Fredrick Patacchia and Yadin Nicol make it through Round 2 of Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach
Hawaii’s Fredrick Patacchia and Australia’s Yadin Nicol emerged triumphant in their respective Round 2 heats at the latest stop of the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, which continued at Bells Beach in
Victoria, Australia, on Wednesday, April 4.
Patacchia claimed top honours in the fifth heat by prevailing over French Polynesia’s Michael Bourez to advance through into the third round while bringing the competition to a premature end for the latter.
The sixth heat saw Brazil’s Alejo Muniz succumb to Nicol in the sixth heat, consequently getting eliminated from the competition while sending his Australian rival through into the next round.
The clean four-to-six foot waves arriving at Bells Beach on Wednesday served to set up a pretty good decent for a series of intense battles that were scheduled to run throughout the day with the intention of separating the in-form surfers from those who
were still struggling to find their rhythm.
Pitted against Bourez in the fifth heat, Patacchia put on a pretty good performance but to little effect. The Hawaiian ended up riding a wave on his rival’s priority, consequently getting an interference call. Despite getting a 7.17 and an 8.00 off his best-two
waves, he finished with a heat-total of 11.59 points due to the penalty.
Bourez had a good opportunity to capitalise on the situation, but failed to find a couple of good scores and eventually finished with a two-wave total of 11.34 points, 0.25 points short of the required score. As a result, he was forced to concede victory
o his rival.
The sixth heat saw Nicol, 2012 ASP World Tour rookie, dominate Muniz to eventually walk away with top honours.
The 26-year-old Australian locked his first business-wave early in the heat to post the event’s highest single-wave score of 9.87 on the score-board and later added another 7.83 points to his account to finish with a heat-total of 17.70 points.
Muniz got off to a slow start, scoring a 4.83 off his first business-wave and managed to find a 7.33-point wave later in the heat to finish with a heat-total of 12.16 points. This put him in second place at the end of the end, leading to his elimination
from the competition.
“It feels good to have a good heat,” Nicol said after the heat. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while and I’m just stoked there are waves. It can be nerve-wracking too, having a big score and needing to find another back up. I kind of got a bit too excited
after that first wave and pushed it too hard on my next ones. I had to calm down and recollect myself. Fortunately I did.”
Heading into the third round, Nicol will be up against the formidable Brazilian surfer Adriano de Souza.
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