaker and Stu Kennedy as the winners.
During the semi-finals, Melling found himself facing Whitaker for the coveted place in the final. The stakes were high and there was hardly any room for a hiccup. The two Australians made their determination evident by their performances, but in the end
Melling simply turned out to be better, pushing Whitaker out of the race for the title.
Cardoso was up against Kennedy in the semi-final. The atmosphere remained intense as both the surfers tried their level best to impress the judges more. By the end of the heat, the judges deemed Cardoso as more impressive, sending him on his way to the final
where Melling was waiting for him.
The Brazilian got off to an amazing start, earning best scores of 3.83 and 4.50 during two of his first five runs. Melling tried to catch up, but a score of 2.00 and 3.50 left him 2.83 points short of Cardoso’s score. Cardoso further increased his lead and
the required score to 9.50 after unleashing an 8.50 run. Things seemed bleak for the 26-year-old Australian, but he managed to retaliate with a 7.17 to reduce the gap to 2.33. Now only a score of 5.84 was needed by Melling to take the victory home.
Cardoso got 5.17 in his final run of the contest, with just 1:05 minute left. The required score climbed up to 6.51, dimming Milling chances to win. However, the Australian was not done yet. In the last 30-seconds of the final, the Australian unleashed two
vicious forehand snaps on the last wave of the contest, earning an event-winning 8.03 to deprive Cardoso of the title. It was a memorable day for the birthday boy Melling.
After scoring his 8.03 ride, Melling said, “Pretty fun out there, it turned on for the final. Even though the tide come up there were still sets. It was a little slow at the start but came on in the end, last 90 seconds anyway.”
Melling walked away with $20,000 prize money and has moved to the 23rd Association of Surfing Professionals One World Rankings after his latest victory. He hopes to compete in more events in order to claim the $50,000 prize money that will be
handed over to the winner of the Series. The second stop for the O’Neill Cold Water Classic will be in Thurso, Scotland from 13 April to 19 April.
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