Silvana Lima and Courtney Conlogue off to an ideal start at Vans US Open of Surfing – Surfing News
Brazil’s Silvana Lima and America’s Courtney Conlogue got off to a perfect start at the Vans US Open of Surfing, the sixth of eighth events on the 2013 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Championship Tour,
which kicked-off at the Huntington Beach Pier in California, America, on Tuesday, July 23, 2013.
Lima got the better of Australia’s Stephanie Gilmore and South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag in the opening heat of the first round to advance straight to Round 3, while pushing both her rivals into the second round.
Conlogue, on the other hand, secured her place in the third round by finishing on top of Australia’s Rebecca Woods and Laura Enever, forcing both her competitors to take a trip to the relegation round in the process.
The latest female surfing action took-off in peaky two-to-four foot waves, which pretty much promised a heavy dose of enthralling action throughout the course of the day.
Lima, current ASP No.14, had her work cut out for her as she found herself pitted against the reigning five-time ASP Women’s World Champion Gilmore and an energetic rookie Buitendag in her very first heat of the competition.
The 28-year-old Brazilian, however, rose to the challenge and managed to hold her own despite being under immense pressure. Scoring a 5.82 and 7.17 off her best-two waves, she finished with a heat-total of 13.00 points, which proved
sufficient to seal the fate of the battle in her favour.
“I feel really good,” Lima said. “This is my best Round 1 result and usually I have to surf in Round 2 here in Huntington. I’m happy to skip that round 2. I’ve had a tough year, but I’m feeling really good and it’s nice to have
some waves. Hopefully I can keep going.”
Gilmore did not look her usual self during the battle and only managed to get to a heat-total of 10.44 points, whereas Buitendag finished with a pretty ordinary heat-total of 6.67 points.
Conlogue, who has been in great form since the start of the latest season, got just the start that she was looking for at Vans US Open of Surfing. The American surfer made the most of her local knowledge of the conditions to make
some excellent wave selections. Collecting a couple of scores in the seven-point range, she finished with a decisive heat-total of 14.46 points.
Woods finished in second place with a two-wave total of 10.44 points, while Enever registered a heat-total of 9.36 points for third place.
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