Gabriel Medina and Miguel Pupo continue to shine: Second round of Super Surf International – Part 5
Super Surf International’s round of 48 continued at Praia da Vila beach in Santa Catarina, Brazil, on Thursday, June 2nd.
The day kicked off with Gabriel Medina facing Puerto Rico’s Dylan Graves, America’s Patrick Gudauskas and Brazil’s Luel Felipe.
Medina went to work early in the heat, locking a wave to get 8.50 points off it and soon adding 6.87 points to his account to finish with a heat-total of 15.37. The score remained unbeatable and saw him off to victory, confirming his place in the next round.
Graves was not any less impressive either, getting 7.33 and 7.83 points of his two waves. He missed out on victory by a deficit of 0.21 points and settled for second position, consequently advancing to the next round.
Gudauskas and Felipe rounded out the third and fourth position and got kicked out of contention for the event title.
In the 10th heat, Brazil’s Leonardo Neves faced off against his compatriots Tomas Hermes and Gustavo Fernandes, along with Australia’s Shaun Cansdell.
Neves clinched victory after scoring 6.93 from his first wave and 7.17 from his second to end up with a heat-total of 14.10 points. Hermes responded with an equally impressive performance, but ended up short by 0.26 points, settling for runner-up position.
Both of them qualified for the next round.
Cansdell and Fernandes were eliminated after rounding out the third and fourth place respectively. Candell’s two-wave score was 9.11, while Fernandes finished with 8.50 points.
In the 11th heat, Brazil’s Miguel Pupo faced off against his compatriot Billy Stairmand, along with New Zealand’s Jay Quinn and Billy Stairmand.
Pupo emerged triumphant from the heat after an outstanding performance, scoring 7.83 and 9.57 off his two waves to end up with the highest single-wave score and overall heat-total score of the second round.
Quinn extended his life in the competition after finishing with a two-wave score of 14.47 and grabbing the second position. Vargas and Stairmand failed to make a strong impact during the heat and ended up in third and fourth positions after scoring 11.00
and 8.97 points respectively.
In the final heat of round of 48, New Zealand’s Richard Christie battled it out against the two Brazilians, Neco Padaratz and Tanio Barrreto, along with America’s Cory Lopez.
Christie got off to an excellent start, earning 8.10 points off his first wave and soon following it up with a 6.83-wave, to walk away victorious from the heat.
Talking to a reporter after the heat, he said, “The waves are smaller but the conditions are still really good. You've just got to be patient and choose the right waves. But I think I was a little lucky since I started well and was able to relax for the
remainder of the heat. I'm really happy with the win because it was against stiff competition with Cory (Lopez) who's really experienced and Neco (Padaratz) who knows these waves well.”
Padaratz finished in second position after scoring 12.30 off his two waves, consequently remaining alive in the event. However, Lopez and Barreto were unable to make it into the safe zone and ended up getting eliminated. The American surfer had a two-wave
score of 11.40, while Barreto finished with 10.66.
As the round of 48 wrapped up, the event organisers decided to call it a day due to the deteriorating surfing conditions.
The Super Surf International will continue on Friday, June 03, with the round of 24.
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