Justine Dupont and Bianca Buitendag qualify for third round of Estoril Surf & Music Billabong Girls Pro
The 10th heat of Estoril Surf & Music Billabong Girls Pro’s round of 48 wrapped up at the beach-break of Praia do Guincho on Friday, June 10th.
Despite the challenging surfing conditions, France’s Justine Dupont managed to earn enough score to secure the top honours and qualify for the next round of the competition. She earned the win by triumphing over her compatriot Marie Dejean South Africa’s
Bianca Buitendag and Puerto Rico’s Joana Rocha.
Buitendag settled for the runner-up position, consequently extending her life in the event by qualifying for the next stage of the competition, the round of 24. Rocha and Dejean rounded out the third and fourth position respectively. Both of them were eliminated
from the race for the event title.
France’s Dupont did not have a smooth sailing during the heat and was seen struggling while searching for a high score just like the rest of her competitors. The surfing conditions were proving to be too demanding, making it hard for her to cope with them.
She still managed to open her account with a 4.85-point wave in the early minutes of the heat and added a decisive score of 5.50 halfway through the heat to finish with a heat-total of 10.35 points.
On any other day and under any different circumstances, the score may have proved to be inadequate and the French surfer would have been sweating to stay at least make it to the safe zone. However, the score proved to more than adequate and rather than getting
her into the safe zone, carried her too to victory, along with qualifying her for the round of 24.
Buitendag did not have a great time in the sea either, evidently finding it hard to meet the obstacles that mother-nature was laying in her path. However, she still managed to grab a decent wave in the early stages of the heat to score 4.00 points off it
and only required an additional 5.80 points to climb to the top position.
Unfortunately for her, her second wave was unable to earn her the required score, but she still managed to hold on to the second position with a two-wave total of 8.55 points. She did not seem too disappointment with the end result since she had successfully
landed in the safe zone and secured a spot for herself in the round of 24.
Rocha and Dejean completely succumbed to the conditions and seemed lost in the sea during the heat. The Puerto Rican only earned 4.50 points off her two waves, while the French surfer finished in fourth position after merely scoring 3.80 points off her two
waves. Both the surfers had to step out of the race for the event title after finishing in the bottom-two of the heat.
The ASP 6-Star Estoril Surf & Music Billabong Girls Pro is the second of four stops on 2011 ASP Women’s European title race.
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