Oakley Pro Junior ASP North America Championships Begins Tomorrow
Santa Cruz, Calif., October 23, 2008 – Day three of the O’Neill Cold Water Classic, an Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) 4-Star event, saw Hawaiian standout Sebastian Zietz (Kilauea, HI), 20, stamp the day’s top honors by claiming both the highest single wave score and highest heat total of the event, while Kolohe Andino (San Clemente, CA), 14, issued the upset of the event by defeating Steamer Lane local and event favorite, Kieran Horn (Santa Cruz, CA), 34.
The O’Neill Cold Water Classic marks the third stop on the Macy’s California Trifecta Surf Series, North America’s only specialty series, which offers an additional prize purse awarded to the series’ top three competitors. 2005 Trifecta champion Asher Nolan (Jacksonville, FL), 30, who is currently in third on the series, surfs tomorrow and could potentially win the series considering that Nathan Yeomans (San Clemente, CA), 27, is not surfing in this week’s event and Horn, who is in second, was unable to advance through his Round 4 heat today.
Zietz jumped out to an early lead in his heat with a solid score of an 8.33 out of a possible 10 in Round 3 with several clean frontside maneuvers. He followed up with two massive fins-free turns on his next wave to earn the event’s highest single wave score of a 9.50. The two scores earned Zietz the highest heat total of 17.83 out of a possible 20, placing his fellow competitors in a combination situation.
“I’m just really lucky I guess,” Zietz said. “It’s tough out there, jockeying and everything. I’ve been watching tons of heats and it feels good to just get in the water. I was trying to work out a game plan but it’s so hard when everyone is getting all deep and jockeying and you just go on anything you can get. Luckily the ones I got went all the way through.”
Zietz has just returned from a trip to Bali, Indonesia and made the transition between drastic water temperatures seamlessly.
“It’s quite a shocker because I just got back from Bali,” Zietz said. “It’s definitely really cold, but a lot better than last year. It’s been sunny, just like Hawaii.”
Zietz will also be competing in the Oakley Pro Junior ASP North America Championships and is leading the junior division in the Macy’s California Trifecta Surf Series. The Hawaiian talent feels as though his standout performance today was the perfect warm up for his upcoming heats in both the men’s and juniors divisions.
“It’s definitely a good warm up for the rest of the event,” Zietz said. “It gives me a chance to get my boards figured out and get the right mentality for the rest of the event. It gives me a chance to get used to the paddle battling and jockeying and everything too.”
Andino issued a shocking upset today by eliminating ASP WQS veteran and Santa Cruz local standout Kieran Horn. The young San Clemente surfer combined innovative turns and airs to earn the heat victory over the event favorite who is 20 years his senior.
“I let Kieran (Horn) go on the first one because I know he’s a local and he rips out here,” Andino said. “I just got the second one and got a good score.”
Andino plans on changing up his strategy in the Round of 32, where he will try to exercise more patience in his Round 5 heat and attempt to pick off more set waves instead of taking smaller inside waves.
“One thing I noticed after I got the 7.50 is that the heats are long so you can just wait out there and get sets and you can get two good scores,” Andino said. “All of the guys are bigger so I can’t really hassle them, so I’ll just wait I guess.”
Santa Cruz native Freitas dominated his Round 4 heat today and has given some of the top performances in the event so far. The explosive regular-footer used patience and local knowledge to advance through his heat.
“I didn’t want to paddle battle out there, I think it’s just lame,” Freitas said. “I just sat there and took my time and got the waves that I wanted and I did what I did and got a 9.”
Freitas will now look to take the title back to Santa Cruz after fellow local Horn was eliminated earlier in the day.
“My board works amazing and hopefully the waves will stay the way they are or get better and I can make it to the Final day,” Freitas said.
Tomorrow’s action will see the completion of the Round of 64 as well as the opening rounds of the Oakley Pro Junior ASP North America Championships. All ASP North America Pro Junior Series surfers are striving to earn their spot in the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships held in Narrabeen, Australia, where the top five competitors on the series plus the highest rated surfer of junior age on the ASP WQS will earn the chance to represent their nation against the world’s top junior surfers.
