Garrett Parkes and Mason Ho shine during opening round of Reef Hawaiian Pro
Australia’s Garrett Parkes and Hawaii’s Mason Ho made it into the second round (Round of 96) at the first Vans Triple Crown of Surfing event of the year, Reef Hawaiian Pro, after claiming top honours in their respective Round 1 (Round of 128) heats that
went down at the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii on Thursday, November 15, 2012.
New Zealand’s Billy Stairmand finished below Parkes in runner-up place to accompany the latter into the next round, whereas Hawaii’s Ian Walsh and Germany’s Nic Von Rupp rounded out the third and fourth positions respectively, consequently getting eliminated
from the contention for the event title.
The 12th heat saw Ho advance into the next round alongside his fellow compatriot Kekoa Bacalso, who finished in second place. Morocco’s Ramzi Boukhiam and Hawaii’s Flynn Novak finished third and fourth respectively, which forced them out of the
competition.
The $250,000 on offer at the latest Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event was a strong enough appeal to make the 128 surfers from 15 countries push themselves beyond limit to tread closer to the eventual prize.
That is exactly what was seen during the 11th heat of Round 1, with Parkes putting on a superb show to claim victory over his rivals.
The Australian surfer locked his first business-wave to post a 7.00 on the score-board and soon followed it up with a 6.10-point ride, thus getting to a heat-total of 13.10 points. The score remained unbeatable until the end of the four-man battle to see
him through to victory.
Stairmand got off to a promising start, earning a 7.93 off his first business-wave, but only managed to back it up with a 4.00-point wave, thus finishing in second place with a heat-total of 11.93 points.
Walsh finished in third place with a heat-total of 10.57 points, which included a 6.57 and 4.00-point ride, whereas Rupp landed himself in fourth place after registering a heat-total of 9.00 points.
The next heat featured an amazing show put up by Ho, son of an early Vans Triple Crown of Surfing champion Michael Ho.
The Hawaiian surfer looked very much in control during the course of the four-man battle and made the conditions look quite easy.
Exploding into a double tube-ride to aerial, Ho got the local fans on their feet. However, losing his focus during the execution of the aerial resulted in a wave-score of 8.93 instead of a perfect 10.
Backing it up with a 6.60-point ride, the Hawaiian surfer finished with a heat with a decisive heat-total of 15.53 point.
“I kind of got ahead of myself. I saw the air section out of the second barrel and I was already thinking, ‘ok what grab?’, and I wasn’t even out of the barrel and that’s what dad says, don’t ever get ahead of yourself,” commented Ho on the aerial blunder
after the heat.
Bacalso finished behind Ho in second place with a heat-total of 10.67 points, which included a 6.17 and 4.50-point ride.
Boukhiam scored a 4.03 and 3.67 off his best-two waves for a heat-total of 7.70 points, thus landing in third place, while a dismal performance by Novak for a heat-total of 5.73 points resulted in him finishing last. Both the surfers were eliminated from
the competition.
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