Nathaniel Curran, Travis Logie and Brian Toth advance to Mr Price Pro Ballito quarter-finals
America’s Nathaniel Curran, South Africa’s Travis Logie and Puerto Rico’s Brian Toth qualified for the quarter-finals at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime Mr Price Pro Ballito after putting on an impressive performance to claim victory
in their respective Round 5 (Round of 16) heats that went down at Willard Beach in KwaDukuza, South Africa, on Saturday, July 7.
With only the in-form surfers remaining in contention for the event title, the battles were expected to become even more intense. The surfing conditions on hand were quite promising, offering powerful waves at the primary event site to create a perfect stage
for a series of exquisite performance and thrilling contests.
The first heat of Round 5 saw Curran take on Brazil’s Tomas Hermes in a battle for the quarter-final spot. Both the surfers opened the battle with excellent wave rides, but the American surfer eventually managed to steal the show with his technical skills.
Posting an 8.33 and 8.53 on the score-board, Curran finished with a heat-total of 16.86 points against Hermes’ 15.17 points, thus walking away with the win.
The next heat featured aggressive surfing by Logie as squared-off with Australia’s Nathan Hedge. The South African powerhouse used his local knowledge of the waves effectively to navigate through the waves and pull off a flurry of vertical lip bashes and
other exquisite manoeuvres. Grabbing an upper-hand on both positioning and priority, Logie eventually finished with a heat-total of 12.20 points against his rival’s 7.33 points, consequently advancing to the next stage of the competition.
“It was really cool to be out there with ‘Hedgy’, we’ve been on tour for so long together that it was like a blast from the past heat,” Logie said. “Conditions are super challenging out there, it was going to come down to wave selection and not making any
mistakes. I knew I needed to do one or two big turns on wave and I stuck to that game plan and it paid off.”
The third heat of Round 5 saw Toth edge past Hawaii’s Torrey Meister with a heat-score of 12.17 against 11.10 to secure his place in the quarter-finals, bringing the competition to a premature end for his rival in the process.
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