The O’Neill Cold Water Classic, now in its 21st year, boasts a prize purse of $80,000 for the WQS event (up $5,000 from last year), $15,000 for the Oakley Pro Junior, and $25,000 for the Macy’s CA Trifecta bonus cash. The event also marks the final WQS event on the U.S. mainland and the ASP North America Championships for the Pro Juniors.
As the final stop of the Macy’s CA Trifecta Surf Series, the Cold Water Classic will award a $15,000 bonus cash purse to the top three finishers in the WQS division of the series – $10,000 for first, $3,500 for second and $1,500 for third. For the second year, the Oakley Pro Junior division will also receive a significant Trifecta bonus purse, which has doubled from $5,000 to $10,000 and will award $7,000 for first, $2,000 for second, and $1,000 for third.
Live streaming video and scoring will broadcast the event to the world at www.ColdWaterClassic.net for all six days of competition.
Special thanks to the O’Neill Cold Water Classic, Oakley Pro Junior and Macy’s CA Trifecta supporting sponsors: O’Neill, Oakley, Macy’s, Red Bull, Coors, Fosters, Palm, SURFER Magazine, SURFING Magazine, WaveWatch.com and FUEL TV. For more information on the Macy's California Trifecta Surf Series visit www.catrifecta.com.
WaveWatch.com Forecast for the O’Neill Cold Water Classic
Effective Thurs (10/22) for the time period Fri (10/23) - Sun (10/26)
Synopsis: Things to start picking up on Friday as the first of the real North Pacific swell arrives mixed with stronger southern hemi energy and then kicking into high gear by later Saturday on through Sunday as northwest swell energy arrives from the Dateline.
Friday (10/24): New Gulf swell to be peaking near sunrise with swell 4.2-4.8 ft @ 12 secs in the morning hours resulting in head high waves from 297-302 degrees with new southern hemi swell of 2.3 ft @ 18 secs underneath (3.5-4.0 ft faces) but likely lost in the more westerly swell from the Gulf. Wind north 1-5 kts early turning northwest 10+ kts mid-afternoon. Clean at the Lane early with a little warble early and texture building in late afternoon, but not bad.
Saturday (10/25): Gulf swell to be fading out from 4.0 ft @ 10-11 secs resulting in chest high surf coming from 300 degrees with southern hemi swell peaking at 2.3 ft @ 16 secs (3.5 ft faces) from 190 degrees but not very visible. New Dateline swell possibly getting sizeable right before sunset reaching 8.0 ft @ 20 secs with set waves 2 times plus overhead coming from 302 degrees if they don't overpower the break and pass right on by. Wind calm early, then turning northwest 5-10 kts mid-afternoon. Clean with very good conditions all day at the Lane.
Sunday (10/26): Dateline swell to be holding solid with swell of 8 ft @ 15-16 secs expected through the day producing 3-5 ft overhead sets or more coming from 300-305 degrees. Southern hemi swell fading from 2.3 ft @ 14-15 secs (3 ft faces) and invisible. Wind calm early turning northwest 5-10 kts early afternoon. Clean especially in the morning then a little texture in the afternoon.
