Jadson Andre and Jesse Mendes triumph in opening round of Super Surf International
The fifth Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime event of the year, Super Surf International, kicked off with the round of 96 at Praia da Vila beach in Imbituba, a coastal town in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, on Tuesday, May 31st.
Brazil’s Jadson Andre managed to clinch the win in the first heat of the day, while Australia’s Adam Robertson finished in runner-up place. Australia’s Heath Joske and Brazil’s Odirlei Coutinho rounded out the third and fourth positions and have been eliminated
from the competition.
In the second heat, Brazil’s Jesse Mendes finished in first position, leaving his compatriot, Yuri Sodre, to finish in second place. Ireland’s Glenn Hall and Brazil’s Messias Felix finished in third and fourth place respectively and are no longer in the
run for the event’s title.
The surfing conditions at the event site turned out to be decent, with four-to-six foot waves breaking at the beach, accompanied by offshore winds and a sunny weather. This came as a huge relief for the surfers, who were making their way from the Saquarema
Surf Pro International that was held in the challenging conditions at Itauna beach in Rio de Janeiro.
Making the most of good conditions, the local surfer Andre got off to an excellent start, picking 8.17 points off his very first wave. He then instantly followed it up with another beauty, scoring 7.67 off it, to finish with a heat total of 15.84 points.
The score remained unbeatable till the end and carried him off to the next stage of the competition; the round of 48.
Robertson looked out of form as he struggled to catch waves. He still managed to get 10.93 from his two waves to end up in second place and secure a place in the next round.
Both, Joske and Coutinho, seemed out of rhythm and even though they managed to ride a number of waves, none of them got them the score that they needed to survive the heat. Joske ended with a two-wave score of 10.40 to land himself in third place, while
Coutinho ended the heat with 10.07 points. The bottom-two finish marked the end of the road for the two surfers.
The second heat saw another Brazilian clinch the win. Mendes took the lead early in the heat, scoring 6.83 off his first wave and scored 6.93 in the final moments of the heat to end the heat with a total of 13.76 points. The score proved sufficient to secure
his place in the next round.
Brazil’s Sodre did not have a easy time catching waves, but the ones that he eventually caught, he made them count. He scored 5.57 points off his first wave and followed it up with an amazing second wave, earning 7.93 points from it. In the end, he finished
with 13.50 points, just 0.27 points short of taking the first place. His valiant effort, however, confirmed his place in the next round.
The performance of Hall and Felix was nothing short of disappointing, both struggling to pull off anything impressive and cleanly off the waves that they rode. Their weak performances led to their elimination from the event.
There first round is still to feature 88 surfers in 22 heats before moving on to the next round.
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