Aritz Aranburu and Fredrick Patacchia make the Round 3 cut at Reef Hawaiian Pro
Basque Country’s Aritz Aranburu and Hawaii’s Fredrick Patacchia successfully made it into Round 3 (Round of 64) at the Reef Hawaiian Pro, first of three events on the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, after claiming top honours in their respective Round 2 (Round
of 96) heats that went down at the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii on Friday, November 16.
Australia’s Mark Occhilupo accompanied Aranburu into the next round after finishing below him in second place during the first heat, while South Africa’s Shaun Joubert and Hawaii’s Granger Larsen rounded out the bottom-two positions, which resulted in their
ejection from the contention for the event title.
The second heat saw Spain’s Gony Zubizarreta move to Round 3 alongside Patacchia after securing runner-up place. Hawaii’s Torrey Meister finished third, while Australia’s Jay Thompson had to settle for fourth place, consequently getting eliminated from the
competition.
With the conditions prevailing at Alii Beach continuing to remain demanding on the latest day of the competition, the battles between the talented surfers from around the globe were expected to be nothing short of thrilling.
The opening heat of Round 2 saw Aranburu take on Occhilupo, Joubert and Larsen in a four-man battle for the Round 3 spot.
The Basque Country-based surfer got off to a decent start, earning a 5.57 off his first business-wave. Managing to back it up with a 4.83-point ride, Aranburu registered a two-wave total of 10.40 points, which held up until the end to see him through to
victory.
Occhilupo scored a 4.53 and 2.47 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 7.00 points, which proved sufficient to take him through into the next round.
Joubert finished third with a heat-total of 5.73 points, while Larsen only managed to register a heat-total of 4.93 points.
The second heat saw Patacchia walk away with a win, though just barely, after getting the better of his three rivals.
The Hawaiian surfer posted a near-perfect 9.43 on the scoreboard early in the heat and backed it up with a 5.83-point wave to register a heat-total of 15.26 points.
Zubizarreta, however, had no intention of going down without putting up a fight. Collecting a couple of scores in the seven point range, the Spanish surfer eventually finished with a heat-total of 15.10 points, thus losing to Patacchia by merely 15.26 points.
Meister finished in third place with a heat-total of 13.60 points, while Thompson had to settle for a heat-total of 8.67 points.
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