O’Neill Cold Water Classic Results
Round of 96: (1st and 2nd advance)
Heat 7: Evan Geiselman (USA) 11.23, David Gonsalves (HAW) 8.93, Tom Rezvan (AUS) 6.56, Cody Thompson (USA) 6.30
Heat 8: Ted Navarro (USA) 10.67, Toby Martin (AUS) 8.37, Fisher Heverly (USA) 7.57, Gabe Garcia (USA) 5.93
Heat 9: Josh Loya (USA) 12.00, Peter Mussio (USA) 11.77, Dillon Perillo (USA) 7.06, Blake Jones (USA) 6.17
Heat 10: Omar Etcheverry (USA) 11.67, Brandon Guilmette (USA) 10.60, Kellen Ellison (USA) 6.86, Phillip Goold (USA) 3.33
Heat 11: Magnum Martinez (VEN) 10.94, Ryah Arthur (USA) 10.27, Jayke Sharp (AUS) 9.77, Charlie Carroll (HAW) 6.47
Heat 12: Randy Bonds (USA) 12.00, Sean Marceron (USA) 11.93, Russell Smith (USA) 7.60, Cory Arrambide (USA) 4.00
Heat 13: Nils Schweizer (USA) 9.40, Jimmy Herrick (USA) 9.36, Zach Keenan (USA) 8.03, Chris Foster (HAW)
Heat 14: Nicholas Godfrey (ZAF) 13.60, Kyle Garson (USA) 1160, Jeath Joske (USA) 11.06, Tyler Anderson (USA) 6.34
Heat 15: Nick Riley (AUS) 13.44, Bruno Rodrigues (USA) 11.30, Ryan Briggs (USA) 9.57, Matt Keenan (USA) 8.03
Heat 16: Sebastian Zietz (HAW) 17.83, Josh Mulcoy (USA) 13.97, Jacob Kirschenbaum (USA) 12.40, Matt Myers (USA) 10.63
Round of 64: (1st and 2nd advance)
Heat 1: Che Stang (USA) 15.94, Danny Estes (USA) 11.07, Travis Beckmann (USA) 9.90, Dane Johnson (USA) 9.30
Heat 2: Blake Howard (USA) 16.10, Granger Larsen (HAW) 14.10, Tyler Newton (HAW) 10.90, Darrell Goodrum (USA) 7.47
Heat 3: Kolohe Andino (USA) 11.83, Bobby Morris (USA) 9.90, Kieran Horn (USA) 9.00, Chris Abad (USA) 8.73
Heat 4: Chris Waring (USA) 12.33, Micah Byrne (USA) 11.57, Matt Meola (HAW) 11.57, Quintin Jones (ZAF)
Heat 5: Bud Freitas (USA) 15.77, Mason Ho (HAW) 13.83, Richie Collins (USA) 12.43, Roger Eales (USA) 7.97
Heat 6: Eric McHenry (USA) 13.40, Kevin Sullivan (HAW) 13.33, Adam Virs (USA) 11.60, Kevin Kapsky (HAW) 3.33
Heat 7: Chad Compton (USA) 13.54, Casey Brown (HAW) 12.84, Toby Martin (AUS) 10.73, Evan Geiselman (USA) 9.26
Heat 8: Teddy Navarro (USA) 14.37, David Gonsalves (USA) 11.93, Chris Ward (USA) 11.43, John John Florence (HAW) 10.30
About O'Neill
O’Neill, the original Californian surf, snow and lifestyle brand, was founded in 1952 when a young man named Jack O’Neill took his unstoppable passion for surfing and used it to beat Mother Nature at her own game. Pioneering the world’s first neoprene wetsuit, Jack had successfully found a way to extend his surf sessions in the bone-chilling breaks of Northern California. He opened up the garage doors to his first surf shop in Santa Cruz soon after.
While many things have changed since those humble beginnings, Jack’s initial vision of producing functional and innovative boardriding products continues to lie at the core of everything the company does. O’Neill’s set of core values – innovation in style and technology – has seen the brand devote itself wholeheartedly to the evolution of action sports. From the first ever neoprene wetsuit and surf leash, to the world’s first stitchless boardshorts and range of groundbreaking wearable electronics, O’Neill’s spirit of innovation will always drive the company forwards.
Today, O’Neill can be found the world over. In touch with its rich heritage and the universal stoke of boardriding culture, O’Neill will always be committed to progressing that evolution and growing its reputation as one of the world’s leading youth lifestyle brands.
About Oakley, Inc.
The global leader in performance sunglasses, goggles and prescription eyewear, Oakley also offers technical and lifestyle apparel, footwear, watches and accessories. The company was created for athletes who see impossibility as just another challenge, and their dedication inspires Oakley to seek out problems, solve with innovation and wrap invention in art. Exceeding the limits of possibility for more than thirty years, Oakley serves the demands of world-class athletes with unbeatable technologies including High Definition Optics (HDO). Additional information is available at www.oakley.com .
About Source Interlink Media’s Action Sports Group (ASG)
Reaching more than two million enthusiasts, Source Interlink Media’s Action Sports Group (ASG) is the dominant force in the action sports and adventure sports arenas. In addition to publishing leading lifestyle publications such as Surfer, Surfing, Snowboarder, Skateboarder, Bike, Powder and Canoe & Kayak, Source Interlink Media’s ASG delivers a cutting-edge network of online properties, events and television programming.