Jordy Smith powers into Round 3 of Rip Curl Pro Search – 2011 ASP World Tour
The South African prodigy, Jordy Smith completely stole the show through an exhibition of remarkable skill and style during the fourth heat of Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco’s Round 1 that went down at Ocean Beach in San Francisco, America, on Tuesday,
November 1. The domination of the heat allowed him to move directly into Round 3.
Hawaii’s Dusty Payne failed to offer any challenge to the South Africa and consequently got relegated to the second round after finishing in second place. Australia’s Tom Whitaker was part of the original line-up, but he failed to show up for the heat, which
in turn moved him to Round 2 as well.
The 23-year-old Smith has been making waves in the latest season of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour since the start and given the heavy-weights of surfing a real run for their money, Currently sitting at No.6 on the 2011 ASP World
Title rankings, the South African could have been sitting even higher if an injury had not kept him out of action at two elite events.
The opening day of Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco saw Smith take on Payne in high-performance three-to-five foot waves. The juice was there on the offer and the two surfers found themselves with an opportunity to flaunt their stuff.
As the heat kicked off, Smith only took a few moments before making his way into a barrel and unleashing a string of exquisite manoeuvres to post a 7.33 on the score-board. He soon added another 7.77 points to his account, consequently finishing with a heat-total
of 15.10 points. The score carried Smith off to a comfortable victory and confirmed his place in Round 3.
Talking to a reporter after the heat, Smith said, “I found a couple of little nuggets and got barrelled. Dusty [Payne] was unfortunate and he said he saw a shark out there so that’s a bit unnerving. The waves can be pretty fun though. It reminds me a lot
about waves at home around Cape Town.”
Payne got off to a shaky start and remained a little cautious throughout the heat, which probably had something to do with the shark that he had spotted. Whether the deadly fish was lurking around in the waves or not, nobody really got to find out. However,
it sure had an effect on the Hawaiian’s performance and he ended up finishing with a heat-total of 7.87 points, which included a 2.87 and 5.00-point wave.
Payne and Whitaker still remain in contention for the event-title, though the fate of the competition depends heavily on their performance in the Round 2 heat.
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