Travis Logie remains unscratched in Round 1 of Billabong Pro Tahiti – 2011 ASP World Tour
South Africa’s Travis Logie prevailed in the third head of Round 1 at the latest stop on Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour, Billabong Pro Tahiti, which went down at the Teahupo’o in Taiarapu, Tahiti, on Saturday, August 20.
The 32-year-old Logie clinched the top honours by defeating Brazil’s Jadson Andre and France’s Jeremy Flores in Round 1 to move directly into Round 3. Andre and Flores finished in second and third place respectively, consequently getting relegated to the
second round.
A day prior to his first-round heat, Logie had no idea that he would be competing against the elite surfers in Tahiti as he ranked 44 on the ASP World Rankings and was also busy competing in the 6-Star event elsewhere. However, the withdrawal of America’s
Bobby Martinez from the elite event got him a call from the ASP World Tour Manager and with just 10 hours left for his heat to start, Logie landed in Tahiti.
“I got the call about 24 hours ago from Renato Hickel (ASP World Tour Manager) and got on the next plane from Europe. I was over there competing in the 6-Star events and opted to take the opportunity in Tahiti. I don’t have any boards or any equipment so
I used my good friend Alain Riou’s board his morning and it felt pretty good,” said Logie.
The trip proved to be fruitful for the South African as he successfully overcame Andre and Flores in the three-man battle to advance further in the competition.
As the third heat kicked off, Andre drew first blood, scoring 6.33 points off the very first wave that he caught. He immediately followed it up with an 8.07-point wave to reach a heat-total of 14.40 points and put his opponents under pressure.
Logie came up with an excellent response, collecting 7.50 points off his first business wave and later adding an outstanding and decisive 8.57 points to his account. The two-wave scores took him to a heat-total of 16.07 points and eventually sealed the fate
of the battle in his favour.
Flores remained quite unthreatening throughout the heat and eventually finished with a heat-total of 11.73 points, which included a 6.33 and 5.40-point wave.
Billabong Pro Tahiti is the fifth stop on the 2011 ASP World Tour and second last event before the September rotation that would eliminate the surfers ranking lower than 32 on the ASP World Rankings from the Tour.
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