Yadin Nicol and Lincoln Taylor survive Saquarema Pro International’s round of 48
The second heat of Saquarema Pro International’s round of 48 wrapped up at Itauna beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Thursday, May 26th.
Australia’s Yadin Nicol was the only surfer who managed to come up with something impressive in the heat and finished in top position. His compatriot, Lincoln Taylor, settled for runner-up to stay in contention for the event title. New Zealand’s Jay Quinn
and Brazil’s Miranda have been eliminated from the competition after finishing in third and fourth place respectively.
With two-to-three foot waves hitting the beach, accompanied by offshore winds, the surfers had a challenging task at hand to impress the judges with their performances. The conditions hardly gave anything to the surfers to work with and the four surfers
were left fighting for the waves, which hardly rose above the surface of the sea.
Nicol, who had made it to the round of 48 after clinching the second position in his previous heat, was the only surfer who actually got something out of the waves. The Australian managed to get 13.63 from his two waves, becoming the only person in the heat
to score over 10. The excellent effort made him the winner of the heat and confirmed his place in the next stage of the event, the round of 24.
The other Australian surfer in the heat, Taylor, also managed to survive the heat and advance to the next round. He did not look in control at all throughout the heat though, but it wouldn't be fair to blame him. He ended up with a total score of 9.00 after
his two waves.
New Zealand’s Quinn and Brazil’s Miranda shared the fate of those unfortunate surfers who had become victims of the low tides and offshore winds and ended up getting eliminated They were not the first ones to suffer at the hands of mother-nature and they
will definitely not be the last. Quinn ended up with 8.50 after his two waves, while the local surfer Miranda only managed to earn a 5.56, clearly the local knowledge of the waves didn't help him in adjusting to the conditions.
The first heats of the round of 48 have turned out to be low scoring with the surfers struggling to catch waves and execute their tricks. If such conditions prevail, then there is hardly any doubt that the following heats will be quite low on excitement
and thrilling action.
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