Adrian Buchan prevails in Round 1 of Rip Curl Pro Search – 2011 ASP World Tour
The 10th of the 11 stops on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco, treated the crowd to a heavy dose of thrilling action as Australia’s Adrian Buchan took on his compatriot Bede Durbidge and
South Africa’s Travis Logie in the 10th heat of Round 1 on Tuesday, November 1, at the Ocean Beach in San Francisco, America.
A real intense battle took place between Durbidge and Buchan for top honours, with both surfers exerting immense pressure on each other until the very end. Once the dust settled, it was Buchan who walked away with top honours, consequently securing his place
in Round 3. Durbidge was forced to settle for runner-up place, whereas Logie rounded out third place.
Buchan had remained rather inconsistent throughout the season so far, showing great promise at some occasions while looking completely lost among the elite ASP surfers at other times. Currently sitting at the 15th slot on the ASP World Title Rankings,
the Australian still had a chance to finish the tour among the Top-10, though he needed to get a couple of great results to improve his rankings.
As the 10th heat of Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco’s Round 1 kicked off, the 29-year-old Buchan found himself getting pushed to the limit by his countryman, Durbidge. The Australians found themselves engaged in a nail-biting contest for the
Round 3 spot, with neither of them giving the other any room to relax.
Durbidge took an early advantage in the heat by locking a wave to post a 9.13 on the score-board. Buchan soon rose to the occasion and responded with an 8.07-point wave to take some pressure off him. He soon added another 8.33 points to his account and moved
to a competitive heat-total of 16.40 points.
As the heat-clock ticked away, Durbidge struggled to find the necessary score to overtake his countryman on the score-board. Failing to add anything better than a 7.20 to his account, the Australian finished with heat with a two-wave total of 16.33 points,
consequently conceding victory to Buchan due to a 0.07-point deficit.
Logie’s presence was hardly felt due to the intense showdown taking place between Buchan and Durbidge. The South African scored a 6.77 and 3.60 off his top-two waves, finishing with a heat-total of 10.37 points and finishing in third place.
Durbidge and Logie still have a chance of staying alive in the race for the event-title if they are able to collect a successful result in their Round 2 heat.
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