Kelly Slater reaches Quarter-finals of Quiksilver Pro Gold Cost without a scratch – Surfing News
America’s Kelly Slater walked away with top honours from the second heat of Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast’s Round 4 that continued at Snapper Rocks in Queensland, Australia, on Tuesday, February 28.
With the win in his Round 4 heat, the 11-time Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour Champion secured his place in the Quarter-finals. Brazil’s Heitor Alves was forced to settle for runner-up place while French Polynesia’s Michel Bourez rounded
out the third position. Both the surfers were forced to take a trip to Round 5 to earn their place in the Quarter-finals.
The first event of the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Title series returned to Snapper Rocks for the fourth consecutive day.
The 40-year-old Slater, who had been nothing short of spectacular throughout the 2011 season, continued to exhibit a formidable form on Tuesday. Even though the two-to-three foot waves made it hard for the surfers to get hold of a big score, the iconic American
surfer managed to adapt to the conditions by changing his surfboard during the heat, going for a shorter board instead of a relatively longer one.
Slater collected a 6.83 off his first business-wave to take an early lead and put his rivals Alves and Bourez under pressure. As the heat progressed, the Florida-based surfer realised that his current board was not optimal for the short waves. The switch
to a shorter board worked well for him and allowed him to pull off a series of manoeuvres on it to post a 7.17 on the score-board, finishing with a heat-total of 14.00 points.
“On that first wave I could tell my board didn’t have the pop I wanted,” Slater said. “Because the waves are so small, you need a small board to fit in the pocket, so I switched to a shorter, wider board. None of us really got in sync in that one. It was
really tough to pick the right waves. I only woke up 40 minutes before my heat. I thought we were going to be off today so I was sleeping in and I got a call saying ‘get up, we’re on.’”
Alves finished in runner-up place with a heat-total of 12.13 points, which comprised of a 5.80 and 6.33-point wave. Bourez rounded out the bottom-position after scoring a 5.40 off his first business-wave and backing it up with a 5.70-point wave for a heat-total
of 11.10 points.
The surfing action continued at Snapper Rocks with the remaining heats of Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast’s Round 4.
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