Back home today from the Oxbow WLT in France via Huntington Beach in California where the waves were reasonably good for HB and as usual there was an event on. Not an ASP one just a local, amateur event. It seems there is some sort of event on at Huntington nearly every second week of the year and the big one for the year the US Open is not far around the corner.
While I was at Huntington, the ASP WQS 1-Star Lizzard Nando’s Surf Pro in Durban, South Africa was won by former ASP Top 45 surfer Greg Emslie (pictured above). Greg’s has three previous ASP WQS wins however his last win was way back in 1998. Definitely a long time between drinks for Greg.
The Lizzard event was an all-South African affair with Daniel Redman coming in second. Greg was able to jump four spots from 38th to 34th with his win, but even so, it for sure has given Greg a lot more confidence on his quest this year to re-qualify for the Dream Tour.
Also, just across the ocean in Hawaii at Maili, we had the Macy’s E-Series, the first of two summer ASP WQS 1-Star events for the Hawaiians. T.J. Barron was able to overcome a host of Hawaiian ASP WQS and local competitive surfers to take out his second ASP WQS win and hold his current 7th place rating. The 250 points T.J. received may not be of any use to him ratings wise, but once again definitely a confidence builder.
Barron was able to hold off fellow finalists Joel Centeio (2nd), Flynn Novak (3rd) and Love Hodel (4th).
Another week with no ratings changes of note and nothing coming up until after the Maldives next month.
Congratulations to Bruno Santos on his fantastic Billabong Pro Tahiti win at Chopes. Bruno is rated 151st on the ASP WQS and can win a Dream Tour event so it just shows how talented the ’QS surfers are and how hard the Grind can be.
The Globe Fiji Pro starts this weekend at Tavarua or Namotu so keep tuned to ASPWorldTour.com as it should be great.