Boukhiam, Hobgood and Dunphy prevail in Round 1 of Vans US Open of Surfing – Surfing news
Morocco’s Ramzi Boukhiam, America’s C.J. Hobgood and his fellow countryperson Michael Dunphy qualified into the second round (Round of 48) of the Vans US Open of Surfing, fourth of eight events on the 2013 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime
calendar, after walking away with victory from their respective Round 1 (Round of 96) heats that went down at the Huntington Beach Pier in California, America, on Monday, July 22, 2013.
Australia’s Yadin Nicol, Hawaii’s Sunny Garcia and Guadeloupe’s Charles Martin made the Round 2 cut as well after finishing second in their respective Round 1 heats.
The presence of pulsing four-to-six foot waves at the primary event site promised a heavy dose of thrilling action and intense battles between the top surfing talent from around the globe on the opening day of the Vans US Open of Surfing.
Pitted against Nicol and his compatriots Jack Freestone and Kai Otton in the 16thheat of Round 1, Boukhiam sure had his work cut out for him.
The Moroccan surfer, however, rose to the occasion and put on a solid performance to eventually finish on top with a heat-total of 13.00 points.
Nicol successfully extended his life in the competition as well after securing second place with a heat-total of 12.77 points. Freestone and Otton, however, were forced to make a premature exit from the competition after registering a heat-total of 10.70
and 10.16 points respectively.
The 17th heat saw Hobgood take on Garcia, his compatriot Ezekiel Lau and Puerto Rico’s Brian Toth in a four-man battle for survival.
The American surfer made use of his local knowledge of the waves to get himself in position to lock the juiciest waves that appeared during the heat and scored enough off them to finish with a decisive heat-total of 12.23 points.
Garcia concluded the heat on a two-wave total of 11.50 points, which placed him second and thus kept him alive in the contention for the event title. Toth and Lau got eliminated from the competition after finishing with a heat-total of 7.50 and 7.23 points
respectively.
The 18th heat of Round 1 and the final heat of the day saw Dunphy walk away with the win over Martin, Hawaii’s Fredrick Patacchia and America’s Tanner Gudauskas after finishing with a heat-total of 12.56 points.
Martin made the Round 2 cut as well after securing second place through his heat-total of 11.37 points. Patacchia and Gudauskas, on the other hand, found themselves making a premature exit from the competition after registering a heat-total of 11.23 and
10.00 points respectively.
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